About

The Cult of Kek, also known as the Church of Kek, is a satirical religion based around the worship of the ancient Egyptian deity Kek^[4] (also spelled Kuk or Keku), an androgynous God of darkness and chaos who is often depicted as a frog or frog-headed man in male form or a snake-headed woman in female form. On 4chan, the character Pepe the Frog is often considered a modern avatar of the diety, who uses ancient Egyptian meme magic to influence the world, often by fulfilling the wishes of posts that end in repeating numbers. Additionally, the deity is often associated with the popular 4chan slang term “Kek”, and is often embraced by supporters of 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Practitioners are known to frequently write “praise Kek,” and jokingly refer to the church as a “religion of peace.”

Origin

On November 27th, 2015, a 4chan user submitted a post about the Egyptian deity to the /his/ (History) board on 4chan, featuring a depiction of the god as a frog-headed man (shown below).^[10]

Spread

On March 11th, 2016, Redditor river_of_karma submitted an image macro associating Pepe the Frog, Donald Trump and “memetic magic” with the ancient Egyptian deity to /r/pepethefrog^[2] (shown below).

On June 4th, a “Kek worship general” thread was created on the /trash/ (off-topic) board on 4chan.^[8] On June 25th, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a post to the /r9k/ (Robot 9000) board asking if viewers had “accepted lord Kek, ancient Egyptian god of darkness, into their lives?” (shown below).^[5]

On August 5th, YouTuber Ganzorf uploaded a video titled “Who is Kek? – The Dark God Rising,” which discussed the Cult of Kek (shown below).

On September 12th, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a thread associating the Church of Kek with black magic (shown below).^[1]

On September 14th, Redditor alexmikli submitted a post titled “TIL of the Gyptian god Kek, a god of chaos and nighttime who was represented by a frog” to the /r/TIL^[3] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 1,200 votes (93% upvoted) and 100 comments within 48 hours. The following day, a parody of the Clinton campaign blog post referring to Pepe the Frog as a “symbol associated with white nationalism” was created, which discussed the Kek deity and its relationship with “meme magic” (shown below). Also on September 15th, The Cult of KEK Facebook^[6] page was launched.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

The Heroin Family Photo Controversy refers to the reaction following an Ohio city’s Facebook post that showed a picture of a couple in a parked car passed out from heroin use while a child was in the backseat.

Origin

On September 8th, 2016, the City of East Liverpool, Ohio Facebook page^[1] posted pictures taken by their police department while investigating a call of an incapacitated driver. The pictures showed uncensored photos of two adults, Rhonda Pasek and James Lee Acord passed out on heroin while Pasek’s grandson was awake in the backseat.

They also posted the police report. Along with the photos, the page wrote an explanation of their decision to post them.

“Warning Graphic Content!
The city Police department recently responded to a call of an incapacitated driver, attached are photos from the scene along with the actual police report. The city administration works hand in hand with our men in blue to combat this epidemic and together with the law director we have made the decision to release the attached.
We feel it necessary to show the other side of this horrible drug. We feel we need to be a voice for the children caught up in this horrible mess. This child can’t speak for himself but we are hopeful his story can convince another user to think twice about injecting this poison while having a child in their custody.
We are well aware that some may be offended by these images and for that we are truly sorry, but it is time that the non drug using public sees what we are now dealing with on a daily basis. The poison known as heroin has taken a strong grip on many communities not just ours, the difference is we are willing to fight this problem until it’s gone and if that means we offend a few people along the way we are prepared to deal with that.”

Spread

Immediately, the post came under fire for the fact it did not censor the boy’s face. The following day, Reason.com^[2] published an article criticizing that and also pointing out what it saw as a hypocritical stance by police officers that they can post photos humiliating people but people can’t post photos showing police brutality. Jezebel^[9] would later insinuate that the post was simply police propaganda.

The story soon gained national attention, and was covered by CNN,^[3] The Los Angeles Times,^[4] Huffington Post,^[5] and more.

On September 14th, 2016, it was reported by NBC^[6] that the boy in the picture was moving to a new home in South Carolina with his great-aunt and great-uncle. However, his great-aunt accused the police of humiliating her family by posting the photos.^[7][8]

Online Spread

The images inspired a few image macros on 4chan, shown below.

