Janssen 1

Final Portfolio

Prezi Link: http://prezi.com/knsyyyxg7tlb/?

utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Grace Tesmer, Garrett Janssen, Victoria Malloy

Collaborative Synthesis Essay Draft 1
Rhetoric ingrains itself in new media and rhetorical techniques appear in digital space
through various mediums. The art of persuasion developed with primary orality as people began
to develop ways to makes claims through verbalized patterns in order to memorize spoken
words, which became the foundation for rhetorical techniques and devices. When literacy came
into view, critical consciousness enhanced and words gained agency as they suddenly became
permanent. Likewise, secondary orality generates more modes of communication among a
variety of platforms introducing the concept of new media. Kathleen Welch states, This
technology has made the fifth canon of delivery (medium) take on the urgency of simultaneous
communication referring to secondary orality and the immediacy that Web 2.0 enforces. New
media allows more connections to be made by audience members and the way in which they
connect exceeds the topics they are connecting about. Culture becomes heavily influenced by the
connections made in digital space and in many ways whats created in digital space, replicates
itself into the real world and vice versa. Rhetoric acts as the primary source of communication in
new media technologies as individuals distinguish their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and identities
across mediums that influence their messages.

Janssen 2
Marshall McLuhans book The Medium is the Massage offers a visual and textual
journey, demonstrating that delivery is essential when it comes to new media. McLuhan claims,
Our official culture is striving to force the new media to do the work of the old, which
reiterates Welchs argument that secondary orality can only exist with primary orality (94). In
order for new media to be successful, methods of rhetoric must be applied, yet they should not
discourage the innovation of new concepts. Therefore, rhetoric and new media must coexist in
terms of Web 2.0, but they must also preserve their unique and individual qualities. McLuhan
states, Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions. The
extension of any one sense alters the way we think and actthe way we perceive the world
proclaiming his idea that an electrical circuit is an extension of the nervous system (41). A
medium not only acts as a specific platform that a message is advertised through, but also acts as
an extension of the body and builds space for consciousness to grow. Pramond Nayar also
touches upon this concept in his book An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures where he
discusses the rise of cyborgs and the cultural effects they have on society. According to Nayar,
the body is often deemed to be a prison in cyberpunk. The emphasis on the mind and
consciousness that can be expanded into other worlds and time zones is linked with the theme of
the limited body. However, for the body to be able to do this, adjustments have to be made.
These changes are what make the body less biological and more synthetic and electronic. Due to
the rapid advancement of technology, it has become easier to make these changes. For example,
in the Ted Talk on prosthetics and cyborgs, we see how technology is becoming attached to us
and ingrained into our nervous system. There is a blurred line between what is human and what
is machine in todays world.

Janssen 3
Nayar also provides an overview of the variety of topics new media affects. Critical to
Nayars book is the disintegration of the archaic notion that material culture and digital culture
are separate. Because we navigate the digital world through our physical bodies (mouse clicks
through our fingers or eyes reading pages) the separation between the two quickly falls away.
The difference between the two is simply in their delivery; it is cultureexpression through a
material or digital medium. Where digital culture evolves from its material version is how people
tap into the culture. In the digital space, users navigate the cyberscape via one or more avatars
and these avatars possess a certain degree of agencyusually tied to their degree of anonymity.
This avatar is a pivotal point of digital culture, because it touches on a variety of topics such as
gender, e-dentity, and privacy. Avatars can possess a gender or they may not have a gender,
depending on the websites platform. This gender can be wielded with a variety of effects, like
catfishing or female gamers taking on male usernames to avoid discrimination and harassment
online. The actions taken as an avatar create ones digital e-dentity, a concept utilized by
advertisers making use of data from Google, Facebook, Amazonanywhere you can leave a
mark in digital space.
The avatar is a pathway into cyberspace because digital subcultures are generated from
our interests. The playground of the Internet lends itself to a no-holds barred landscape where
our narrowly focused interests can become a meeting ground. Those who love books can explore
discussions and reviews on goodreads.com removing the traditional literary circle or book club
away from the material to the digital. The digital world and the potential subcultures to explore
speak to McLuhans argument that new media will bring with it a world village or commons that
breaks down national barriers. While that argument holds true at the surface, the reality is that
the world village is quite fractured and disjointed. Digital culture is built on more than values

Janssen 4
and interests: memes gain popularity through sometimes vulgar humor; Anonymous collective
body contains arms that it has no control over (LulzSec). Crucial to our exploration of these
various cultures with distinct interests is our degree of anonymitysomething that Edward
Snowden has sought to protect as a hacktivist.
New media needs rhetoric in order to exist and rhetoric acts as the foundation for new
media as it constantly evolves with technology. Nayar stresses what influences new media and
the effects new media has on our society. The categories that Nayar discuss in his book relate to
all aspects of new media and can be applied as a foundation when analyzing different digital
platforms and mediums just as rhetoric acts as the foundation for new media.

Janssen 5
Grace Tesmer, Garrett Janssen, Victoria Malloy
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205
10 May, 2015
Collaborative Synthesis Essay Draft 2
Rhetoric ingrains itself in new media and rhetorical techniques appear in digital space
through various mediums. The art of persuasion developed with primary orality as people began
to develop ways to makes claims through verbalized patterns in order to memorize spoken
words, which became the foundation for rhetorical techniques and devices. When literacy came
into view, critical consciousness enhanced and words gained agency as they suddenly became
permanent. Likewise, secondary orality generates more modes of communication among a
variety of platforms introducing the concept of new media. Kathleen Welch states, This
technology has made the fifth canon of delivery (medium) take on the urgency of simultaneous
communication referring to secondary orality and the immediacy that Web 2.0 enforces. New
media allows more connections to be made by audience members and the way in which they
connect exceeds the topics they are connecting about. Culture becomes heavily influenced by the
connections made in digital space and in many ways whats created in digital space, replicates
itself into the real world and vice versa. Rhetoric acts as the primary source of communication in
new media technologies as individuals distinguish their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and identities
across mediums that influence their messages.
Marshall McLuhans book The Medium is the Massage offers a visual and textual
journey, demonstrating that delivery is essential when it comes to new media. McLuhan claims,
Our official culture is striving to force the new media to do the work of the old, which

Janssen 6
reiterates Welchs argument that secondary orality can only exist with primary orality (94). In
order for new media to be successful, methods of rhetoric must be applied, yet they should not
discourage the innovation of new concepts. Therefore, rhetoric and new media must coexist in
terms of Web 2.0, but they must also preserve their unique and individual qualities. McLuhan
states, Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions. The
extension of any one sense alters the way we think and actthe way we perceive the world
proclaiming his idea that an electrical circuit is an extension of the nervous system (41). A
medium not only acts as a specific platform that a message is advertised through, but also acts as
an extension of the body and builds space for consciousness to grow. Pramond Nayar also
touches upon this concept in his book An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures where he
discusses the rise of cyborgs and the cultural effects they have on society. According to Nayar,
the body is often deemed to be a prison in cyberpunk. The emphasis on the mind and
consciousness that can be expanded into other worlds and time zones is linked with the theme of
the limited body. However, for the body to be able to do this, adjustments have to be made.
These changes are what make the body less biological and more synthetic and electronic. Due to
the rapid advancement of technology, it has become easier to make these changes. For example,
in the Ted Talk on prosthetics and cyborgs, we see how technology is becoming attached to us
and ingrained into our nervous system. There is a blurred line between what is human and what
is machine in todays world.
Nayar also provides an overview of the variety of topics new media affects. Critical to
Nayars book is the disintegration of the archaic notion that material culture and digital culture
are separate. Because we navigate the digital world through our physical bodies (mouse clicks
through our fingers or eyes reading pages) the separation between the two quickly falls away.

