The internet takes on ISIS: jokers photoshop rubber duck heads on militants

The internet takes on ISIS: jokers photoshop rubber duck heads on militants
Allahu Quackbar! — 4chan users fight terror with humour and create trend of giving ISIS fighters duck heads, which has since spread across the internet.

While politicians in Europe and the US talk up the threat of ISIS and need to bomb them out of existence, 4chan users (surprise, surprise) have taken a rather different tack. Or should that be ‘quack’?

Seemingly inspired by the eternal comic potential of a good pun, in this case the battle cry of ‘Allahu Quackbar!’, anonymous jokesters have been taking ISIS imagery and replacing the faces of terrorists with the faces of rubber ducks.

“How about castrating the image of IS by replacing the faces on ALL their propaganda photos with bath ducks?” asked a user of 4chan’s ‘Shit4chanSays’ board.

Many have taken the meme further, digitally updating ISIS flags with duck paraphernalia and replacing Kalashnikovs with toilet brushes. The trend has spread beyond 4chan, appearing on Facebook, Twitter and across the internet.

While the British media and others attempt to stoke tension and hysteria, with headlines such as The Sun’s “1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis” headline, it’s nice to see a healthy dose of mockery.

Here are some of our favourite ‘Duck State’ images.

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-1

 

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-2

 

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-3

 

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-4

 

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-5

 

ISIS-Rubber-Ducks-Huck-6

Did we miss any great ones? Tweet us @HuckMagazine.

Latest on Huck

Exploring the impact of colonialism on Australia’s Indigenous communities
Photography

Exploring the impact of colonialism on Australia’s Indigenous communities

New exhibition, ‘Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography’ interrogates the use of photography as a tool of objectification and subjugation.

Written by: Miss Rosen

My sister disappeared when we were children. Years later, I retraced her footsteps
Photography

My sister disappeared when we were children. Years later, I retraced her footsteps

After a car crash that saw Magnum photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa hospitalised, his sister ran away from their home in South Africa. His new photobook, I Carry Her Photo With Me, documents his journey in search of her.

Written by: Lindokuhle Sobekwa

Inside New York City’s hedonistic 2000s skateboarding scene
Photography

Inside New York City’s hedonistic 2000s skateboarding scene

New photobook, ‘Epicly Later’d’ is a lucid survey of the early naughties New York skate scene and its party culture.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Did we create a generation of prudes?
Culture

Did we create a generation of prudes?

Has the crushing of ‘teen’ entertainment and our failure to represent the full breadth of adolescent experience produced generation Zzz? Emma Garland investigates.

Written by: Emma Garland

How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race
Photography

How to shoot the world’s most gruelling race

Photographer R. Perry Flowers documented the 2023 edition of the Winter Death Race and talked through the experience in Huck 81.

Written by: Josh Jones

An epic portrait of 20th Century America
Photography

An epic portrait of 20th Century America

‘Al Satterwhite: A Retrospective’ brings together scenes from this storied chapter of American life, when long form reportage was the hallmark of legacy media.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Sign up to our newsletter

Issue 81: The more than a game issue

Buy it now