Search Interest

External References

The kebab guy, also known as the_kebab_guy, owns a restaturant in Sydney, Australia. He became public on 09/11/2016, when he promised, that every 9gagger does not have to pay for the food.

About

The Political Compass is a two-axis model of the political spectrum that has spawned many parody edits.

Origin

The graph was created by Politicalcompass.org, and consists of Right-Left on the horizontal axis and Authoritarian-Liberterian on the vertical access. The resulting sectors are Authoritarian Right/Left and Libertarian Right/Left. ^[1]

Spread

WIP

Notable Examples

WIP

Search Interest

External References

About

Top 10s is the YouTube handle of Charlie, an English YouTuber known for his top 10 style list videos, often on bizarre or controversial topics.

Online History

On March 15th, 2015, Charlie launched his YouTube channel under the handle “Conspiracy Theory", making videos on conspiracy theories about companies and people, such as his first video about subliminal messages in Disney movies (shown below) He changed his channel handle to “Top 10s” after making his first video. He quickly grew a large audience for making these videos and branched out into topics other than creepy videos.

After a few months on the site, he uploaded 10 Worst Bullfighting Accidents (shown below), which was his first video to achieve over 1 million views. After his first year on YouTube he had amassed over 140,000 subscribers and over 30 million views.

Reputation

Although Charlie has never had a feud with any other YouTuber he is known in the YouTube community for his “clickbait” thumbnails which often include scantily-clad women and sometimes highly-edited photographs.

Some examples of his “clickbait”.

Personal Life

Little is known about Charlie’s personal life, except that he lives in London and is not in a relationship. He has made a question and answer video (shown below) on his channel along with a face reveal but did not reveal much of his personal life.

External References

YouTube channel
FACEREVEAL + Q&A

About

We’re watching infomercials is a series of YouTube videos which involve the Kanker sisters watching TV in which the screen has been changed to view different scenes from different movies, shows, or even the same show. Then towards the end of the video, Lee Kanker blurts out “That junk wrecked my clothes”.

Origin

{W.I.P.}

Spread

On Aug 8, 2010 Youtuber Peter uploaded a video called We’re watching 682 Infomercials. The video receive 1,023 views.

Various Examples

Search Interest

About

“(Song) But It Keeps Getting Faster” refers to a series of video game and pop songs remixed such that the tempo of the original track gradually increases over time.

Origin

The first “…but it keeps getting faster” remix is of the song “Bonetrousle” from the Undertale soundtrack^[1] made by GitHub user joezeng. It was posted February 8th, 2016 to the /r/undertale subreddit^[2] by redditor Falzar and gained 583 points, 98% upvotes as of September 19th, 2016. The same day, redditor walle303 posted a link to an index^[3] to “keeps getting faster” remixes he and joezing had made to the /r/undertale subreddit in a thread titled “(Insert Song Name) except it keeps getting faster [Index Page],”^[4] which gained 138 points and 98% upvotes.

Spread

Over the next few months, “Keeps Getting Faster” remixes remained part of the Undertale fandom, as dozens of Undertale related remixes appeared on Youtube. There was also Super Mario Brothers 2": remix uploaded to Youtube by theFizzyNalor.^[5]

The format began to spread outside of video game soundtracks to pop songs and other types of music in August 2016. On August 18th, Youtuber “chopping boss” posted a Nutshack Edit that gained over 130,000 views in a month.^[8] Another contributing factor to the remix-style’s spread was the inception of Keeps-Getting-Faster,^[6] a Tumblr dedicated to posting “Keeps Getting Faster” remixes. On August 19th, 2016, its first day of existence, it posted several remixes, the most popular being Britney Spears’ song “Toxic,”^[7] which gained over 130,000 notes in a month. Other popular remixess of theirs include a-ha’s “Take On Me,”^[9] The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,”^[10] and “All Star”. ^[11]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

WIP.

W.I.P.

About

Politics (from Greek πολιτικός politikos, literally “of, for, or relating to citizens”)^[2] is the practice and study of influencing the policies, interpretations, and actions of government.^[1] It encompasses a range of broad topics including political science, political history, and political philosophy.

History

W.I.P.

Reception

W.I.P.

Fandom

W.I.P.

Related Subcultures

Alt-right

Alt-Right refers to a segment of right-wing conservative principles, as well as the faction of politicians and constituents, characterized by its vehment opposition to multiculturalism, feminism and socialism in the United States. Presented as an alternative to mainstream American conservatism, the alt-right is known for its vocal support for 2016 Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, especially on political discussion boards like 4chan’s /pol/ and Reddit’s /r/The_Donald.

Anarcho-Capitalism

Anarcho-Capitalism, often abbreviated as Ancap, is a libertarian political philosophy promoting individual freedoms, private property and free markets through the removal of state governments. As a right-wing branch of anarchism, ancap is distinct from traditional left-wing branches that are typically associated with communist, syndicalist and mutualist economic theories. Online, ancap-themed web comics often use black and yellow colors taken from the Swedish AnarkoKapitalistisk Front flag.

Anonymous

Anonymous is an ad-hoc group of Internet users who are often associated with various hacktivist operations, including protests against Internet censorship, Scientology and government corruption. Users of the anonymous image board 4chan, launched in late 2003, began using the term “Anonymous” when referring to themselves as a collective. User registration is not required on the site and users who do not identify themselves are given the label “Anonymous.” In 2004, a 4chan administration manipulated the site to force every user to be displayed as “Anonymous,” which perpetuated the notion that users of the site was part of an anonymous group.

Feminism

Feminism is a socio-political movement that centers around the idea of improving the living standards and cultural opinion of women, both through changing female representation in the media and legislation. Individual feminists and groups vary widely with their opinions on specific issues pertaining to gender equality and society, with many subcategories and waves of feminism. Feminism began to develop as a philosophical idea in the early 19th century, encouraged by works such as Soujorner’s “Ain’t I a Woman”^[7]. In the 20th century, feminism developed into a social movement through activists in the suffrage movement. The movement is oftentimes described in “waves”^[8], starting with the first wave and continuing on to the third/fourth waves, although there is much debate over how the waves should be categorized.

Hacktivism

Hacktivism refers to people, notably Anonymous, acting outside of the criminal justice system to carry out vigilante missions through the subversive use of computers or the Internet.^[5] The alternate term Internet Vigilantism is often used as a synonym though the terms have nuanced differences.^[6]

ISIS / Daesh

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State, is a Jihadist militant group of Sunni Muslims based in parts of Syria and Iraq which originated as part of the global Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. The group has gained notoriety for their aggressive propaganda campaigns and prolific social media presence, which came under even more scrutiny by the press in June 2014 after the group released morbid photographs of an apparent massacre of captured Iraqi Army soldiers via Twitter.

LGBT

LGBT, short for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, is an initialism used to refer to a loosely connected global community of non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people. The definition also applies to various supporters and organizations, who are actively involved in the advocacy of civil rights for the gender and sexual minorities. The alternate term LGBTQIA is often used to emphasize the inclusion of the queer, intersex, and asexual communities. On the Internet and in the English-speaking media, the term has been used to describe the community of gender minorities, the social movement for the advancement of their civil rights and a wide range of political issues pertaining to gender equality, such as same-sex marriage, homophobia and discriminatory laws against members of the LGBT community.

Nazism

Nazism, otherwise known as Nationalsozialismus (National Socialism in English), is a fringe alt-right political ideology that became prominent as a result of World War II-era Germany. Typically identified as being totalitarian right-wing on the political compass, it explicitly opposes the ideas of liberalism, socialism, communism, and all forms of anarchy. It advocates nationalism, racial/ethnic purity, social Darwinism, antisemitism, and the Organic Theory of the State. It is closely related to fascism, another extreme ideology that developed at around the same time in the 20th century.