Janssen 7
The difference between the two is simply in their delivery; culture is culture just expressed
through the material or digital medium. Where digital culture evolves from its material version is
how people tap into that culture. In the digital space, users navigate the cyberscape via one or
more avatars and these avatars possess a certain degree of agencyusually tied to their degree of
anonymity. This avatar is a pivotal point of digital culture, because it touches on a variety of
topics such as gender, e-dentity, and privacy. Avatars can be both engendered or agendered,
depending on the websites platform. This gender can be wielded with a variety of effects, like
catfishing or female gamers taking on masculine usernames to avoid discrimination and
harassment online. The actions taken as an avatar create ones digital e-dentityyour digital
fingerprintscan be utilized by advertisers data mining from Google, Facebook, and/or
Amazons files. This extends further to the issue of government surveillance.
The avatar is a pathway into cyberspace because digital subcultures are generated from
our interests. The playground of the Internet lends itself to a no-holds barred landscape where
our narrowly focused interests can become a meeting ground. Those who love books can explore
discussions and reviews on goodreads.com removing the traditional literary circle or book club
away from the material to the digital. The digital world and the potential subcultures to explore
speak to McLuhans argument that new media will bring with it a world village or commons that
breaks down national barriers. While that argument holds true at the surface, the reality is that
the world village is quite fractured and disjointed. Digital culture is built on more than values
and interests: memes gain popularity through sometimes vulgar humor; Anonymous collective
body contains arms that it has no control over (LulzSec). Crucial to our exploration of these
various cultures with distinct interests is our degree of anonymitysomething that Edward
Snowden has sought to protect as a hacktivist.

Janssen 8
What much of this ties back to is the notion of identity and the expression of that identity.
Where e-dentity is a function of ones digital DNA, identity encompasses e-dentity to include the
material space. On the Internet, ones identity can shift with the click of the mouse. A change of
gender, a change of opinions, a change of nationalismall accomplished with increasing fluidity
by the user sitting in front of a monitor. With such a mobile identity, a users ethos becomes
increasingly shifty, and so too does the language establishing ones ethos. Those inhabiting
forums often assert their ethos via snobbish putdowns to squash any disbelievers, but ethos can
be generated by frequency in engaging a topic like ljokerl who is regarded as the premier inear-monitor headphone reviewer simply because hes reviewed hundreds. With the issue of ethos,
rhetoric becomes even more important in the realm of digital subcultures.
New media needs rhetoric in order to exist and rhetoric acts as the foundation for new
media as it constantly evolves with technology. Nayar stresses what influences new media and
the effects new media has on our society. The categories that Nayar discuss in his book relate to
all aspects of new media and can be applied as a foundation when analyzing different digital
platforms and mediums just as rhetoric acts as the foundation for new media.

Janssen 9
Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
April 18 2015
Critical Meme Analysis Draft 1: Bitch Please!

Evolving as their own cultural hub, 4chan.org and reddit.com users have created their
own lingo to communicate with each other. This communication breaks the normal barriers by
using both the text and the image together to illicit a more visceral response than traditional text
alone. Due to the nature of chat boards on 4chan.org and reddit.com, communications between
users can turn from jovial to pointed humor to sadistic to inflammatory. In an environment where
every opinion and comment has the potential to be valid, users coedit other users. Enter the
meme, an observation or comment that pairs the visual with the linguistic often for a humorous
effect. As a function to shoot down someones opinion, few memes have more currency than the
Yao Ming Bitch, Please! face. Fueling the sport of one-upmanship on the Internet, Bitch,
Please has generated its own antithesis (the Fuck No Guy, farthest on the right) while further
desensitizing the word bitch.

Janssen 10
Yao Mings initial face of laughter morphed into one of condescension in 2010 through the active
users on reddit.com. A user rendered the face as a rage comic-style contour drawing from a still
of a press conference Yao Ming had with his teammate Ron Artest. Its colloquial caption,
Bitch, Please!, came shortly after by another user (Know Your Meme 1). This shift from jovial
laughter to condescension became the focal point for the meme, and is regarded as the main
meaning for image. Its main purpose thereafter was to use it dismissively against someones
input in a discussion onlineoften leading to a counterpoint from the user posting the face.
Bitch, Please! became a catalyst to one-upmanship, with crass humor as its starting point. The
meme was a way to lend ones input credibility. It established their ethos; they were a wellindoctrinated member of the Internet, up-to-date with its own culture. Due to the chaotic nature
of forums and discussion boards like reddit.com, establishing ethos while generating a couple
laughs in the process is a surefire way to gain recognition on the board. In the free-for-all of the
Internet, the meme functioned as a potential one-shot-kill in the right hands.
Due to its success, the meme underwent a few separate evolutions. With the image
gaining iconic status (for the Internet at least) users transfigured the face onto other artworks like
the Mona Lisa or scenes from movies. Taking the tagline of James Bond, users would replace the
enigmatic spys face with the memes and caption it with, The names Please, Bitch Please.
Evolving separately from the humorous reimagining of the face across various pop cultural
references, was the Fuck No Guya sort of inverted Bitch, Please! face conveying horror
and disgust with a suggested idea or image. This, like the Bitch, Please! face, held a function
as a dismissive meme. Contrasting the former face, this one expressed dismissal based on the
pure disgustingness or taboo of what the targeted poster was saying. Fuck No Guy was an end

Janssen 11
statement, in that the user did not need to elaborate or provide a counterpoint like what could
occur with Bitch, Please!
Why the meme is so interesting is not so much its popularity, but the contradiction in its
caption. On the surface level, the meme signifies what was just stated was silly, absurd, and
insignificant, but beyond the slang is a very old topic in feminism. The word bitch gets a lot of
flak from feminists and rightly soits disparaging, one-sided, and engendered. But those are
adjectives, not definitions. In her article Bitch, Beverly Gross sets about tackling that very
task. Unfortunately, defining the term bitch is an unforgiving exercise. Every time she gets to a
new definition she finds something that was not in her previous ones, or worse the new definition
is too narrow. Unknowingly advocating Daoisms stance that definitions are useless, Grosss
article illustrates how words truly shapeshift constantly once in popular vocabulary. If all that
can be reached about the word bitch is a vague consensus on its connotations, then the literal
pairing of bitch with please only gets more confusing.
If pleases definition revolves around politeness and formality when asking or giving a
command, then one possible interpretation of the caption, Bitch, please is that to be a bitch
requires permission. Bitch is not just a title earned through analysis and shortsighted peer
commentary, bitch is earned through some sort of misguided formality. If one accepts that
premise, then Grosss modern definition of bitch as a ballbuster needs an amendment. And if
bitches are both permitted and permissive by peers, then the discussion around the term needs to
adjust focus.
-gender (roles)
-bitch in modern usage? Betches?
-desensitization of the word bitch

Janssen 12
Works Cited

Gross, Beverly. Salmagundi 103. Bitch. Skidmore College Press: Saratoga Springs, NY. 1994.
Print.

