I was impressed by the creativity, effort and sometimes courage that people from all over the globe put into their costumes. From the awesome fiberglass, LED-ladden, motorized Iron Man suits to the incredibly detailed suits of armor, to the accurate manga costumes. Everything was amazing. More amazing perhaps, was the fact that, like in Woodstock, everyone seemed to have found a haven of respect and connivance. Own businesses were minded, credit was given where it was due, and fun was had ad nauseum.
Of course there were crappy costumes! It’s Halloween for geeks! The full spectrum of possibilities is what makes the event so enticing! From the name tags that read “Hello, I’m Superman”, to the thousand-dollar, multiweek pieces of work, the social relevance of the place was undeniable.
And yes, 4chan was filled to the brim with pics of extremely hot girls dressed up as anything they wanted but, most of all, excessively long threads of derision, cheap-shot disrespect and vituperation against the poor souls who failed in the eyes of the 4channers.

I’m sure that didn’t surprise anyone. It is, after all, the purpose of 4chan. It’s an outlet for unabashed creativity; and, when masked behind the promise of anonymity, some people will vent and expel the darkness from their souls. The average 4chan user is perceived as a pornophillic, immature teenager, and insults derived from its threads are quickly dismissed as worthless rants. Still, we’ve seen the kind of positive activism that has stemmed from their ideals. Like the time they overloaded Google Images with requests for Svastika images, so Google had to remove them.
Considering 4chan as a whole, living entity, I truly believe its influence to be positive. It’s not our place to censor expression. It’s our duty to educate younger minds and equip them with the values needed to filter information on their own.
That said, I was truly disgusted upon finding THIS particular article on Men’s Fitness Magazine. What makes 4chan’s rants and insults acceptable but cements Jordan Burchette’s position in history as a major Douche? Well, CONTEXT. Had his article been published anonymously as a thread on a public forum, we would have had our laughs and moved to the next pic of breasts. We’d have dismissed it in the context of the plethora of similar posts expelled by allegedly immature teenagers.

But no, this was published by a grown man, on a respectable magazine, directed towards a very specific audience: JOCKS. Can’t we outgrow Junior High? I’ve written about this elsewhere, and referred to this phenomenon as the Caged Ape Dynamics (you can quote me on that, I came up with it without any credentials in Psychology or Social Studies). Primate social hierarchy is skewed in captivity, and we’ve seen how alpha males resort to unusual cruelty towards lesser males without a clear, sociologically justifiable goal in mind. Violence for the sake of violence. Bullying, as it turns out, is still unexplainable. We could argue for ages on the causes of the bullying phenomenon in humans. It’s been thoroughly proved that bullies don’t necessarily compensate for domestic abuse. Like caged apes, school-confined teenagers simply resort to this kind of behavior without a plausible explanation.

So we’re left with the classic, Hollywood stereotype Jocks/Geeks interaction. Something that we would expect from hormone-addled teenagers resolving their place in the status quo, not from well-established professionals or well-adjusted adults. Granted, many will perceive that grown people dressed poorly as superheroes is a very reliable indicator of social maladjustment, but that would equal the assumption that we dress like this every day. It was a party, a huge, amazing party, and I’m sure not a single soul in this planet can claim flawless prudency in that respect.
Jordan, your article makes you come through as an intolerant and ignorant bigot. Assuming any shade of brown on a person’s skin instantly relates them to junk Tex-Mex food is just wrong. Deriding people for their hobbies, when said people are not interfering with your life, projects the image of a judgmental, narrow-minded man.
Making fun of weight issues is not inherently evil, I assure you. I’m about 26lbs overweight and I make fun of myself, because I look ridiculous and unattractive. Making fun of unathletic and/or obese people ON A FITNESS MAGAZINE is just rude. It’s like dangling a piece of bread in front of a starving child. It’s High School Prom night, relegating the misfits to the corners.

I’m not one to resort to ad hominem critiques, but I’ll make an exception just for you, man. I’m going to stoop to your level. You’re that special (yeeei!). Flaunt your 3.7 GPA all you want, that only means you were good at answering tests. Boast your Communications degree; because you’re communicating you’re an A-Hole. Proclaim you minor in Political Science, so we can poke fun at the fact of your political incorrectness. Divulge your previous work associations with Hasbro while insulting the very people that keep Hasbro on the market, and we’ll see how it goes.

It’s not like you look that good, either, dude. Your profile pics don’t really make you look like fitness magazine material. Unless we all realize that being athletic doesn’t immediately qualify you as a fitness expert any more than it makes you worthy of having some costumed fun. You may not be dressing up as a superhero, but you’re sure dressing up as a professional writer, and that’s just as fictitious as superstrength.

Readers: if anyone wishes to express their feelings to Jordan, he was kind enough to provide with a link with contact info and a taunt: http://www.jordanburchette.com/contact.php

AlbinoDarkBeast, ComicBookTherapy Releases AlbinoDarkKRAKEN!!! Jordan Burchette And His MensFitness.com Article!