North Korea

North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is an East Asian country which constitutes the northern half of the Korean peninsula. Although the country claims to be a Democratic-Socialist state, it is closer to a totalitarian dictatorship, with a notable cult-of-personality surrounding the Kim family since the countries establishment. As international tensions between the country and other nations rose in the 2010s, the country became the subject of many jokes and memes. North Korea was officially formed in 1948, with Kim Il-Sung as its official leader, and the south, officially formed as the “Republic of Korea” with Syngman Rhee as its first president.

Social Justice Blogging

Social Justice Blogging, also more broadly referred to as social media activism, is the use of blogging and social networking platforms to publicize a wide range of individual cases relating to social injustice, including racism, classism, sexism and ablism. The influence of online activism on public opinion has grown significantly with the emergence of social justice bloggers. However, the group has been criticized for propagating unreliable information and espousing slacktivism and herd mentality, as reflected in the pejorative term “social justice warriors.”^[4]

Related Memes

Cultural Marxism

Cultural Marxism is a conceptual term used to describe the idea that culture is a main driving force for inequality in the Western world. Since its coinage by American sociology professor Trent Schroyer in 1973, the term has grown into a popular conspiracy theory among far right wing political conservatives who assert that the normalization of political correctness in modern-day society is a Marxist plot collectively undertaken by influential liberals in academic, artistic and cultural spheres to undermine Western traditions and Christianity. Online the term is frequently used on political image and message boards such as 4chan’s /pol/ board.

False Flag Conspiracies

False Flag Conspiracies refer to when conspiracy theorists describe mainstream events as having been perpetrated by governments or entities that did not actually perpetrate them, often in the name of creating diversion from another political event. A false flag is a military operation originated by the navy, where a boat would fly the flag of another country when completing an operation, in order to fool onlookers into believing that the action was being committed by the other country. False flag operations have been pretexts for declarations of war on many occasions, including during World War II, when a false flag attack on German forces by Germany convinced the German state to attack and eventually take over Poland, and the Second Sino-Japanese War, when a Japanese detonation of a Mongolian railway was used as a pretext to attack Manchuria.^[9]

Lesbian Farmer Conspiracy

Lesbian Farmer Conspiracy is a theory put forth by American conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh which alleges that the United States government has been quietly subsidizing a rural settlement program for “lesbian farmers” to relocate to rural states traditionally affiliated with the Republican party (“Red States”) in order to swing their votes in favor of the Democratic party. On August 16th, 2016, conservative blog the Washington Free Beacon^[10] published an article about an upcoming summit held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to discuss LGBT people in rural America. The piece suggested that the summit would “teach lesbian and transgender hillbillies how to get subsidies from the government like rural housing loans and ‘community facility grants.”

Nationality Stereotypes

Nationality Stereotypes are generalizations about different countries that are often used as a form of trolling or flaming. These can be considered as racism and are often spread after a certain event or time that occurred in a certain nation or region. If the event or time can easily be mocked, then stereotypes are sure to spread. These stereotypes have a large presence on the internet, not just in real life.

Political Compass

Political Compass is a two-axis model of the political spectrum between libertarian/authoritarian and economic-left/economic-right. Similar to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, it is a model with websites that invite users to take a survey to see where they stand. It has spawned many parody edits. The term “political compass” has been trademarked by Pace News Limited since 2001, and the graph was created by Politicalcompass.org.^[3] It consists of Economic Right/Left on the horizontal axis and Authoritarian-Liberterian on the vertical access. The resulting sectors are Authoritarian Right/Left and Libertarian Right/Left.

Red Guy Blue Guy

Red Guy Blue Guy memes consist of sign people, usually colored in red or blue, posed in such a way that they symbolize a sort of ideology, also known as an “-ism” (i.e. socialism, capitalism, libertarianism, etc.), but not necessarily. The blue character often represents the common man while the red character often represents an important figure like a leader of some sort.

The Illuminati

The Illuminati is a purported secret society consisting of world governments, corporations and celebrities that play an important role in global affairs. Many believe the goal of the organization is to establish a global totalitarian government known as the “New World Order.” Due to its long history in American mythology, conspiracy theories regarding the Illuminati are prevalent online and are often mocked by those who are skeptical of the organization’s existence.

Search Interest

External References

About

Timbs is a shorthand for Timberlands, referring to a brand of tan, waterproof leather boots produced by The Timberland Company. Online, the boots are often associated with New York City hip hop fashion.

