Thursday, September 20, 2012

All Your Base (Li-An Chen)

When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why? Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

All you base are belong to us, often shortened to “All Your Base”, AYBABTU or simply AYBABTU, or simply “AYB”. It first comes from in year 1989, English version of Zero Wing is released in Europe, featuring a variety of Japanese translation errors. It is a broken English phrase that comes out to be a popular meme that influence across the internet at the dawn as early as in 1998.

An awkward Engrish translation of “all of your bases are under our control,” It is a opening dialogue from a nostalgic side-scrolling shoot ém up game released in 1989, Zero Wing.

Due to large amount of Engrish poor grammar, “All Your Base” dialogue scene soon become a popular discussion forums in 2000. The slogan has quickly spread to thousands of image macros and flash animations. “All Your Base” has soon be known on the website and in real life.

Because it is remarked for poor Japanese Engrish and so it soon becomes famous and quickly spread on the internet.

The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

The use of game phrase and footage in meme started from a side scrolling arcade shooter, Zero Wing which has released in 1989. The quote is from the opening dialogue when the player’s enemy, the leader of CATS has appears.

Below is the opening dialogue in Zero Wing:

Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It’s you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha ha ha ha …
Operator: Captain !!
Captain: Take off every ‘ZIG’!!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move ‘ZIG’.
Captain: For great justice.

The above poor grammar translation is an example of Engrish. It is because the original conversation was written in an Asian language but translated poorly into English.

How popular did it become and over what time span? (include "Google Insights" interest).

Its first present is hard to designate since the site has been removed; however, it was widely spread from 1998 to 1999 on the Rage Game forum, which later converted to Classic Gaming powered by IGN. It was also well-known on the Zany Video Game Quotes, which put up Zero Wang’s image on its main page.

In June 2000, Overclock.org uploaded their Zero Wing Dub Project, and also provided different version of the introduction, which was voiced by Wayne Newton. This would likely be the very first instance of a response video.
Around February 15th, 2001, Bad CRC of Tribal War released the notable music video, and it was posted on Newgrounds a day later.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0&q=all%20your%20base%2Care%20belong%20to%20us%2Cthe%20cake%20is%20a%20lie%2C%2C&geo=&gprop=&cmpt=q

Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been influenced by this.

Half-Life 1/Scientist Slaughterhouse remix September 19, 2012, 321,596 views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l5X_TdczLVg

All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us (Snakes on a Plane mashup), September 19, 2012,

2,026,758 views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ihAoSwQqo44#!

All Your Base music video Seotember 19, 268,774 + views
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k52HCHOSpr0
All Your Chocolate Rain Are Belong To Us (Tay Zonday mashup), September 19, 2012, 433,490 views
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dUyxurUWtSQ

Team Fortress 2 remix September 19, 2012 77,207 views
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N_0dx7bT-7M
Toontown Mashup September 19, 2012, 405,356 views
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HQkccZpcvZg

All Your Base Are Belong To ORLY? (Owl remix) September 19, 2012, 100,948 views
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LP4uUnOJL2M

Include videos or images when relevant to illustrate your description –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fvTxv46ano&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjW_FKQHFs&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfMC2aVhYuo&feature=related

Lioncash (Liya Zhang)

Meme: Lioncash

Name: Liya Zhang

Date: 9/17/2012

Operation Lioncash is an anonymous meme that involves printing a “lion” (>:3) over the face of the bill and then releasing them “back into the wild.” It started on April 17, 2008 by the member of the /b/ (random) image board hosted by 4Chan, of putting the lion smile ">:3" on the face of George Washington. It is also a global scheme to replace all money in the world with “lioncash”.

The operation stated the mission which could be concluded into only one sentence: “For each participant to print lions on as many of his or her duckets as possible, until all money is converted to lion money, thus uniting the world by breaking down financial barriers.” The reason posted on the Internet seems obvious: hope break down financial barriers with single currency. As to me, the reasons for its popularity may meet more than it.

(1) Social behavior under the context of upcoming financial crisis

During the financial crisis which was gradually starting to surface before August, 2008, Nothing seems to be going right as for many people. To some extent, doing such a simple and crazy stuff like drawing a handful of “lioncash” became a direct way to build up a “utopia” world which viewed as reasonable and rational. The so called hope or emission do bring individuals courage and passion to “save world” through replacing all of the money in the world with “lioncash” against the status they hate: single currency.

(2) Special pleasure doing illegal things being anonymous

At the beginning of the spread of meme, some worried about being prosecuted for writing on money. But more individual hold this kind of mentality- knowing it illegal but keep doing it because no one cares if it is defacing government property. “People are basically evil.” The lack of legal clarity surrounding this sort of minor alteration of paper money (There aren’t any laws that stipulate writing on dollar bills is illegal.) means it is pretty much OK to do so. In other words, people could behave improperly, with little harm, and for the most part, gaining great deal of pleasure and satisfaction. Also, the behavior on the internet, uploading the pictures or videos, as well as submitting comment could remain anonymous. No one knows who draws, uses or encourages others to do the same thing. Anonymity became worldwide, enhancing the pleasure among whom getting into the process.

Originated in 4Chan, the one who started the meme initiated others by printing the following words, “From now on I’m going to add a lion to my bills… I wonder how long it will take for another b-tard to see one… Conversely, I wonder how long it would take America to break if every b-tard put lions on bills.” According to its mission statement, this global operation seeks to convert all regional currencies into the universal lioncash, thus uniting the world by breaking down financial barriers.

(The picture below shows several samples of “lioncash”)

At the first beginning, there was only “lioncash” made on base of dollar bills, but gradually it became worldwide, spreading from North America to Asia, Europe, Australia or even Africa. Moreover, some videos, words and pictures display or analyze the “lioncash” spread rapidly through the Internet.

Moreover, the earliest usage of “lion face” as an emoticon stems from another meme popularized on 4chan’s /b/ board in 2006. However, I regret that I cannot find any other memes emerged from this or influenced by this.

When it comes to how popular it became and over what time span, from line chart named “interest over time” of “Google Insights” on the key word “lioncash” (web search), the data peaks up around April and May in 2008, then dramatically drops down to 14 in June and fluctuates slightly afterwards. The meme booming in several days but the fact of hotness period- only about 2 months or even shorter makes the meme kind of like ephemera.

Nyan Cat (Triman Nguyen)

When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why?

Posted on daily comics site LOL-COMICS on 4-2-2011. The illustrator, Chris Torres, got the idea from a Red Cross charity event where cat and pop tart were suggested. The author was already kind of well known before Nyan Cat, and the GIF got over 3000 likes/reblogs within first two weeks.

Nyan Cat exploded a few days later on 4-5-2011 when saraj00n posted a video of the Nyan Cat GIF on top of the famous Japanese song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya” by Daniwell-P. This video got over a million views in its first two weeks and was picked up by popular sites like Memebase, Buzzfeed, Tumblr, and Facebook starting on 4-12-2011. From there the meme spread wildly.

Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so
popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

Awesome cat with poptart body flying through space while shitting rainbows on top of catchy nyanyanyanyanyanyan song. How could this not get popular??!

The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

See above.

How popular did it become and over what time span? (include "Google
Insights" interest).

9^th place in Business Insider’s top 10 viral videos of 4/2011 with 7.2 million total views. Original video currently has over 84 million views. It spawned countless remixes and covers. According to Google Insights, Nyan cat reached its peak around late June 2011 and again in early November 2011.

Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been

influenced by this.

Nyan cat didn’t spawn or influence any other well known memes, only parodies or remixes of itself.

Include videos or images when relevant to illustrate your description -
please try to avoid posting images or video that may be offensive.

Nyan.cat and Slowbro.org – nonstop Nyan Cat websites (repeatedly loops song and animation)

http://youtu.be/QH2-TGUlwu4 - the original Youtube video by saraj00n

http://youtu.be/8mtOdT9LBOg - nyan cat song playing on top of Slipknot’s Psychosocial music video. Spawned the Nyan Cat audio dub (playing the Nyan song on hardcore rock music vids)

Nyan-Cat.com – site listing all games about Nyan Cat

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/135474-nyan-cat-pop-tart-cat - Youtube taking part in Nyan Cat

Kim Jong Un Looking at Things (Siyao Chen)

Kim Jong-un Looking at Things—Siyao Chen

When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why?Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became sopopular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

‘Kim Jong-Un Looking At Things’ began on December 18th, 2011 on Tumblr, and it became really popular even up till now. “Kim Jong-un Looking at things” is the successor of the famous Trumblr blog “Kim Jon Il looking at things”. On December 18th, 2011, South Korea’s Yonhap News via North Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Jong Il had passed away at the age of 69 during a train ride on Saturday December 17th, 2011. The North’s announcement of his death was quickly picked up by various news publications around the world. Within hours of the announcement, the Tumblr blog “Kim Jong-un Looking at Things” was created featuring photos of Kim Jong Il’s son—Kim Jong Un.

It is popular because North Korea has been really strict about what pictures they spread out of their great leader. The released pictures have no relevance on anything that goes on in North Korean politics. It says a lot about North Korea and how distorted their world view is. Also, the North Korean media wants to build a great image of their leader, but in reality the outcome is the opposite. That’s why people find it funny and ironic.

• The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

The meme basically consists of Kim Jong Un looking at various objects. They're all snaps taken during tours around factories and so on, showing the Dear Leader casting an eye over fridges, floor, air vents - whatever you can think of, really.

Example:

looking at boot

looking at a farm report

looking at sausages

About Kim Jong Un:

1 – According to various sources, Kim Jong Un is an NBA fanatic and has had pictures taken with Toni Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.

2 - The Chosunilbo reports a number of revelations about KJU’s formative years and claims he briefly attended Switzerland’s German-speaking Liebefeld-Steinhölzli School.

3 – It goes on to claim that “Pak Un”, KJU’s assumed name at the Swiss school, was shy and awkward around girls but became fiercely competitive on the basketball court where he was described by peers as “explosive” and a “playmaker”.

4 – The final revelation from the “Great Successor’s” school years was that despite his father’s anti-American stance – KJU had an extensive collection of Nike sneakers, according to former classmate Nikola Kovacevic, who estimated each pair to cost around $200.

5 – The U.S. and allies will be monitoring KJU’s inaugural days in power extremely closely and are said be concerned that the transition could prove dangerous if KJU seeks to assert his leadership credentials through provocative military actions, claims IndiaTVNews.

6 – The Daily Telegraph served up a number of facts on the young premier, including the revelation that his buzz-style haircut has made him an unlikely style-icon in North Korea, where young men are queuing at barber shops for what has been dubbed the “youth” or “ambition” haircut.

7 – South Korean media widely speculated that KJU underwent a number of cosmetic procedures last year in order to look more like his grandfather and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.

8 – Efforts to transform KJU into a North Korean demigod in the same style as his father, have led to his birthday on January 1 being made a national holiday.

9 – In preparation for KJU’s premiership, North Korean soldiers have reportedly been shown a documentary film in recent months which begins with words: ”Following in the footsteps of the General, offering guidance to the troops, comrade General Kim Jong Un delivers a great blow to the enemy with the resourcefulness of his keen insight.”

10 – KJU can look forward to some favourable coverage from North Korean media. Among the eyebrow-raising stories written about Kim Jung Il were claims he’d set the world record for the lowest round of golf (containing 11 hole-in-ones), reports he’d become a global fashion icon and an official biography on the North Korea state website that said he did not defecate.

• How popular did it become and over what time span?

Google Insights:

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=Kim%20Jong%20Un%20Looking%20at%20Things&cmpt=q

The popularity of the meme grew over a two-week span starting from December 11th to December 25^th. The search volume becomes more stable in 2012. The posts usually have an average of 20-130 notes (reposts).

• Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been influenced by this.

There are a lot of other memes that make fun of Kim Jong-un’s weight.

“Hungry Kim Jong-un”

On December 19^th, 2011, the first “Hungry Kim Jong-Un” Quickmeme submission was created, which featured a photo of Kim talking to a top-ranking general with the caption “What do you mean / I can’t eat America.”

“The Kim Jong Un Wanting To Eat Things Thing”

“I don’t see any cake”

Reference:

[1] http://kimjongunlookingatthings.tumblr.com

[2] http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/19/kim-jong-un-10-things-you-might-not-know-about-north-koreas-new-leader/

[3] http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hungry-kim-jong-un

[4] http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-kim-jong-un-looking-at-things-meme

Planking (Zelin Xu)

Sociology 167: Assignment #2 – Know Your Memes

Planking was invented by two friends in Somerset, Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon, in 2000 and called it the Lying Down Game. It emerged later in Australia and was nicknamed planking. Clarkson and Langdon started to lie down in public places in Taunton in order to be photographed. Then in 2007, a friend, Daniel Hoppin, took this phenomenon online. He said ‘They’d started lying down in bars and clubs to try to spin people out. So we began a Facebook group to see who could get the craziest photo’.

The British also fell into this craze in July 2009, and in September 2009, A&E staff at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon were suspended for ‘lying down’ while on duty. The term ‘Planking’ was then introduced by Sam Weckert and two other friends in the summer of 2008 or 2009. It finally blew up when local radio stations got hold of it and ran competitions.