Know Your Meme. "Yao Ming Face / Bitch Please." Know Your Meme. Know Your Meme, 2014.
Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yao-ming-face-bitch-please>.

Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
April 28 2015
Critical Meme Analysis Draft 2: Bitch Please!

Evolving as their own cultural hub, 4chan.org and reddit.com users have created their
own lingo to communicate with each other. This communication breaks the normal barriers by
using both the text and the image together to illicit a more visceral response than traditional text
alone. Due to the nature of chat boards on 4chan.org and reddit.com, communications between
users can turn from jovial to pointed humor to sadistic to inflammatory. In an environment where
every opinion and comment has the potential to be valid, users coedit other users. Enter the

Janssen 13
meme, an observation or comment that pairs the visual with the linguistic often for a humorous
effect. As a function to shoot down someones opinion, few memes have more currency than the
Yao Ming Bitch, Please! face. Fueling the sport of one-upmanship on the Internet, Bitch,
Please has generated its own antithesis (the Fuck No Guy, farthest on the right) while further
desensitizing the word bitch.

Yao Mings initial face of laughter morphed into one of condescension in 2010 through the active
users on reddit.com. A user rendered the face as a rage comic-style contour drawing from a still
of a press conference Yao Ming had with his teammate Ron Artest. Its colloquial caption,
Bitch, Please!, came shortly after by another user (Know Your Meme 1). This shift from jovial
laughter to condescension became the focal point for the meme, and is regarded as the main
meaning for image. Its main purpose thereafter was to use it dismissively against someones
input in a discussion onlineoften leading to a counterpoint from the user posting the face.
Bitch, Please! became a catalyst to one-upmanship, with crass humor as its starting point. The
meme was a way to lend ones input credibility. It established their ethos; they were a wellindoctrinated member of the Internet, up-to-date with its own culture. Due to the chaotic nature
of forums and discussion boards like reddit.com, establishing ethos while generating a couple
laughs in the process is a surefire way to gain recognition on the board. In the free-for-all of the
Internet, the meme functioned as a potential one-shot-kill in the right hands.

Janssen 14
Due to its success, the meme underwent a few separate evolutions. With the image
gaining iconic status (for the Internet at least) users transfigured the face onto other artworks like
the Mona Lisa or scenes from movies. Taking the tagline of James Bond, users would replace the
enigmatic spys face with the memes and caption it with, The names Please, Bitch Please.
Evolving separately from the humorous reimagining of the face across various pop cultural
references, was the Fuck No Guya sort of inverted Bitch, Please! face conveying horror
and disgust with a suggested idea or image. This, like the Bitch, Please! face, held a function
as a dismissive meme. However, where Bitch Please conveyed dismissiveness out of the
targets comment due to its stupidity or ridiculousness, Fuck No Guy evokes dismissiveness
because the targets comment can be seen as stupidly inappropriate or heinous. Contrasting the
former face, this one expressed dismissal based on the pure disgustingness or taboo of what the
targeted poster was saying. Fuck No Guy was an end statement, in that the user did not need to
elaborate or provide a counterpoint like what could occur with Bitch, Please!
Why the meme is so interesting is not so much its popularity, but the contradiction in its
caption. On the surface level, the meme signifies what was just stated was silly, absurd, and
insignificant, but beyond the slang is a very old topic in feminism. The word bitch gets a lot of
flak from feminists and rightly soits disparaging, one-sided, and engendered. But those are
adjectives, not definitions. In her article Bitch, Beverly Gross sets about tackling that very
task. Unfortunately, defining the term bitch is an unforgiving exercise. Every time she gets to a
new definition she finds something that was not in her previous ones, or worse the new definition
is too narrow. Unknowingly advocating Daoisms stance that definitions are useless, Grosss
article illustrates how words truly shapeshift constantly once in popular vocabulary. If all that

Janssen 15
can be reached about the word bitch is a vague consensus on its connotations, then the literal
pairing of bitch with please only gets more confusing.
If pleases definition revolves around politeness and formality when asking or giving a
command, then one possible interpretation of the caption, Bitch, please is that to be a bitch
requires permission. Bitch is not just a title earned through analysis and shortsighted peer
commentary, bitch is earned through some sort of misguided formality. If one accepts that
premise, then one of the Grosss offered definition of the word bitch as a ballbuster needs an
amendment. And if bitches are both permitted and permissive by peers, then the discussion
around the term needs to adjust focus. If bitch is a nuisance for men, then the fact that it is
permissive aids in how dismissive men can be of such a woman.
To counter Grosss article further, she talks about how despite the lack of a true definition
for the word bitch there are those who take the insult and embrace it. Her example being
Madonna, but the meme, Bitch, Please! takes away the possibility of owning the label of a
bitch. Because its permissive, Shes such a bitch, it is not a title one earns but rather receives.
There is no owning a gift, and a woman cant return the favor of an insult because bitch is no
insult. This is the true power of the word bitch not in its initial putdown but the fact that there is
no counter. No equivalent for exists for a man. Bitch, Please! is really Bitch, please you have
nothing left. Yao Mings laughing face only serves to punctuate the statement, that any counter
to being called a bitch is treated with humorous neglect.
In addition to crudely applying gender superiority, the meme also furthers language
desensitization. With the Internets open access for all ages able to control a mouse or touch
screen, the meme has very little trouble colliding with the younger section of Internet users. This
leads to a copy me scenario where young children who find the meme funny, apply the meme

Janssen 16
in everyday life. Humor devalues the taboo of cursing, and suddenly bitch is fair game in
vocabulary. Head onto Xbox Live or the Playstation Network and any child gamer getting
headshots on Titanfall is going to hear the word bitch and worse while playing. Although the
Internet remains a no-holds barred discussion, Bitch, Please and other such memes display the
potential danger of a discussion with no interest in formality. Interestingly, restriction, the default
method of reform and regulation, is the least effective method to deal with the problem. Tell
children not to do something and theyll do it anyway, the new censorship would only further
their curiosity to places on the Internet where the language is not so restricted. With the openness
of the Internet, we have to accept an openness of language.
Bitch Please takes the traditional discussion of gender roles, patriarchy, and misogyny
and moves those incendiary topics to a new backdrop, the Internet. In this new backdrop, the
meme becomes the centerpiece for conversation, taking its place amongst anecdotal evidence
and behavioral psychology. The meme Bitch Please has a simple functionality: discredit and
dismiss through humor. Bitch Please provides unique ammunition to the flame wars that can
break out outline by functioning as an opening rhetorical counterpoint or, in its other guise,
Fuck No Guy a last line of defense. The memes dual nature coupled with its starkly
juxtaposed text engenders a conversation. This engendering established male dominance as an
apparently superior intellect or at least wit. By pairing its catchphrase bitch and please together it
creates a contrast in the dynamic between gendered insults and the taboo of words like bitch.

