Shitposting is an art, if history is any indication

There are few feelings more uncomfortable and alienating than explaining a shitpost to somebody who is unfamiliar with shitposting. How can context-less images — of skeletons with brass instruments, frogs on unicycles, moths, and most recently, the outright banning of the letter “N”, aka the “forbiddem glyph,” from the online lexicon — entertain without presenting anything remotely reminiscent of a joke?

Generally, social media share-bait images follow the same rules of humor that other jokes do: They make an audience expect something, then turn that expectation on its head. Classic image-macro templates like Advice Dog, Success Kid, and Courage Wolf are clear examples of this formula, inspiring an expectation with the top line, before shattering that expectation with the bottom line.

Explaining the forbiddem glyph is nowhere near as simple as breaking down the anatomy of a joke, because there is no joke to be found. The letter N is simply disgustimg amd meeds to be strickem from the ammals of history. Get it?

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