It also became extremely famous and controversial in 2011 when a man from Australia, in his 20’s, died after taking part in planking. He fell from a balcony railing in Brisbane while a friend photographed him. There have also been many instances of celebrities partaking in this game.

I think planking became popular simply because of the simplicity of the activity as well as the bizarre, strange reaction that it would create. Why lie down? Like Hoppin said, ‘Because it’s utterly ridiculous’, ‘if you go on holiday, you take a photo of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We thought it would be hilarious if you’re not interested and lying down instead.’ With planking so simple and radio stations holding competitions, a lot of hype is created for people to go out and try to plank at the craziest location they reach. It became a social activity for people to go out and compete with their friends to see can be the craziest.

To clarify, what is planking? Planking, or the Lying Down Game, is an activity consisting of lying face down with your hand touching the sides of the body – sometimes in unusual or incongruous locations. Some people compete to see who can find the most unusual or craziest locations to play. It can include lying flat on a flat surface, or holding the body flat while it is supported in only some regions, and suspended in other parts.

Planking was only popular for a short period of time. It became very popular and widespread in Australia in March 2011 when pro-rugby player David ‘Wolfman’ Williams planked after a try during a game. Search interest, based on Google Insights, experienced a small peak in May due to the death incident, and finally reaching a history high in July 2011. Until the beginning of 2012, popularity plummeted and since then is now barely searched for.

Since planking appeared, many other activities have erupted based on the influence of planking. These activities include ‘Teapotting’, which consists of a person bending their arms in the shape of a teapot, ‘Owling’, where a person squats ‘like and owl’, ‘Horsemanning’, when two people pose so that it appears as if there is a single body with a detached head, and many more such as ‘Batmanning’, and Football-related ones such as ‘Tebowing’, ‘Gronking’, ‘Bradying’, and ‘Griffining’.

Cinnamon Challenge (Yalin Zhao)

CINNAMON CHALLENGE

BY: YALIN ZHAO

• When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why? Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

Since the early 2000s, the game has become well known for its extreme difficulty and thousands of videos with people attempting the challenge have been uploaded onto YouTube.

Right because it is full of CHALLENGE, the adventurous minds of people drive them to try this kind of crazy things. Also, as more and more people keep taking cinnamon challenge and no one succeed, which results in even more people participate in this challenge in order to prove that “They CAN”. In addition, simply duo to one’s curiousness, as the Meme is keeping spreading, I may try it someday, lol.

• The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

The Cinnamon Challenge is a popular DARE GAME that involves attempting to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon without vomiting or inhaling the powder. The cinnamon challenge essentially consists of a group of people or an individual attempting to ingest a large dose—usually a teaspoon or more—of pure, ground cinnamon in one sitting. It usually results in the individual spitting it up, with minor to more severe spouts of coughing, spitting, gagging and sometimes even vomiting.

• How popular did it become and over what time span? (include "Google Insights" interest).

The phenomenon saw its largest resurgent yet in late 2011 when Anna Diaz recorded a video of herself attempting the challenge, which was re-uploaded via YouTube on December 14th, 2011. The video received over 3.9 million views in the first two months of upload and was covered by numerous Internet culture blogs and imitated by other YouTubers in the following weeks.

As we can see in the chart, the curve shows a sharp increase during the end of year 2011 and the beginning of year 2012, by reaching the top data of 100. And it goes down rapidly--but not as fast as it goes up—during the rest time of year 2012.

• Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been influenced by this.

Perhaps the most hilarious memes that have emerged from the cinnamon challenge are the still images of people’s faces immediately after they ingest the cinnamon. Images of people’s reactions have been the target of lulz seekers everywhere.

Some other popular, hilarious, and arguably dark memes include:

Epic Beard Man (Felix Chen)

1. Epic Beard Man began to become popular and famous in February of 2010 after an online video was released showing a white Oakland resident named Thomas Bruso beating up on a black man. I think there are a couple of reasons why this meme became so popular. The video that the meme is based on depicts a senior delivering a brutal physical assault on a younger man, something that appears to evoke enjoyment and laughter among many people with various backgrounds. Bruso's old age as well as the fact that he didn't initiate the fight made people want to root for him as he "delivered judgement." Also, the shirt that Bruso was wearing during the incident read "I AM A MOTHERFUCKER", which is humorous to a wide audience. Add the fact that the meme involves racism, and we see how it exploded within 24 hours of the video release.

