(Not really interested in whether 4chan's use of "fag" reflects homophobia. I am responding to your next sentence.)
>Do you think that people posting gore do it because they enjoy the content?
I think there are those who post gore because they get pleasure from grossing people out, outraging people or otherwise eliciting a strong emotional reaction (which is probably what you mean by "shock value") but I do not think that is all of it.
I think a significant fraction of the people posting gore do it because it will induce others to post gory pictures that the OP has not seen yet. And I think that they want that because they derive pleasure from seeing people and animals being harmed.
One of the reason I believe that is a book I read called Among the Thugs, in which a reporter spent some time hanging out with British football hooligans. He reported that after running with the hooligans a while, engaging in violence and contemplating engaging in violence became pleasurable. This and other things suggest to me that many people are capable of deriving pleasure from seeing people get fucked up once they've acquired a taste for it.
The main reservation I have about 4chan is that it seems to be enabling many to acquire a taste for it (and for other things like harassing people on Facebook).
At least when I still browsed /b/, gore was almost entirely to dissuade people from browsing. The logic being that if you couldn't get over it, you weren't all that welcome.
>Do you think that people posting gore do it because they enjoy the content?
I think there are those who post gore because they get pleasure from grossing people out, outraging people or otherwise eliciting a strong emotional reaction (which is probably what you mean by "shock value") but I do not think that is all of it.
I think a significant fraction of the people posting gore do it because it will induce others to post gory pictures that the OP has not seen yet. And I think that they want that because they derive pleasure from seeing people and animals being harmed.
One of the reason I believe that is a book I read called Among the Thugs, in which a reporter spent some time hanging out with British football hooligans. He reported that after running with the hooligans a while, engaging in violence and contemplating engaging in violence became pleasurable. This and other things suggest to me that many people are capable of deriving pleasure from seeing people get fucked up once they've acquired a taste for it.
The main reservation I have about 4chan is that it seems to be enabling many to acquire a taste for it (and for other things like harassing people on Facebook).