we all knew it was just lulz

Many, even most of you, sure.

All? Definitely not. I know someone who succumbed to the brain rot of 4chan, and went from a "normie" who (at least outwardly) treated all races and types of people with respect, to someone who viciously mocked our autistic friends, thought it was funny to use the F bomb and N word in public, and then eventually started getting super political, eventually becoming a trumpist (once that became a thing) then a full on qanon weirdo.

The last time I saw him I stopped by at a local coffee shop where a young black woman was working behind the counter, and he walked up and loudly shouted "HEY MY N****R!" (hard R) to me in front of her, she was mortified and ended up quitting the job, I told him off for it but was so embarassed I didn't go back to that place for months.

We haven't spoken in years, he's separated from the friend group entirely (nobody wants anything to do with him), and it all started with 4chan normalizing this sort of behaviour for him. He was never the sharpest tool in the shed, and you can say it was his own fault for taking it seriously, but it's sad regardless how he went from a lonely teenager to a hateful adult because of these "jokes" that "nobody" took seriously.

I mean, you even admit in your post, about edgelords "they took it seriously", well guess what that shit ruins lives and makes the entire world a worse place.

But wow it was so funny how that one guy said the no no word and didn't mean it right? So funny!