-Explore the constructedness of the meme, Bitch Please, found in rap culture and its stereotypes
of misogyny.
-Can feminists reclaim Bitch?

Janssen 17
-Is Yao Mings face happy, sad, frustrated -> this leads to its repetition, Yao Ming would never
act gangsta. Race?

Janssen 18
Works Cited

Gross, Beverly. Salmagundi 103. Bitch. Skidmore College Press: Saratoga Springs, NY. 1994.
Print.

Know Your Meme. "Yao Ming Face / Bitch Please." Know Your Meme. Know Your Meme, 2014.
Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yao-ming-face-bitch-please>.

Janssen 19
Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
May 10, 2015 2015
Critical Meme Analysis Draft 3: Bitch Please!

Evolving as their own cultural hub, 4chan.org and reddit.com users have created their
own lingo to communicate with each other. This communication breaks the normal barriers by
using both the text and the image together to illicit a more visceral response than traditional text
alone. Due to the nature of chat boards on 4chan.org and reddit.com, communications between
users can turn from jovial to pointed humor to sadistic to inflammatory. In an environment where
every opinion and comment has the potential to be valid, users coedit other users. Enter the
meme, an observation or comment that pairs the visual with the linguistic often for a humorous
effect. As a function to shoot down someones opinion, few memes have more currency than the
Yao Ming Bitch Please! face. Fueling the sport of one-upmanship on the Internet, Bitch
Please has generated its own antithesis (the Fuck No Guy, farthest on the right) while further
desensitizing the word bitch.

Janssen 20
Yao Mings initial face of laughter morphed into one of condescension in 2010 through
the active users on reddit.com. A user rendered the face as a rage comic-style contour drawing
from a still of a press conference Yao Ming had with his teammate Ron Artest. Its colloquial
caption, Bitch Please!, came shortly after by another user (Know Your Meme 1). This shift
from jovial laughter to condescension became the focal point for the meme, and is regarded as
the main meaning for image. Its main purpose thereafter was to use it dismissively against
someones input in a discussion onlineoften leading to a counterpoint from the user posting the
face. Bitch Please! became a catalyst to one-upmanship, with crass humor as its starting point.
The meme was a way to lend ones input credibility. It established their ethos; they were a wellindoctrinated member of the Internet, up-to-date with its own culture. Due to the chaotic nature
of forums and discussion boards like reddit.com, establishing ethos while generating a couple
laughs in the process is a surefire way to gain recognition on the board. In the free-for-all of the
Internet, the meme functioned as a potential one-shot-kill in the right hands.
Due to its success, the meme underwent a few separate evolutions. With the image
gaining iconic status (for the Internet at least) users transfigured the face onto other artworks like
the Mona Lisa or scenes from movies. Taking the tagline of James Bond, users would replace the
enigmatic spys face with the memes and caption it with, The names Please, Bitch Please.
Evolving separately from the humorous reimagining of the face across various pop cultural
references, was the Fuck No Guya sort of inverted Bitch Please! face conveying horror
and disgust with a suggested idea or image. This, like the Bitch Please! face, held a function as
a dismissive meme. However, where Bitch Please conveyed dismissiveness out of the targets
comment due to its stupidity or ridiculousness, Fuck No Guy evokes dismissiveness because
the targets comment can be seen as stupidly inappropriate or heinous. Contrasting the former

Janssen 21
face, this one expressed dismissal based on the pure disgustingness or taboo of what the targeted
poster was saying. Fuck No Guy was an end statement, in that the user did not need to
elaborate or provide a counterpoint like what could occur with Bitch Please!
Further aiding in the constructedness of the meme is the culture it comes from. The
caption for the meme has its roots in rap culture, NWAs A Bitch Iz a Bitch and Snoop Doggs
Bitch Please are just some easy examples, but the word finds different roles in Kanye Wests
Golddigger, The Games Wouldnt Get Far, and Lupe Fiascos Bitch Bad. Rap culture
takes no shame in misogyny and openly classifies women as sexual objects rather than peers.
This further aids the dismissiveness of meme, by calling whatever the context is a bitch, its
ethos and significance is reduced to chuckle spanning countless years of popular culture.
Bitch Please was able to undergo the critical process of replication because two
important factors: its irony and its expressiveness. For one, captioning Bitch Please under Yao
Ming is a bit like pairing expletives with the President. It is not in their vocabulary, because they
are under the public eye. Polite, easygoing, authentic Yao Ming is at odds in many ways with his
digital meme. Furthermore, Yao Mings facial expression in the meme is not limited to one
emotion. One could move the meme into both joyous and dark humor and the meme would still
hold value. The wide range of emotions bilaterally associated to the meme and its context aided
in its replication and evolution.
Why the meme is so interesting is not so much its popularity, but the contradiction in its
caption. On the surface level, the meme signifies what was just stated was silly, absurd, and
insignificant, but beyond the slang is a very old topic in feminism. The word bitch gets a lot of
flak from feminists and rightly soits disparaging, one-sided, and engendered. But those are
adjectives, not definitions. In her article Bitch, Beverly Gross sets about tackling that very

Janssen 22
task. Unfortunately, defining the term bitch is an unforgiving exercise. Every time she gets to a
new definition she finds something that was not in her previous ones, or worse the new definition
is too narrow. Unknowingly advocating Daoisms stance that definitions are useless, Grosss
article illustrates how words truly shapeshift constantly once in popular vocabulary. If all that
can be reached about the word bitch is a vague consensus on its connotations, then the literal
pairing of bitch with please only gets more confusing.
If bitchs definition revolves around politeness and formality when asking or giving a
command, then one possible interpretation of the caption, Bitch Please is that to be a bitch
requires permission. Bitch is not just a title earned through analysis and shortsighted peer
commentary, bitch is earned through some sort of misguided formalitya disparaging signal of
peerage (for example Bitch Madonna or Bitch Nicki Minaj). If one accepts that premise, then
one of the Grosss offered definitions of the word bitch as a ballbuster needs an amendment. And
if bitches are both permitted and permissive by peers, then the discussion around the term needs
to adjust focus. If a bitch is a nuisance for men, then the fact that it is permissive aids in how
dismissive men can be of such a woman.
To counter Grosss article further, she talks about how despite the lack of a true definition
for the word bitch there are those who take the insult and embrace it. Her example being
Madonna, but the meme, Bitch Please! takes away the possibility of owning the label of a
bitch. Because its permissive, Shes such a bitch, it is not a title one earns but rather receives.
There is no owning a gift, and a woman cant return the favor of an insult because bitch is no
insult. This is the true power of the word bitch not in its initial putdown but the fact that there is
no counter. No equivalent for exists for a man. Bitch Please! is really Bitch Please you have
nothing left. Feminisms claim to own the title is a hollow accomplishment, men lose nothing in

