I always saw it as jest over viewing someone who, when forced into something as terrible as suicide, is then reveled and called a hero once they're gone, despite no one caring prior.

Like making "an hero" into a meme was making fun of the way people need to make it about themselves by creating a spectacle and lesson around someone else's hardship.

Viewed through the 4chan lens, the people on 4chan were all suicidal and depressed, and had contempt for others who disregarded them until they were no longer around.

Maybe I gave them too much credit but I also saw that shit happening real-time in high school after a couple deaths. One guy who committed suicide after a particularly bad benzo withdrawal was a step away from getting a purple heart, while another guy who died a week prior from cancer got a 5 second blurb in the announcements and was quickly forgotten about. I somewhat contradicted my point, but the real thing I'm trying to get at was the performance of grief over genuine grief, and I always read the og "an hero" post as a performance.

TIL but also I'm not remotely surprised.