2.Iyanna Washington, a college student from Oakland, uploaded a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ) on February 16, 2010, that showed a 67-year-old white man (Thomas Bruso) getting into a verbal argument and physical confrontation with a 50-year-old black man (only identified as Michael) on an AC Transit bus. Thomas Bruso is also known as Tom Slick and Vietnam Tom, and has a reputation in Oakland for being hostile. He is where the meme's name "Epic Beard Man" comes from, which is actually a nickname that Anonymous gave him prior to this event. On this particular bus ride, Michael was angry because he believed that Bruso was being racist after asking him to spit-shine his shoes. The verbal exchanges they had escalated, until Michael attempted to hit EPM in the chest. This provoked Bruso to repeatedly punch his aggressor in the face for about nine times, and the confrontation ended with EPM exiting the bus and Michael heading to the back of the bus. Throughout the video, other people on the bus can also be seen trying to stop the fight or merely observing the confrontation.

3. The YouTube video had more than 1 million views in the first day of release. 4chan's random forum had hundreds of image macros created on Epic Beard Man, and various websites/social media profiles were made in honor of Bruso and what he did. Many video responses were also made about the incident, including the original uploader of the video, and many people noticed a definite change in her formality in later video responses compared to how she is egging Michael on to "beat his white ass" in the video. From Google Insight Search (http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0&q=epic%20beard%20man%2Cac%20transit%2Camber%20lamps%2Cthomas%20bruso&geo=&gprop=&cmpt=q), we see that on February 17, searches for "epic beard man", "ac transit", "amber lamps", and "thomas bruso" spiked, greatest to least in this order. Searches for "epic beard man" were a massive number based on the fact that it is a normalized 100 on Google's scale.

4. The meme "Amber Lamps" arose from this event. When Michael is sitting in the back of the bus after getting violently punched in the face multiple times, he says "bring an ambulance", which viewers have mistaken for "bring M&M's" and "bring Amber Lamps" because of his broken nose and dialect. As a joke, people started giving the name "Amber Lamps" to the young woman sitting in the background and watching the brawl ensue. The reason that they did this was that they found it funny and intriguing how she was casually watching the confrontation and didn't seem to be affected by what was happening. The search for her true identity went on for about two months before she was linked to a girl named Allison Budzinski because of her Facebook wall post around the time of the incident. Although it is neither confirmed nor denied that Budzinski is indeed "Amber Lamps", they are still linked to one another.

"Casually Spray Everything Cop" (Jason Vizmanos)

Jason Vizmanos
SOC 167 - Assignment #2: "PEPPER SPRAY ALL THE THINGS"

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Qrx6DDgTH_w" frameborder="0"
allowfullscreen></iframe>

I love spicing up my food. I also love multi-function items. That's why I
carry around a can of Defense Technology's MK-9
Stream<http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Technology-56895-Stream-Pepper/dp/B0058EOAUE>
-
in addition to providing a convenient means of self-defense (associated
with over sixty deaths when used by police in
1990-1995<http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-18/news/mn-14572_1_pepper-spray-manufacturer>,
per The Los Angeles Times), it's *essentially* endorsed by Fox News as an
efficient way of flavoring all my favorite dishes!

For the uninitiated, Megyn Kelly's segment above is in reference to the
following November 2011 photo taken by UC Davis psychobiology student
Louise Macabitas and subsequently republished by
news<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/1119/UC-Davis-pepper-spray-smear-tactics-Occupy-protests-face-rougher-response>
outlets<http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/buitenland/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2011/11_november/20/buitenland/ophef_over_bruut_optreden_politie_vs.xml>
all<http://www.npr.org/2011/11/21/142585179/2-uc-davis-officers-on-leave-after-spraying-incident>
over<http://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/umstrittener-einsatz-gegen-occupy-demonstranten-wie-sich-das-netz-am-pfefferspray-cop-raecht-1.1197592>
the<http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&langpair=es%7Cen&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&u=http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/sociedad/agresion-policial-estudiantes-universidad-davis-vuelta-mundo-1233546&usg=ALkJrhiq_PZRyN4se2VEE1d_AcN1nK6pmg>
world<http://gawker.com/5861100/heres-a-cop-just-casually-pepper-spraying-peaceful-protesters>
:

http://i.imgur.com/qMGg6.jpg

Having a picture you take become internationally recognized? Pretty
awesome. Having that be of your friends pepper-sprayed in the face for
*sitting
down in peaceful protest*? Not so much.

