In what appears to be a press release without fact checking, the pedobear is supposedly now an official symbol of an unsavory group of people.
Internet memes are one of the more difficult Web related things to explain to people who are offline. Essentially, they are a collective of jokes, based off of one symbol. In this case, it’s a bear based off of an Asian bear, who has been dubbed the pedobear. Any individual who is familiar with the name, or what a meme is, know the context that follows any of these symbols have no true meaning. These symbols are simply jokes. Granted, these jokes are in poor taste, and would often shock most reasonable individuals, but in this age of desensitization, anything goes on the Internet.
The history of the bear even has it’s own dedicated website, amongst numerous other sources on the Internet. However, KSBY News in San Luis Obispo County California failed to fact check a press release provided by their sheriffs department. The press release is suggesting that, “recently, pedophiles have adopted the bear as a mascot.” In addition to, “Although there have been no reported sightings of the image on the Central Coast, individuals dressed in the bear costume and car decals have been seen in Southern California.”
What would occur an officer pulled over one of these cars with said decals? More than likely they would find a minor. That is because the pedobear is one of the longest running jokes or memes on the 4chan network. 4chan is filled with individuals often refereed to as /b/tards, and a vast portion of these people are minors, or under the age of 24. In other cases these people called be refereed to as anonymous, which often play practical jokes on the media, or gather in Internet formed armies to attack Scientology. Although likely not part of the humorous pranks resulting from 4chan members, this press release simply feeds the Internet trolls. A rather large example of feeding the trolls is when the same pranksters got Oprah to comment on the pedobear and other related matters.
Not only is the press release suggesting parents report the symbol back to the sheriffs department, but if has already been brought to the attention of sites like 4chan and reddit. Regardless of the poor taste relating to the bear, fact checking really should come standard with any press release, let alone journalist degree.