Origin

On January 13th, 2016, Redditor realSpoops submitted a photograph of a Timberland boot USB flash drive with the caption “New York rappers save their music on these type of USB’s” to /r/BlackPeopleTwitter^[6] (shown below).

Spread

On April 5th, 2016, YouTuber FilthyFrank posted a comedy skit video titled “Loser Reads Hater Comments 4,” in which he orders a man to give him his “timbs” at gunpoint (shown below). Within five months, the video gained over 5.7 million views and 48,300 comments.

On May 25th, 2016, Twitter user @ChiTown_Eazy^[4] tweeted photographs of a man wearing Timberland boots with holes cut into the sides and the toe cap removed (shown below, left). That day, the image was reposted to the /r/BlackPeopleTwitter^[5] subreddit with the caption “Timbs Season,” garnering more than 4,200 votes (94% upvoted) and 40 comments in three months. On June 25th, Redditor SupremeBlackGuy submitted a photograph of professional basketball player Derrick Rose on a sidewalk in New York City with the caption “Derrick Rose showed up in NY without Timbs. Strike 1” (shown below, right). Within two months, the post gathered upwards of 2,500 votes (01% upvoted) and 60 comments on /r/BlackPeopleTwitter.^[1]

On August 14th, the Family Friendly Memes For The Dankest Of The Tweens Facebook page posted a children’s book cover with a Timberland book photoshopped on the front (shown below, left).^[8] On August 31st, the Keeper of the Memes Facebook page posted a screenshot from a dress-up video game featuring a pair of Timblerlands (shown below, right).^[7]

On September 5th, the no_chillbruh Instagram feed posted a video of a woman repeatedly who becomes enamored with a man wearing Timberlands after being repeatedly catcalled while walking down a sidewalk in New York City (shown below). Within two weeks, the video gained over 146,000 views and 540 comments.

On September 14th, a Facebook page titled “Haha yeah dude I love memes” posted a photoshopped screen capture of a CNN news segment with the caption “NASA Finds a Fresh Pair of Timbs” (shown below, left).^[2] On September 17th, the Organically Grown Memes Facebook page posted an illustration of a figure wearing Timberlands on his hands with the caption “You can’t just put timbs on everything” (shown below, right).^[3]

Search Interest

External References

About

Pokémon Sun and Moon are upcoming entries in Nintendo’sPokémon series. It represents the seventh generation of Pokémon.^[1] Taking place in the Alola region, the game has several notable differences from previous games, including “Alola” versions of Generation I Pokémon and a rumored departure from the Gym system of progression that has been a staple of Pokémon games since the first generation. They will be released November 18th, 2016.

History

Pokémon Sun & Moon were announced on February 26th, 2016, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original Japanese releases of Pokémon Red and Green. It was announced with a trailer (below, left), which has been the primary method with which Nintendo has leaked information about the games. On May 10th, Nintendo released another trailer introducing three new starter Pokémon, Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio (below, center). On August 11th, they released a video introducing Team Skull, Alola’s villains (below, right).

Reception

Pre-Release

Pre-release reception for Sun and Moon has been mostly positive, as fans have praised Nintendo for offering substantial information about the upcoming game in video form rather than leaking information in magazines.^[2]

Online Reaction

Fans have responded to each announcement with jokes about the content in the release. This has included reaction to the new starters,^[3] Team Skull leader Guzma, new pokémon Mimikyu, and more.

Alola Exeggutor

One Pokémon announcement that drew the attention of the internet was the Alolan version of Generation I pokémon Exeggutor, a pokémon based off a coconut tree but with a massive neck. It inspired hundreds of images and videos mocking the goofiness of the character.

Wicke

Following September 4th’s introduction video of “Ultra Beasts” and “The Aether Foundation,” fans began to make rule 34 pictures of Wicke, an assistant researcher at The Aether Foundation.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Wikipedia – Pokemon Sun & Moon

^[2]Twitter – @TheJWittz

^[3]Kotaku – The Internet Reacts To Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Starters

Overview

2016 New York and New Jersey Bombings refers to several bombings that took place in New York City, as well as Seaside Park and Elizabeth, New Jersey in late September 2016. While no one was injured in any explosions that occurred in New Jersey, 29 people were injured by a bomb that detonated in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York.