This incident is rooted in the widespread Occupy movement, of which the UCD
community has actively organized and rallied toward. Two months young at
the time, members of the community decided to form an encampment to protest
tuition hikes and stand in solidarity with OWS. The campus administration,
unsurprisingly, did not appreciate the move. A few days of back and forth
ensued where tents were taken down and erected again before John Pike
decided to take things into his own hands.

Let's step back for a moment. The United States (and UC campuses in
particular) have a rich history of civil disobedience. This isn't a recent
phenomenon that we've had to contend with. So on the afternoon of the 18th,
when the tents were once again removed by officers clad in riot gear, it
shouldn't have been surprising that the protesters opted for an impromptu
sit-in at the campus quad. That is, they decided to physically band
together (linking arms), sit down peacefully, and refuse to move.

Officer Pike then proceeds to stroll down aforementioned quad, nonchalantly
and "casually pepper spraying" the protesters.

http://i.imgur.com/TA5mB.jpg

It didn't take long for this to go viral. In less than seventy-two hours,
the San Jose Mercury News reports that the photo "has been photoshopped and
mashed-up more than 1,000 times." <http://www.webcitation.org/63k1SLjYj> This
has since grown dramatically, with KYM's database now listing 1,872
images<http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/casually-pepper-spray-everything-cop/photos?sort=views>
for
the "Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop." The meme became so popular that
it <http://gawker.com/5861431/uc-davis-pepper-spray-cop-is-now-a-meme/>
became<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/pepper-spray-cop-works-his-way-through-art-history/2011/11/21/gIQA4XBmhN_blog.html>
a <http://boingboing.net/2011/11/20/occupy-lulz.html>
major<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/occupy-wall-street-pepper-spray-incident-turns-into-internet-meme/>
story<http://www.periscopepost.com/2011/11/occupy-uc-davis-top-seven-pepper-spray-cop-memes/>
in<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/uc-davis-officer-becomes-internet-meme-after-pepper-spray-incident.html>
its<http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/22/meme-alert-the-casually-pepper-spray-everything-cop/>
own<http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/11/watch-uc-davis-pepper-spray-cop-spray-things/45228/>
right<http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/11/21/8929646-uc-davis-cop-pepper-sprays-famous-works-of-art?lite>.
(It also went meta, spawning sardonic Amazon customer
reviews<http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Technology-56895-Stream-Pepper/dp/B0058EOAUE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top>
, fake Twitter accounts <https://twitter.com/PepperSprayCop>, and the Megyn
Kelly meme embedded at the top.)

With all that buzz, you might not have expected Google Insights to show its
popularity fall off a cliff:

<script type="text/javascript" src="
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Here's the issue with Insights: It's a poor measure of popularity for
situational memes. By
definition<http://support.google.com/insights/bin/answer.py?hl=en-US&answer=87285>,
"the numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a
particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google
over time." Unlike rage comics, Nyan Cat, or all the image macros out
there, memes such as the "Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop" are born
from specific news incidents that lead to exponential growth and decline.
It measures relevancy over time, but not the overall impact it had.

Let's look at why this went viral at all. Occupy Wall Street (OWS) started
in September 2011 and blew up as their message resonated all over the
nation. From day one, protesters have claimed that authorities have been
using excessive force to counteract their demonstrations. A number of
"citizen journalists" captured such moments, but none of it gained the sort
of traction needed to draw attention to such abuses of power.

What the Davis incident does is elegantly capture their grievances in a
single photo. The reason "casually" is included in the meme's name is
because the nonchalant demeanor of the cop is what first drew people in.
This was oppression for oppression's sake, and the idea of this happening
in the United States was outrageous. The internet certainly loves its
outrage, so once the story got out and spread, they took the photo and
expressed their disdain as only they can: through Photoshop.

Memes, in and of themselves, have become a means of communication. The
macros are funny, but they also serves to reinforce the incident in the
public consciousness. Without them, the story might not have continued to
gain the attention that it did. So while Insights might reflect a large
drop-off (coming in at zero over the past few months), the fact of the
matter is that the university just settled the related legal case at the
end of last
week<http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/14/u-c-davis-pepper-spray-students-to-receive-payout/>
.

It might not have had the staying power of the Rickroll, but for one week
in November 2011, "Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop" dominated news
cycles and social media platforms. For the victims that are finally
receiving well-deserved compensation, that one week was all that was needed
to show just how powerful memes can be.

TL;DR - If you think you can get away with casually pepper spraying
peaceful protesters, you're gonna have a bad time.