About
“Shitlord” is a pejorative often used on the Internet against those who are perceived as racist, sexist, homophobic, fat shaming or otherwise prejudicial. The term is often employed by those involved in the online social justice movement to call out bigoted shitposting.
Origin
The earliest known use of the term “shitlord” in the context of perceived bigotry was posted in the Something Awful Forums[6] by member MaggotMaster in response to being called “FaggotMaster” on February 18th, 2009 (shown below).
Spread
On October 21st, 2011, Failheap Challenge Forums[3] member Aurora148 submitted a thread titled “Anthology of Gender Normative Image Oppression NSFW | CHECKYOURPRIVILEGE, SHITLORD,” which received over 1000 pages worth of replies in the next three years. On February 21st, 2012, Redditor thelittleking replied to a /r/SRSDiscussion[5] post requesting examples of non-bigoted pejoratives with a list of insults starting with the word “shitlord.” On August 12th, Redditor brucemo posted a comment in the /r/TheoryOfReddit[4] subreddit claiming that members of /r/shitredditsays use the term “shitlord” for “a white man who blunders through Reddit making racist and sexist comments.” On November 24th, Urban Dictionary[2] user haiyyu submitted an entry for the term “shitlord,” defining it as a insult used by feminists against those who disagree with their beliefs. On March 26th, 2014, the Shitlord Milk Tumblr[8] blog was launched, which highlights photographs of milk containers with bigoted statements written on the side (shown below).
On May 30th, the Tumblr[9]“Just Shitlord Things” was created, featuring Just Little Things-style image macros mocking social justice blogging.
Parody
On the /r/TumblrInAction[7] subreddit, “shitlord” is often used to mock the tone of aggressive, overzealous and easily offended social justice warriors. As of June 2014, over 690 posts referencing the term have been submitted to the subreddit.
Notable Examples
See Ya Later, Shitlords!
On August 9th, 2011, the Yogscast YouTube channel uploaded a Minecraft gameplay video in which the cohost Simon passes cohost Lewis on a boat and yells “See you later, shitlord!” (shown below). The phrase subsequently became one of Simon’s catchphrases on the show.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Raving Atheists Forum – Shitlord of the Week
[2]Urban Dictionary – shitlord
[3]Failheap Challenge – Anthology og Gender Normative Image Oppression – Check Your Privilege Shitlord
[4]Reddit – The Shitlord Cycle
[5]Reddit – thelittleking
[6]Something Awful – FaggotMaster
[7]Reddit – shitlord on /r/TumblrinAction
[8]Tumblr – Shitlord Milk
[9]Tumblr – Just Shitlord Things