Background

On September 17th, 2016, a suspicious backpack was discovered in Seaside Park, New Jersey close to the start of the Seaside Semper Five 5k marathon. Meanwhile, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can nearby on Ocean Avenue but no one was injured. Several other pipe bombs were subsequently found in the area. That evening, a pressure cooker bomb containing small ball bearings exploded in front of 133 West 23rd Street in New York City, injuring 29 civilians. An additional pressure cooker bomb was found near a mailbox four blocks away. The following day, a suspicious package was discovered by two homeless men at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which police later determined contained pipe bombs. One of the bombs accidentally detonated while police were attempting to disarm it, but no one was injured.

Developments

Dumpster Photograph

Following the Manhattan bombing, many witnesses claimed the explosion came from a nearby dumpster on West 23rd. That evening, a photograph of a twisted dumpster widely circulated on Twitter (shown below).^[1] The following day, authorities revealed that the explosion came from a construction box.

Online Reaction

Immediately after the Manhattan bombing occurred, the BunkerHD YouTube channel posted security camera footage of the explosion (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video gained over 2.3 million views and 5,500 comments. Meanwhile, the video reached the front page of the /r/videos^[3] subreddit.

Also on September 17th, a post about the bombing reached the front page of /r/news. On September 18th, YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson posted a video titled “The Truth About the New York Bombing,” which criticized Clinton’s response to the incident (shown below). On September 19th, Redditor GiantFeetTinyHands submitted a post claiming that moderators on the /r/news subreddit were deleting any posts naming the Manhattan bombing suspect.^[6]

Suspect’s Arrest

On September 19th, authorities revealed they were looking for suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghan-born United States citizen who worked at the restaurant First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth, New Jersey (shown below).

According to reports, Rahami had traveled to Afghanistan several years prior when he began showing “signs of radicalization.” Later that day, Rahami was confronted by a police officer when he was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar in Linden, New Jersey, and shot the officer in the abdomen with a pistol. Additional police arrived on the scene shortly after, where one officer was shot in the hand and Rahami was shot several times before taken into custody. Neither of the police officers’ injuries were deemed life threatening.

Search Interest

External References

About

#RedrawReigen refers to a hashtag that encourages users to draw the character Arataka Reigen from the popular Japanese webtoon and anime series Mob Psycho 100 performing activities that mimics pre-existing images and stock photographs.

Origin

The hashtag was launched by Twitter user DanaaaaAAHHH who tweeted alongside two drawings of the character Arataka Reigen based on a stock photo of a man eating a salad^[1] and a woman pointing a gun at a gold fish^[3] on September 18th, 2016. Within 2 days, both post gathered over 2.100 likes and 1.900 retweets, and more than 500 likes and 300 likes respectively (shown below, from left to right).

Spread

The hashtag gained popularity primarily on Twitter^[2], Facebook^[5], and Tumblr.^[4] On September 18th, 2016, Twitter user sketchere contributed to the hashtag by posting a redraw of Reigen and Dimple based on the stock photo of a man riding another individual while using a laptop^[6] (shown below, left). Within 2 days, the tweet gathered over 2.400 likes and 1.700 retweets. On the same day, Twitter user oya? posted an drawing of Reigen and Shigeo Kageyama based on an image of a man who is seemingly levitating a slice of pizza^[7] (seen below, right). Within 2 days, the tweet gathered over 2.000 likes and 2.100 retweets.

Various Examples

WIP

Search Interest

None Available.

External References

About

Office Space is a 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. The film stars Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Ajay Naidu, Gary Cole and Mike Judge himself.

Media References

On October 5th, 2008, Family Guy aired it’s 2nd episode of Season 7 titled “I Dream of Jesus” that parodies a scene from Office Space.

Related Memes

That Would Be Great

That Would Be Great is an image macro series featuring the character Bill Lumbergh. The captions typically mimic the character’s non-confrontational speech with various requests ending with the expression “That’d be great.”

