the fash trend on /pol/ died somewhere around 2018 and has shifted significantly radleft in the years since. This is misunderstood by outsiders largely because /pol/ users don't actually hold these opinions, they just will represent whatever is the edgiest opinion at any given time.
And despite things like shooting pharma executives in broad daylight being mainstream now, /pol/lacks rightly recognize that this is still edgy upon edgy upon edgy. And thus they meme the shit out of it.
>users don't actually hold these opinions, they just will represent whatever is the edgiest opinion at any given time.
I left in 2012ish, never really did /pol/, if it even existed then, but that 100% squares with my experience of the site.
edit: po vs pol
/po/ is paper craft and origami
Confusion between the two boards has been immortalized in this meme: https://i.redd.it/l8shi3nsfd531.png
> This is misunderstood by outsiders largely because /pol/ users don't actually hold these opinions, they just will represent whatever is the edgiest opinion at any given time.
There is no functional difference between the two, especially to the groups this behavior harms.
Stated harm is vastly overblown. Your average /pol/ack is too unmotivated to ever leave the house or even have an in person social interaction with a non-family member. It's a gathering place for the NEETs and hikkikomori of society. It's too unwelcoming to anyone with a functioning mental state and their activities live and die within that board.
You can't just peer into their world and judge them by the same standards as normal society.
If the mere existence of a place where people voice highly disagreeable opinions is an existential threat to you, then I think that says more about you.
I'm too red pilled off of post-irony to accept that argument anymore.
Their internal narrative and outward justification for their transitory position is irrelevant.