Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

30,826 total conversations in 4,532 threads

+ New Thread


Reddit circlejerk subculture

Last posted Apr 11, 2012 at 06:28PM EDT. Added Mar 21, 2012 at 05:48PM EDT
9 posts from 5 users

Circlejerk on reddit – I want to write an entry on it, but don't know where to start. It's obviously a (profusely brave) subculture, but when did "So Brave", "Literally Hitler", etc. take off?

I know it's a community dedicated to parodying reddit in general, but don't have many facts. What do?

Both, because oftentimes other subreddits are accused of circlejerking, and especially derivative subreddits such as /r/PokemonCirclejerk, /r/MinecraftCirclejerk, /r/MetaCirclejerk, /r/Magicskyfairy, and /r/MylittleCirclejerk, just to name a few.

So I mean for the most part the actual subreddit and its derivatives, but also its memes such as SO BRAVE, its near-godly cult of personality of Ron Paul, (by far the bravest contender, by the way) in a manner systematically parodying general reddit, its willing total lack of content and breaking of the reddiquette, its over-usage of "le", "Ctrl+F", "literally", and "This" in a method, as is standard, parodying reddit, and other important tropes and clichés that in turn mock general trends of other subreddits, such as "DAE think suburban upper-middle class pot-smoking 20 year old liberal atheists are literally THE MOST OPRESSED demographic in the world", "TIL (from /r/trees) that recreational cannabis usage has literally no negative consequences on your behavior and is the cure for literally every disease known to man", etc. etc, including its common invocation of Godwin's law, making threads entitled akin to "TIL EA is literally Hitler", "TIL Santorum, a FUNDIE THEIST (ಠ_ಠ) and therefore LITERALLY worse than Hitler", or, in special cases, when circumstances allow, "Chris Brown is literally Hit Her."

We should also include mention of /r/Braverjerk, created due to excessive spamming of walls of Reddit Enhancement Suite, blatant, distasteful, and most of all unfunny racism, and now defunct large text, where bravery runs rampantRAMPART (lol Woody Harrelson amirite?) and a more Laissez-Faire approach is taken to moderation.

Furthermore, we may include mention of the custom Image Macros, which are now disabled, but continue to live on in /r/braveryjerk and all of the networks of greater Bravaria.

Some examples of images to be added may include:

""

""

Also, ASCII karma trains:

"",

Circlejerk Image Macros, such as:

"", and Make mention of "Faces of Circlejerk", the parody of "Faces of Atheism", including:

""

And of course, general, all around, circlejerk-related bravery:

""

An elusive, but relevant, video:

Some examples of post titles (not sure how to mention them, as screenshot after screenshot is lame, and we don't have text databases, as far as I know):

"The mass effect 3 ending was pretty good" – Nickelback

Deaf man signs "I'm proud of you" to Ron Paul. Paul touches the man's ears and restores his hearing.

This took me like an hour to type up. I'm going to do something unheard of and read now.

Last edited Mar 21, 2012 at 11:28PM EDT

Here's something I typed up like 2 weeks ago on the matter:

[Circlejerk] is essentially a subreddit where redditors mock some of the tropes and cliches of reddit in general (karmawhoring, for instance -- usually threads on circlejerk invite people to upvote, which is a not-so-subtle jab at the way redditors make thinly veiled requests for upvotes). They also frequently make fun of specific threads.
For instance -- you'll see a thread on the frontpage titled "what is the craziest story that has ever happened to you?" and circlejerk will lampoon that thread by creating one in response that reads "what is the craziest story that you're willing to make up?".
Think of it as the crowd in the back of the classroom that makes fun of what everybody says. It's fun to stroll through the front page, then head over to circlejerk thinking "let's see what the 'cool kids' are talking about all this".

Upvotes to the left, so brave, Ron Paul and Skyrim.

I can elaborate this as well, if you like.

This is probably the best description of circlejerk I've ever read, and also a quite good parody of the arrogant behavior commonly attributed to /r/atheism. Nothing against atheists, but the vast majority of content-producers and commenters in that subreddit are rude, bigoted, condescending and sensationalist. Lots of atheists on reddit hate them, because /r/atheism makes them look bad. Also, the victim and superiority complexes often spill over into other subreddits. I could give so many examples… Here is another dissenting parody of /r/atheism.

Last edited Mar 22, 2012 at 01:49AM EDT
Skeletor-sm

This thread is closed to new posts.

Old threads normally auto-close after 30 days of inactivity.

Why don't you start a new thread instead?

Hey! You must login or signup first!