I Believe You Have My Stapler

I Believe You Have My Stapler is a catchphrase originally uttered by the character Milton in the movie Office Space. It is often featured in YTMNDs, image macros, and remix videos.

Printer Smash

Smashing Stuff/ Smash My X is a popular internet trend that involves individuals uploading video of themselves mutilating and destroying various objects, usually popular electronics like the PS3 or iPhone. The trend has sparked several derivatives, as participants find more objects to destroy and more creative ways of destroying them.

Case Of The Mondays

Case of the Mondays is a line in the film delivered by actress Jennifer Jane Emerson.

Search Interest

About

Describe Yourself In 3 Fictional Characters is an online forum game in which participants select fictional characters from popular media that they believe demonstrate various aspects of their personality.

Origin

While similar variations of the game have long been popular online, one of the earliest known instances of the “three fictional characters” variations appeared on October 1st, 2014, when DeviantArt user AshAttempts posted a thread to the site’s forums titled “If you had to describe yourself using three fictional characters, who would you choose and why?”^[1]

Spread

A thread asking the “three fictional characters” was posted to Reddit on January 10th, 2016.^[6] The game started appearing on Twitter in April 2016. The first known instance was posted by @DerrickArthur on April 2nd,^[2] and featured Hagrid from Harry Potter, Chris Farley, and Ham Porter from The Sandlot. (shown below).

After occasional reappearances, the game surged in popularity in mid-September 2016, following a the appearance of a hashtag "#3CharacterDescription started by @Mr_Millstone^[3] on September 13th. Over the following week, the game would spread and spark parody variations. It also appeared on Facebook the same week.^[4] On September 20th, 2016, The Daily Dot^[5] covered the game’s spread.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Bowl of M&Ms is an image macro series featuring a photograph of a bowl containing a button-shaped candy, typically M&M’s or Skittles, captioned with a message excusing fear-based stereotypes about a particular group of people.

Origin

On May 26th, 2014, Tumblr user The Frogman published a post denouncing the Men’s Rights Movement in the context of the 2014 Isla Vista killings. At the end of the post, he compared violent men to a percentage of poisoned M&Ms in a bowl.^[2]

“You say not all men are monsters?
Imagine a bowl of M&Ms. 10% of them are poisoned.
Go ahead. Eat a handful.
Not all M&Ms are poison.”

Spread

On May 28th, Redditor stensaas submitted a graphic of The Frogman’s post titled “This is such horrible logic” to /r/TumblrInAction,^[7] where it received upwards of 2,000 votes (95% upvoted) and 600 comments prior to being archived (shown below).

On June 3rd, TheFrogman^[4] published a viewer-submitted post comparing featuring Islamophobic and anti-Semitic versions of his M&M statement, which he argued were “false equivalencies.”

“oh, you say not all muslims are terrorists? imagine a bowl of m&m’s…. oh, you say not all black people are criminals? imagine a bowl of m&m’s…. oh, you say not all women cut their husbands’ penises off and murder them while they sleep? imagine a bowl of m&m’s…. oh, you say not all jewish people are greedy? imagine a bowl of m&m’s…”

On July 5th, 2014, the DebunkingDenialism^[3] blog published an article condemning the M&Ms analogy as an “irrational monstrosity of bigotry.”

Syrian Refugee Image Macro

On April 24th, 2016, Redditor GlassSmithOfTheStars submitted an image macro titled “Muslim immigration is like Russian roulette” to the /r/The_Donald^[8] subreddit (shown below). In the comments section, Redditor BLSPolitics noted the similarity to a “bowl of Skittles” meme that “feminists” use to excuse fearing men.

On July 2nd, 2016, a “bowl of M&Ms” image macro comparing poisoned candies to terrorist Syrian refugees was submitted to the /r/forwardsfromgrandma^[9] subreddit (shown below).

On September 19th, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted a photograph of a bowl of skittles with the caption “If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? / That’s our Syrian refugee problem” (shown below).^[6] Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 19,500 likes and 12,800 retweets.

