I experienced 4chan at the tail end of the unmoderated era. Pedobear was a lot more than that. A good deal of the actual meme posts had openly sadist and rapist tendencies, but the vast majority of pedobear images I encountered were just the bear to advertise a thread of csam, the bear to shorthand calling someone a pedo, or the bear to shorthand pedophilic thoughts about someone else's post. On a rare occasion, there would be csam with pedobear images for censorship to advertise a seperate website. It's no wonder the darker parts could be missed or have been scrubbed from the internet.
As much as I relish the golden glow of the frontier internet, we can't let that glow hide the rot that was truely there.
Shit take, but Pedobear did nothing wrong. He is a satirical character that acted as a cautionary tale, a parody of the creepy behavior. As many of the platforms where Pedobear thrived were used in parts by teenagers, i think the cautionary tale part could work as a palatable way to point out and identify some abnormal behaviors.
Quick note, i am aware that in some cases, these characters are adopted by the group they are satirizing as mascots, (example: Beavis and Butthead being adopted by the alternative/metalhead culture they were representing), but i dont believe Pedobear was the case. If anything, this is the time we need this meme the most, sadly.
Yes, tou are right, that was the point i was trying to make with the adoption and appropriation of the iconography of some characters. Should have explained myself better.
Yah, pedobear was mid-2000s. And nobody back then would say he’s a “meme”, they’d mock people for “forcing memes”. He’s just an image/character. “FGSFDS” is a meme. “Milhouse is not a meme” is a meme.”
God, this reminds me of a friend I used to see infrequently. We were playing some made up sport and he tackled me, and because he held onto me for too long I said something or another about pedobear and he got really quiet for the rest of the day. Anyone want to guess what his grandpa was caught doing with him a week later?
29 Comments
SailorFuzz@lemmy.world · 99 pts · 5d
Memes in 2012: photoshops of a fictional pedo character
Memes in 2026: screen caps of an actual pedo who is also the president.
mika_mika@lemmy.world · 98 pts · 6d
Memes in 2026: Xitter screen grab from an actual pedophile.
spudsrus@aussie.zone · 63 pts · 5d
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 5d
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 5d
You spelled demotivational wrong!
PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 6d
Pedo bear can't hurt you
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 6d
I'm a little old for him.
PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 6d
Yeah... and he's not real, lol
ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com · 31 pts · 5d
He's literally the president now, haven't you heard?
No_Money_Just_Change@feddit.org · 11 pts · 5d
That will sound like shittake, but it isn't.
When i ask myself who would be a better person, pedobear, or trump, i believe in pedo bear.
The memes were about him either joking about pedophilia or oogling children, but at least in my bubble, never actual rape
trumo is a pedophile a rapist and a fascist. pedobear is only a pedophile with no credible witnesses stating he ever acted on it
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 5d
I experienced 4chan at the tail end of the unmoderated era. Pedobear was a lot more than that. A good deal of the actual meme posts had openly sadist and rapist tendencies, but the vast majority of pedobear images I encountered were just the bear to advertise a thread of csam, the bear to shorthand calling someone a pedo, or the bear to shorthand pedophilic thoughts about someone else's post. On a rare occasion, there would be csam with pedobear images for censorship to advertise a seperate website. It's no wonder the darker parts could be missed or have been scrubbed from the internet.
As much as I relish the golden glow of the frontier internet, we can't let that glow hide the rot that was truely there.
FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 5d
Not with that attitude.
Photonic@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 5d
Not at that altitude either, he tends to go for the shorter heights
Kauhuhu@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 5d
Shit take, but Pedobear did nothing wrong. He is a satirical character that acted as a cautionary tale, a parody of the creepy behavior. As many of the platforms where Pedobear thrived were used in parts by teenagers, i think the cautionary tale part could work as a palatable way to point out and identify some abnormal behaviors. Quick note, i am aware that in some cases, these characters are adopted by the group they are satirizing as mascots, (example: Beavis and Butthead being adopted by the alternative/metalhead culture they were representing), but i dont believe Pedobear was the case. If anything, this is the time we need this meme the most, sadly.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 5d
It’s a double-edged sword. Joking about and meme-ing about pedophilia also normalizes it which helps predators get closer to victims through “humor”.
Kauhuhu@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 5d
Yes, tou are right, that was the point i was trying to make with the adoption and appropriation of the iconography of some characters. Should have explained myself better.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 15 pts · 5d
And ... is this not better?
dasrael@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 5d
pedobear was a fire meme....fight me bro
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.social · 10 pts · 5d
anewfox@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 5d
kinda surprised it's that recent. most of lemmy's content ime is just reddit posts from several years ago.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.social · 5 pts · 5d
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lemmy-deep-lighthouse/
It’s not organic.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 3d
Eh. I for one welcome getting content here so people feel less inclined to go there.
Avicenna@programming.dev · 9 pts · 5d
Oh shit I remember this period. They used to put this bear on every topic/image with a kid. Then Epstein happened...
HexesofVexes@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 5d
And now "Epstein Island" just became "Pedobear Paradise" in my brain. Thanks for that.
Mim@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 5d
They absolutely were.
daggermoon@piefed.world · 6 pts · 5d
2011, but close enough
Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 5d
Yah, pedobear was mid-2000s. And nobody back then would say he’s a “meme”, they’d mock people for “forcing memes”. He’s just an image/character. “FGSFDS” is a meme. “Milhouse is not a meme” is a meme.”
Renat@szmer.info · 3 pts · 5d
Now we have memes that portain Epstein(pedo and rapist) as gigachad.
Redditmodstouchgrass@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 5d
God, this reminds me of a friend I used to see infrequently. We were playing some made up sport and he tackled me, and because he held onto me for too long I said something or another about pedobear and he got really quiet for the rest of the day. Anyone want to guess what his grandpa was caught doing with him a week later?