Wojak originated on 4chan in the 2010s as a simple reaction image before being associated alongside pepe as a foil, the pepe was often a self insert and the wojak was a strawman. However the memes changed and eventually wojak outgrew pepe in popularity and memes started to focus exclusively on wojak. Wojak as a character is not cool, is not a self insert, and is often used to mock a group of people by portraying them as cringe. Wojak is the perfect strawman to internet fascists because it's emotionless, it's white, and it's weak. Marginalized groups like gays and vegans and leftists are often portrayed as wojak because the fascists need to make strawmen because if there isn't an enemy the whole ideology falls apart. That's not to say the left hasn't been using wojak in a constructive manner, but it's merely appropriation. Wojak had always been reactionary while pepe was only adopted by the right, wojak was born by it. Now I'm asking you to read a rage comic, or several. Compare how much racism and sexism and reactionary politics you find those outdated memes then look at some wojaks. The best way you can learn how bad wojak as a meme is by looking at it from a critical lens. also literal nazis made a cartoon series with wojaks

  • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I disagree. I was there in the early 2010s and the majority of the wojaks I have are when he was "the feel guy" and it had a lot of puns. I think it's a mischaracterization to call him a rage comic replacement. I have them all in an old folder called "Feels". They're single panel. I have such greats as

    -Voldemort only they gave him wojak's nose and eyes

    -Feel Out Boy

    -"I don't ever wanna feel that feel I felt that day" (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

    -"Good good, let the feels flow through you"

    -"et tu feelus?"

    -Garfeel

    -Feel of Fortune where the phrase on the board is _ _ _ no g _ (tfw no gf)

    -One of a Peruvian wojak where he's browsing 4chan through a boiling pot and using a guinea pig instead of a mouse

    He has not always been reactionary in the same way he is now. He hasn't always been a comic character. :wojak-nooo: , :yes-chad: , and the like are all appropriations of jokes that used to be less pointed in their... accusations.

    edit: my thesis is that there was a marked shift in tone on 4chan before and after Nazis came rolling through. While it was racist and edgy, it wasn't puritanical and strictly+explicitly white supremacist. There were characters, reactions, and tomfoolery with POC. Instead of your POV being said by a soyjack, it was greentext with George Costanza looking quizzically at you. Before it was clown world, it was Tony Kornheiser unamusedly asking why. And if you call wojak "just a nazi tool" you might overlook that tonal shift and misunderstand what it looks like when nazis start infiltrating fertile grounds.