Immediately after, Trump was widely criticized for posting the image, with many accusing him of promoting Islamophobia. On September 20th, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter senior writer Seth Abramovitch tweeted a response from a Skittles representative, stating that the company did not feel it was “an appropriate analogy” (shown below).^[5]

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online controversy, including NPR, The Daily Dot,

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Brangelina Breakup refers to actress and lecturer Angelina Jolie’s divorce from actor and longtime husband Brad Pitt.

Background

On September 20th, 2016, TMZ^[1] reported that Angelina Jolie had filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, citing “a conflict over the kids, substance abuse, and anger.” Later the same day, Page Six^[2] reported that the divorce was a result of an alleged affair Pitt had with actress Marion Cotillard uncovered by a private eye hired by Jolie. The divorce was filed on September 15th, following two years of marriage, twelve total years as a couple.

Online Reaction

That afternoon, #Brangelina and Jennifer Aniston were trending topics on Twitter and Facebook as social media users expressed grief and made jokes referring to Aniston and Pitt’s storied 2005 breakup that occurred as a result of Pitt’s affair with Jolie.

Bustle,^[3] The Daily Mail,^[4], International Business Times,^[5] and the New York Daily News^[6] all published stories reacting to the surge of Jennifer Aniston memes made on Twitter that day.

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Overview

TomBroDude’s Death refers to the passing of popular Weird Twitter user @TomBroDude and the tribute paid to him by his friends, retweeting his tweets en masse and trolling a Philadelphia news station on Twitter.

Background

On September 18th, 2016, Tom’s girlfriend used his Twitter account to announce that he had unexpectedly passed away the day before.^[1] The cause of death is unknown, though Tom had tweeted about struggling with heroin^[4] and being hospitalized shortly before his passing.^[5]

Developments

On January 30th, 2014, he tweeted “Like, when I die please just read my best jokes at my funeral and laugh aloud.”^[2] Twitter users responded by retweeting some of his best jokes in memoriam. A GoFundMe^[3] was set up by Jacob Price the same day to help his mother and girlfriend pay for his final expenses, and exceeded its goal of $5,000 by over $3,000 in less than three days.

@6abc Raid

Tom had a tradition of trolling ABC’s Philadelphia affiliate, WVPI, whenever they used the hashtag #6abcSnow.^[6] He also often tweeted a picture of a naked man,^[7] to the point where some Twitter users thought it was him.^[8] On September 19th, 2016, a substantial amount of Weird Twitter users spammed WVPI’s Twitter account, @6abc, with pictures of the naked man in tribute of Tom.

The event was picked up by Adweek^[9] and The Daily Dot.^[10] On September 20th, it was discovered by Twitter user @MD_Morrison^[12] that the naked man photo was of an Orange County porn star named “Michaelpornman,”^[11] which sparked another series of jokes.

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About

Facebook Official is an expression indicating that a couple has selected the “In a Relationship” profile setting with one another on the social networking site Facebook.

Origin

On December 11th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[1] user ilovebronsoncornrows submitted an entry for “Facebook Official,” describing it as “the ultimate definition of a college relationship” (shown below).

Spread

On August 19th, 2008, Gawker^[5] published an article titled “No, She Won’t Go ‘Facebook Official’ With You.” On April 2nd, 2009, the college news site North by Northwestern^[3] published an article about university students becoming “Facebook official” in their romantic relationships. On October 5th, 2011, the MineLeggo4nia YouTube channel uploaded a music video for the song “Facebook Official” by the boy band Heart2Heart (shown below).

On September 10th, 2014, the Elite Daily YouTube channel posted a comedy skit titled “Becoming ‘Facebook Official’ is a Huge Mistake” (shown below, left). On January 6th, BuzzFeed^[4] published an article titled “No One Wants to Admit They’re in a Relationship on Facebook Anymore.” On February 11th, the internet news site Elite Daily^[2] published an article titled “Why Couples Don’t Make Their Relationships Facebook Official Anymore.” On July 30th, the BuzzFeedYellow YouTube channel posted a video in which several men discuss the meaning of “Facebook official” (shown below, right).

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External References

ABOUT:
Rachid is the special head of Thekairi78, a french youtuber.
He is declined on meme