Janssen 23
the process and the term loses none of its impact. Yao Mings laughing face only serves to
punctuate the statement, that any counter to being called a bitch is treated with humorous
neglect.
In addition to crudely applying gender superiority, the meme also furthers language
desensitization. With the Internets open access for all ages able to control a mouse or touch
screen, the meme has very little trouble colliding with the younger section of Internet users. This
leads to a copy me scenario where young children who find the meme funny, apply the meme
in everyday life. Humor devalues the taboo of cursing, and suddenly bitch is fair game in
vocabulary. Head onto Xbox Live or the Playstation Network and any child gamer getting
headshots on Titanfall is going to hear the word bitch and worse while playing. Although the
Internet remains a no-holds barred discussion, Bitch Please and other such memes display the
potential danger of a discussion with no interest in formality. Interestingly, restriction, the default
method of reform and regulation, is the least effective method to deal with the problem. Tell
children not to do something and theyll do it anyway, the new censorship would only further
their curiosity to places on the Internet where the language is not so restricted. With the openness
of the Internet, we have to accept an openness of language.
Bitch Please takes the traditional discussion of gender roles, patriarchy, and misogyny
and moves those incendiary topics to a new backdrop, the Internet. In this new backdrop, the
meme becomes the centerpiece for conversation, taking its place amongst anecdotal evidence
and behavioral psychology. The meme Bitch Please has a simple functionality: discredit and
dismiss through humor. Bitch Please provides unique ammunition to the flame wars that can
break out outline by functioning as an opening rhetorical counterpoint or, in its other guise,
Fuck No Guy a last line of defense. The memes dual nature coupled with its starkly

Janssen 24
juxtaposed text engenders a conversation. This engendering established male dominance as an
apparently superior intellect or at least wit. By pairing its catchphrase bitch and please together it
creates a contrast in the dynamic between gendered insults and the taboo of words like bitch.

Janssen 25
Works Cited

Gross, Beverly. Salmagundi 103. Bitch. Skidmore College Press: Saratoga Springs, NY. 1994.
Print.

Know Your Meme. "Yao Ming Face / Bitch Please." Know Your Meme. Know Your Meme, 2014.
Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yao-ming-face-bitch-please>.

Janssen 26
Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
March 27, 2015
Digital Cultural Analysis Draft 1: Blissfully Weeaboo

Courtesy of globalization, culturepopular culture specificallycrosses national lines

with the Internet as its vehicle. In the American world, someone who has become so enamored
with Japanese popular culture that it borders on obsessive is termed a weeaboo. This term
parallels the term wigger that is used to describe a white male pretending to be from the black
ghetto. Where wigger is used derogatorily to address inauthenticity, weeaboo adds in a
romanticized aspect. Furthermore, unlike its wigger counterpart, weeaboo knows no gender
boundaries. Because of its inception on the Internet, the term weeaboo maintains a loose
definition because it is the successive term to Wapanese, and often crosses over with the term
otaku. What weeaboo speaks to as a cultural classification is the abandonment of ones own
culture in favor of one that offers something different. In the case of weeaboos, that something
different is anime, Japanese cartoons.
Born on the Internet, largely through the site 4chan.org, strict definition of the term
weeaboo is hard to come by (Know Your Meme). The term came by 4chan site moderators
filtering out the word Wapanese for weeaboo in order to calm the flame wars erupting on the site
over discussions of anime (Fiona). This caused weeaboo simply to take the place of the word it
replaced in the discussion, and ultimately only changed the face value of the word (being clearly

Janssen 27
less visually derogatory). But in taking the place of an already established word, weeaboo was
open to further influences because the word itself was not concrete, a mere placeholder.
Enter the term otaku. Unlike weeaboo, otaku is a real Japanese word with a concrete
definition, which refers to someone who is unhealthily obsessed with popular culture to the point
that they do not really leave their house. Often times, otakus are obsessed with anime, video
games, and computers, and are subsequently seen as nerds of the highest degree, but their
fanaticism can be directed to anything. Due to their fanaticism, otakus are often socially inept. In
the American world (America in this argument), the term otaku has been mingled with weeaboo
to the point that the two have become interchangeable. However, the main difference is the
degree of fanaticism between the two subcultures, otakus being the more extreme. All weeaboos
are otakus, but not all otakus are weeaboos (Fiona).
This distinction matters due to the geographical divide between the two words. Weeaboo
is often applied to those outside Japan who are blindly in love with Japanese culture to the point
where other cultures are inferior. This is evidenced by the cult-like status weeaboos have given
the katana as the sharpest, strongest sword stomps all over the European longsword. Although
their knowledge is deeper than someone with a passing knowledge of Japanese culture, their
devotion to Japanese culture exists via computer screen. Weeaboos often have a superficial
knowledge of the Japanese languagelargely discerning words or phrases they come across in
anime like moe, kawaii, desu, and honorifics. This surface-level fluency of the language
often leads to Japanglish, the mixing (sprinkling) of Japanese words and phrases in English
speech when conversing online. Due to the ease of meeting on 4chans anime forum, weeaboos
can converse with others in their subculture in their hybrid language.

Janssen 28
Weeaboos can also interact with one another in the material world rather than their native
digital one. Comic conventions invite for cosplaying, wearing the costume of a favorite character
from a media form, often video games and television. Due to their love for virtual characters,
weeaboos often cosplay as a character from one of the anime that they are fans of. When
cosplaying is not quite enough, weeaboos engage in artistic renegotiation of their characters. The
site Deviantart often features fan drawings of anime characters (though the artists are not always
exclusively weeaboos). This fan art, like fanfiction, can stray into the realm of hypersexual, and
can often feature shipping (romantic relationship pairing) of two anime characters (from the
same or different anime) that is not canon. This renegotiation of their favorite shows creates a
level of consumer agency, and reinforces the weeaboo community.
The exploration of what is a weeaboo and what weeaboos do may place them as
harmless or possibly even annoying cultural trolls depending on the context of the forum or
chatroom, but the big picture on why weeaboos exist reveals more about a weeaboos native
American culture than the Japanese one they have adopted. A weeaboos primary avenue into
weeabooness is Japanese anime, something starkly different from American cartoons. Japanese
anime encompasses far territory than its American counterpart, with storylines that can range
from heroes possessing magical powers to supernatural mass murders to the explicitly
pornographic. The wide scope of their narratives allows them to have varying levels of maturity,
and often the macabre is sprinkled with off-key comic relief (see Misa Misas behavior in Death
Note). American cartoons rarely permanently occupy the space between for children and for
adults (South Park and Family Guy are some of the notable exceptions). American cartoons
about heroes, super and otherwise, often feature black and white morality, but Japanese anime
often takes pleasure in examining the moral grayness of their protagonists. Japanese anime is

Janssen 29
often the product extremism, as seen in the character Felix Walken (aka Vino or Claire Stanfield)
in Baccano! who behaves and talks in a strictly solipsistic manner. Even movies reveal a starkly
different approach such as the flashy Guardians of the Galaxy versus the majestically realistic
backgrounds permeating Makoto Shinkais works such as Garden of Words.
The contrasting nature between American cartoons and Japanese anime is the draw for
many weeaboos. Where weeaboos diverge from their American comic book fans, is that their
fandom exists for a culture not their own. Japanese anime offers alternative ground that often
employs magical realism (Hayao Miyazakis Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke). In
American culture, cartoons are largely viewed as childish and are something to outgrow. In
Japan, anime knows no age categories or narrative restrictions. For Americans who bristle with
the notion that to mature means rejecting a media form, subscribing to the weeaboo subculture
provides an alternative avenue while also offering a subculture where the sharing of their love for
all things anime (and other Japanese culture).

