Shia LaBeouf, Rönkkö and Turner’s ongoing ‘He Will Not Divide Us’ protest has proven to be divisive. What was ostensibly a place for supporters to congregate and express their disapproval of the election of Donald Trump, and to stand up against the ongoing division faced by US citizens as a result of his rhetoric, eventually became a breeding ground for conflict, and has now been dismantled by users of the controversial anonymous image board 4chan.
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Originally staged in Queens, New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, the live streamed ongoing protest was prematurely shut down in February as a result of the continued unrest, despite LaBeouf, Rönkkö and Turner intending for it to remain active for the full four years of Trump’s presidency. ‘He Will Not Divide Us’ was then moved to Albuquerque, though LaBeouf was again forced to move its location after shots were fired nearby. Eventually LaBeouf changed the protest from a public event to a live streamed video of a flag waving in an undisclosed location, though now 4chan users have discovered its whereabouts and replaced it with a flag bearing the alt-right’s co-opted Pepe The Frog symbol, along with a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
4chan used contrails and the alignment of the stars to work out the flag’s location.
Users on 4chan began searching for the location of the flag after analyzing the stars that appeared in the stream during the evening. After determining a general location using the location of the stars, they then used the contrails left by planes that were visible in this stream, comparing them with FAA flight paths to narrow down the position of the flag. A nearby 4chan user then drove around this location, honking his horn until it could be heard in the live stream, until it was eventually found. They then replaced the white ‘He Will Not Divide Us’ flag with an image of Pepe, the cartoon frog that has been adopted by supporters of the alt-right, along with a MAGA hat for good measure.
The push to ruin LaBeouf’s protest, which 4chan users referred to as ‘Capture The Flag,’ has been one of few moments of solidarity on the site since the US election. As we previously reported, 4chan previously made efforts to stand up against politicians and the establishment regardless of its users’ political inclinations, though the Donald Trump presidency has caused the site to become fractured. Anonymous, the hacktivist collective forged on the image board, has spoken out against its inability to protest Trump’s presidency as a result of this division, calling upon its members to still hold the 45th president of the US accountable for his actions. Unfortunately, it appears that the majority have already picked their side, as the continued growth of the alt-right has enveloped “channer culture” and made the two indistinguishable from one another.
Watch the video of 4chan “capturing the flag” below:
