brave [little] meme

4chan creator ‘moot’ leading TIME’s Top 100

As of 16.07 GMT, this is what TIME Magazine’s top 100 list of the world’s most influential people looks like. If you look closely at the first spot, you’ll see an unlikely name: ‘moot.’

This is what you can achieve when you inadvertently start one of the most bizarre, outlandish yet interesting communities on the Internet. What began as an attempt to create an english language version of the classic Japanese image board ended up becoming a melting pot of anonymous creativity.

A sometimes hilarious, often shocking, and always offensive meme generating machine, 4chan’s community has cast upon the breadth of the internet anything from Rickrolls to LOLcats, occasionally pausing to spawn real-world movements like Anonymous vs. Scientology.

Today, 4chan’s cat-loving armies are voting en masse, and they’re making an impact. A final win for their community’s unwitting founder would mark a real testament to the power of internet culture, but making a statement is not what this is all about. If you’d ask anyone on 4chan what it all means, you’d probably be disappointed: they’d probably tell you they’re just doing it for the lulz.

Abused on YouTube, Dusty the Cat is Now Safe.

Today the internet underground can claim a small but meaningful humane victory. Shortly after two teenagers posted a horrific video of themselves abusing a helpless cat, the internet community reacted by tracking them down and contacting the authorities.

The teens’ identity was swiftly uncovered by members of the internet board 4chan, better known as the birthplace of Anonymous, a loose affiliation of internet users that has at times been involved with anything from hacking Sarah Palin’s emails to protesting Scientology.

The teens’ details  and those of their family were repeatedly posted across various Internet boards and forwarded to the authorities. Today, a page dedicated to the case had some welcome news for anyone who was unfortunate enough to watch the original video:

Sheriff Stradley of Lawton, OK said: ”The horrifying day may be over for the cat, but it is just getting started for its abusers. We’ll put it together and take it to the D.A. It will be up to the D.A. whether or not he files charges or not. Our job is to put the investigation together as a case and take it to the DA and that’s what we’ll do”.

Once again, it really would seem that ‘Anonymous delivers.’

KENNY GLENN - CAT ABUSER (Dusty)

Related Story: Third Cat Abuse Video Found in Teens’ Home