Janssen 30
Bibliography

Fiona. "You Might Be a Weeaboo If... - Tofugu." Tofugu. Tofugu, 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://www.tofugu.com/2012/11/29/weeaboo/>.

Know Your Meme. "Weeaboo." Know Your Meme News. Cheezburger Inc, 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/weeaboo>.

Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
April 14, 2015
Digital Cultural Analysis Draft 2: Blissfully Weeaboo

Courtesy of globalization, culturepopular culture specificallycrosses national lines

with the Internet as its vehicle. In the American world, someone who has become so enamored
with Japanese popular culture that it borders on obsessive is termed a weeaboo. This term
parallels the term wigger that is used to describe a white male pretending to be from the black
ghetto. Where wigger is used derogatorily to address inauthenticity, weeaboo adds in a
romanticized aspect. Furthermore, unlike its wigger counterpart, weeaboo knows no gender
boundaries. Because of its inception on the Internet, the term weeaboo maintains a loose
definition because it is the successive term to Wapanese, and often crosses over with the term
otaku. What weeaboo speaks to as a cultural classification is the abandonment of ones own

Janssen 31
culture in favor of one that offers something different. In the case of weeaboos, that something
different is anime, Japanese cartoons.
The exploration of what is a weeaboo and what weeaboos do may place them as
harmless or possibly even annoying cultural trolls depending on the context of the forum or
chatroom, but the big picture on why weeaboos exist reveals more about a weeaboos native
American culture than the Japanese one they have adopted. A weeaboos primary avenue into
weeabooness is Japanese anime, something starkly different from American cartoons. Japanese
anime encompasses far territory than its American counterpart, with storylines that can range
from cyborg protagonists questioning what it is to be human to supernatural mass murderers to
the explicitly pornographic. The wide scope of their narratives allows them to have varying
levels of maturity, and often the macabre is sprinkled with off-key comic relief (see Misa Misas
behavior in Death Note). American cartoons rarely permanently occupy the space between for
children and for adults (South Park and Family Guy are some of the notable exceptions).
American cartoons about heroes, super and otherwise, often feature black and white morality, but
Japanese anime often takes pleasure in examining the moral grayness of their protagonists.
Japanese anime is often the product extremism, as seen in the character Felix Walken (aka Vino
or Claire Stanfield) in Baccano! who behaves and talks in a strictly solipsistic manner. Even
movies reveal a starkly different approach such as the flashy Guardians of the Galaxy versus the
majestically realistic backgrounds permeating Makoto Shinkais works such as Garden of Words.
The contrasting nature between American cartoons and Japanese anime is the draw for
many weeaboos. Where weeaboos diverge from their American comic book fans, is that their
fandom exists for a culture not their own natively. In American culture, cartoons are largely
viewed as childish and are something to outgrow. Japanese anime offers alternative ground that

Janssen 32
often employs magical realism (Hayao Miyazakis Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke). In
Japan, anime knows no age categories or narrative restrictions. For Americans who bristle with
the notion that to mature means rejecting a media form, subscribing to the weeaboo subculture
provides an alternative avenue while also offering a subculture where the sharing of their love for
all things anime (and other Japanese culture).
If weeaboos represent cultural appropriation in degrees, then what is the degree before
weeaboo? One should be able to enjoy the flair of fantasy littered in anime without being blind to
some of its more inane qualities. I certainly do. I find common ground with weeaboos when it
comes to anime. American television simply cannot render the OCD-inducing magical abilities
in Darker Than Black or the stylized swordfights in Samurai Champloo with the same integrity.
Western television is bound by reality and western animation is bound by budget. Through my
occasional perusal through the gems of Japanese anime, I have come in contact with weeaboos,
and their unbridled passion has taught me to stay away. But why? What about them warrants
such derision, their blind love or something deeper?
Born on the Internet, largely through the site 4chan.org, a strict definition of the term
weeaboo is hard to come by (Know Your Meme). The term came by 4chan site moderators
filtering out the word Wapanese for weeaboo in order to calm the flame wars erupting on the site
over discussions of anime (Fiona). This caused weeaboo simply to take the place of the word it
replaced in the discussion, and ultimately only changed the face value of the word (being clearly
less visually derogatory). But in taking the place of an already established word, weeaboo was
open to further influences because the word itself was not concrete, a mere placeholder.
Enter the term otaku. Unlike weeaboo, otaku is a real Japanese word with a concrete
definition, which refers to someone who is unhealthily obsessed with popular culture to the point

Janssen 33
that they do not really leave their house. Often times, otakus are obsessed with anime, video
games, and computers, and are subsequently seen as nerds of the highest degree, but their
fanaticism can be directed to anything. Due to their fanaticism, otakus are often socially inept. In
the American world (America in this argument), the term otaku has been mingled with weeaboo
to the point that the two have become interchangeable. However, the main difference is the
degree of fanaticism between the two subcultures, otakus being the more extreme. All weeaboos
are otakus, but not all otakus are weeaboos (Fiona).
The word otaku also represents the inaccuracies both inside weeaboo culture and those
outside trying to understand it. In western online media, otaku is the word used to target
weeaboos online. The sizable gaming blog Kotaku.com draws their name from this word, which
only illustrates how words can lose meaning when crossing both national and digital boundaries.
Otaku carries with it serious negative connotations, as legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki
writes that the industry is full of otaku which he attributes to the lack of overall quality in the
industry. Because otaku go without social interaction, the characters they create and animate are
not realistic, women especially (Smith 1). From Miyazakis view, otakus lack of realism due to
fanaticism is destroying the very industry they worship. By virtue, weeaboos should not be so
proud to declare themselves otaku, because the two groups are (unintentionally) at odds. But
weeaboos do not seem concerned with the difference.
This distinction matters due to the geographical divide between the two words. Weeaboo
is often applied to those outside Japan who are blindly in love with Japanese culture to the point
where other cultures are inferior. Although their knowledge is deeper than someone with a
passing knowledge of Japanese culture, their devotion to Japanese culture exists via computer
screen. Weeaboos often have a superficial knowledge of the Japanese languagelargely

Janssen 34
discerning words or phrases they come across in anime like moe, kawaii, desu, and
honorifics. This surface-level fluency of the language often leads to Japanglish, the mixing
(sprinkling) of Japanese words and phrases in English speech when conversing online. Due to
the ease of meeting on 4chans anime forum, weeaboos can converse with others in their
subculture in their hybrid language.
Weeaboos can also interact with one another in the material world rather than their native
digital one. Comic conventions invite for cosplaying, wearing the costume of a favorite character
from a media form, often video games and television. Due to their love for virtual characters,
weeaboos often cosplay as a character from one of the anime that they are fans of. When
cosplaying is not quite enough, weeaboos engage in artistic renegotiation of their characters. The
site Deviantart often features fan drawings of anime characters (though the artists are not always
exclusively weeaboos). This fan art, like fanfiction, can stray into the realm of hypersexual, and
can often feature shipping (romantic relationship pairing) of two anime characters (from the
same or different anime) that is not canon. This renegotiation of their favorite shows creates a
level of consumer agency, and reinforces the weeaboo community.
A place for private consumption and public discussion, the Internet fuels a particular
subset of cultural appropriation that the weeaboo subculture falls under. Weeaboo subculture
illuminates that globalization and cultural appropriation occurs by degrees through the Internet.
Weeaboos essentially get to pick-and-choose what bits of Japanese pop culture make it through
their pixelated screens. The katana, honor, and Shinto myths are taken in isolationthe
underbelly of Japanese culture such as whaling is irrelevant, ignored, or worse denied. What
makes weeaboos such an interesting subculture, and indeed their similar variants, is that theyre
cultural identity proudly bears the name of hybrid. They are not Americanly-American nor are

Janssen 35
they 2nd-generation Japanese immigrants. They are born and raised American, but somewhere on
their Internet travels they wandered into another cultures territory and liked what they saw, and,
importantly, stuck to staying at that surface level. If the trend continues, expect more hybrid
cultures to emerge, expect tribrid cultures. The Internet functions as medium to explore, but only
as far as the user wants. Much is said about the globalization of cultures, and the Internets role
can be as beneficial or as harmful as the user behind the screen. Weeaboos in their way, represent
a new type of cultural identityone where subjectively the best bits of cultures are combined
into one form, but also where those cultures lose much of their terroir and depth.

Janssen 36
Works Cited

Fiona. "You Might Be a Weeaboo If... - Tofugu." Tofugu. Tofugu, 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://www.tofugu.com/2012/11/29/weeaboo/>.

Know Your Meme. "Weeaboo." Know Your Meme News. Cheezburger Inc, 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/weeaboo>.

Smith, Carly. "Hayao Miyazaki: Anime Suffers Because the Industry Is Full of "Otaku"" The
Escapist. The Escapist, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.escapistmagazine.com%2Fnews%2Fview%2F131872-Hayao-MiyazakiAnime-Suffers-Because-the-Industry-is-Full-of-Otaku>.

Janssen 37

Garrett Janssen
Professor Ristow
WRRH 205-02: Digital Rhetorics
May 10, 2015
Digital Cultural Analysis Draft 3: Blissfully Weeaboo

Courtesy of globalization, culturepopular culture specificallycrosses national lines

with the Internet as its vehicle. In the American world, someone who has become so enamored
with Japanese popular culture that it borders on obsessive is termed a weeaboo. This term
parallels the term wigger that is used to describe a white male pretending to be from the black
ghetto. Where wigger is used derogatorily to address inauthenticity, weeaboo adds in a
romanticized aspect. Furthermore, unlike its wigger counterpart, weeaboo knows no gender
boundaries. Because of its inception on the Internet, the term weeaboo maintains a loose
definition because it is the successive term to Wapanese, and often crosses over with the term
otaku. What weeaboo speaks to as a cultural classification is the abandonment of ones own
culture in favor of one that offers something different. In the case of weeaboos, that something
different is anime, Japanese cartoons.
The exploration of what is a weeaboo and what weeaboos do may place them as
harmless or possibly even annoying cultural trolls depending on the context of the forum or
chatroom, but the big picture on why weeaboos exist reveals more about a weeaboos native
American culture than the Japanese one they have adopted. A weeaboos primary avenue into
weeabooness is Japanese anime, something starkly different from American cartoons. Japanese

Janssen 38
anime encompasses far territory than its American counterpart, with storylines that can range
from cyborg protagonists questioning what it is to be human to supernatural mass murderers to
the explicitly pornographic. The wide scope of their narratives allows them to have varying
levels of maturity, and often the macabre is sprinkled with off-key comic relief (see Misa Misas
behavior in Death Note). American cartoons rarely permanently occupy the space between for
children and for adults (South Park and Family Guy are some of the notable exceptions).
American cartoons about heroes, super and otherwise, often feature black and white morality, but
Japanese anime often takes pleasure in examining the moral grayness of their protagonists.
Japanese anime is often the product extremism, as seen in the character Felix Walken (aka Vino
or Claire Stanfield) in Baccano! who behaves and talks in a strictly solipsistic manner. Even
movies reveal a starkly different approach such as the flashy Guardians of the Galaxy versus the
majestically realistic backgrounds permeating Makoto Shinkais works such as Garden of Words.
The contrasting nature between American cartoons and Japanese anime is the draw for
many weeaboos. Where weeaboos diverge from their American comic book fans, is that their
fandom exists for a culture not their own natively. In American culture, cartoons are largely
viewed as childish and are something to outgrow. Japanese anime offers alternative ground that
often employs magical realism (Hayao Miyazakis Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke). In
Japan, anime knows no age categories or narrative restrictions. For Americans who bristle with
the notion that to mature means rejecting a media form, subscribing to the weeaboo subculture
provides an alternative avenue while also offering a subculture where the sharing of their love for
all things anime (and other Japanese culture).
If weeaboos represent cultural appropriation in degrees, then what is the degree before
weeaboo? One should be able to enjoy the flair of fantasy littered in anime without being blind to

Janssen 39
some of its more inane qualities. I certainly do. I find common ground with weeaboos when it
comes to anime. American television simply cannot render the OCD-inducing magical abilities
in Darker Than Black or the stylized swordfights in Samurai Champloo with the same integrity.
Western television is bound by reality and western animation is bound by budget. Through my
occasional perusal through the gems of Japanese anime, I have come in contact with weeaboos,
and their unbridled passion has taught me to stay away. But why? What about them warrants
such derision, their blind love or something deeper?
Born on the Internet, largely through the site 4chan.org, a strict definition of the term
weeaboo is hard to come by (Know Your Meme). The term came by 4chan site moderators
filtering out the word Wapanese for weeaboo in order to calm the flame wars erupting on the site
over discussions of anime (Fiona). This caused weeaboo simply to take the place of the word it
replaced in the discussion, and ultimately only changed the face value of the word (being clearly
less visually derogatory). But in taking the place of an already established word, weeaboo was
open to further influences because the word itself was not concrete, a mere placeholder.
Enter the term otaku. Unlike weeaboo, otaku is a real Japanese word with a concrete
definition, which refers to someone who is unhealthily obsessed with popular culture to the point
that they do not really leave their house. Often times, otakus are obsessed with anime, video
games, and computers, and are subsequently seen as nerds of the highest degree, but their
fanaticism can be directed to anything. Due to their fanaticism, otakus are often socially inept. In
the American world (America in this argument), the term otaku has been mingled with weeaboo
to the point that the two have become interchangeable. However, the main difference is the
degree of fanaticism between the two subcultures, otakus being the more extreme. All weeaboos
are otakus, but not all otakus are weeaboos (Fiona).

Janssen 40
The word otaku also represents the inaccuracies both inside weeaboo culture and those
outside trying to understand it. In western online media, otaku is the word used to target
weeaboos online. The sizable gaming blog Kotaku.com draws their name from this word, which
only illustrates how words can lose meaning when crossing both national and digital boundaries.
Otaku carries with it serious negative connotations, as legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki
writes that the industry is full of otaku which he attributes to the lack of overall quality in the
industry. Because otaku go without social interaction, the characters they create and animate are
not realistic, women especially (Smith 1). From Miyazakis view, otakus lack of realism due to
fanaticism is destroying the very industry they worship. By virtue, weeaboos should not be so
proud to declare themselves otaku, because the two groups are (unintentionally) at odds. But
weeaboos do not seem concerned with the difference.
This distinction matters due to the geographical divide between the two words. Weeaboo
is often applied to those outside Japan who are blindly in love with Japanese culture to the point
where other cultures are inferior. Although their knowledge is deeper than someone with a
passing knowledge of Japanese culture, their devotion to Japanese culture exists via computer
screen. Weeaboos often have a superficial knowledge of the Japanese languagelargely
discerning words or phrases they come across in anime like moe, kawaii, desu, and
honorifics. This surface-level fluency of the language often leads to Japanglish, the mixing
(sprinkling) of Japanese words and phrases in English speech when conversing online. Due to
the ease of meeting on 4chans anime forum, weeaboos can converse with others in their
subculture in their hybrid language.
Weeaboos can also interact with one another in the material world rather than their native
digital one. Comic conventions invite for cosplaying, wearing the costume of a favorite character

Janssen 41
from a media form, often video games and television. Due to their love for virtual characters,
weeaboos often cosplay as a character from one of the anime that they are fans of. When
cosplaying is not quite enough, weeaboos engage in artistic renegotiation of their characters. The
site Deviantart often features fan drawings of anime characters (though the artists are not always
exclusively weeaboos). This fan art, like fanfiction, can stray into the realm of hypersexual, and
can often feature shipping (romantic relationship pairing) of two anime characters (from the
same or different anime) that is not canon. This renegotiation of their favorite shows creates a
level of consumer agency, and reinforces the weeaboo community.
A place for private consumption and public discussion, the Internet fuels a particular
subset of cultural appropriation that the weeaboo subculture falls under. Weeaboo subculture
illuminates that globalization and cultural appropriation occurs by degrees through the Internet.
Weeaboos essentially get to pick-and-choose what bits of Japanese pop culture make it through
their pixelated screens. The katana, honor, and Shinto myths are taken in isolationthe
underbelly of Japanese culture such as whaling is irrelevant, ignored, or worse denied. What
makes weeaboos such an interesting subculture, and indeed their similar variants, is that theyre
cultural identity proudly bears the name of hybrid. They are not Americanly-American nor are
they 2nd-generation Japanese immigrants. They are born and raised American, but somewhere on
their Internet travels they wandered into another cultures territory and liked what they saw, and,
importantly, stuck to staying at that surface level. If the trend continues, expect more hybrid
cultures to emerge, expect tribrid cultures. The Internet functions as medium to explore, but only
as far as the user wants. Much is said about the globalization of cultures, and the Internets role
can be as beneficial or as harmful as the user behind the screen. Weeaboos in their way, represent

Janssen 42
a new type of cultural identityone where subjectively the best bits of cultures are combined
into one form, but also where those cultures lose much of their terroir and depth.
Which raises the question of what identity are weeaboos? Their own, a hybrid, or an
imposter? Cultural identity is something tied strongly to the land. An Italian born and raised in
Little Italy, NYC is going to be drastically different from an Italian raised in Rome. If cultural
identity is indeed tied to the temporal nation, then weeaboos will never be considered Japanese
by Japanese peoples standards, nor will they be considered Japanese from their Western
brethrens view. What about the reverse? Well Americans will not see weeaboos as American, not
with that much extra untraditional culture, but a Japanese might view them as American who just
enjoys Japanese popular culture. Cultural appropriation is simply a matter of perspective.
Weeaboos clearly do not regard themselves as full-blown Japanesethey lack the language and
physical traits. If the consequences of being a weeaboo are disassociation from their native
culture, then one has to admire the nave bravery in paving their own culture. Where McLuhan
predicted a world village or commons, the result of the Internet has been more of world airport
terminal, with users flying to new places and cultures with a mouse click.
This brings me to identity and ethos onlinethe hostile of weeaboos. On the anonymous
Internet, a user can shout their opinion in the right location and nobody will truly care. But this
also works in reverse, users can call out other users by testing or deflating their ethos. If the
(rare) weeaboo voices their love for Samurai Champloo in its English dubbing, a more
hardcore weeaboo will come in with the eventual statement that all dubs suck, and the original
Japanese voice work is always superior, all while dropping some insults like the tame casual
(saying that the dub loving weeaboo is just a casual lover of anime and, thus, not a real
weeaboo). Even inside their own culture, weeaboos face cultural vitriol. The consequences of

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being a weeaboo, or any hybrid cultural identity for that matter, are incessant attacks, explicit and
indirect, on their identitys worth inside and outside its cultural context.
Perhaps though these attacks are justified, at least from the outside cultures. There is
more to being Japanese than loving its popular culture just how there is more to being American
than liking sports, Hollywood action movies, and fast food. In some ways, do weeaboos not earn
those attacks because they operate in a space of inauthenticity with regards to both cultures?
Maybe thats prejudicial, but if the Internet has no problem raising the issue, is it one we can
ignore. Regardless of the immediate issues, cultural appropriation will continue, but the level of
depth in assimilation remains uncertain.
But what is gained through cultural appropriation? Clearly theres history being lost, a nthgeneration American is shrugging off what could be hundreds of years of family history in the
countryor even just their immigrant parents struggles to assimilate to America. If all that is
gained is a superficial absorption of popular culture, then why would anyone want to expose
themselves to the hardships of being a weeaboo, or any other such hybrid? Spitballing here, but
perhaps, in addition to gaining pop culture knowledge, weeaboos also seek cultural traits of the
Japanese culture they are appropriating. Perhaps theyre fascinated with the Japanese family
dynamic and reverence to ancestors, or perhaps their pursuit of perfection and discipline, or their
deferential manners, or their pride and honor. Of course, there are negative stereotypes and traits
to pick up as well, but if the goal of cultural appropriation is to build a cultural identity that
incorporates the best traits from various cultures (some of which may even be at odds with each
other), then perhaps cultural appropriation extends further than the surface level. At the end of
the road of cultural appropriation, is there a final, elite amalgamation of cultures, where weeaboo
is just the first step of many towards that direction, McLuhans world village? That might be a

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naively optimistic view of the future of cultural appropriation, but that feels like a good place to
concludeperhaps because of my American culture, but in these days who really knows?

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Works Cited

Fiona. "You Might Be a Weeaboo If... - Tofugu." Tofugu. Tofugu, 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://www.tofugu.com/2012/11/29/weeaboo/>.

Know Your Meme. "Weeaboo." Know Your Meme News. Cheezburger Inc, 2012. Web. 27 Mar.
2015. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/weeaboo>.

Smith, Carly. "Hayao Miyazaki: Anime Suffers Because the Industry Is Full of "Otaku"" The
Escapist. The Escapist, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.escapistmagazine.com%2Fnews%2Fview%2F131872-Hayao-MiyazakiAnime-Suffers-Because-the-Industry-is-Full-of-Otaku>.