SOC 167 - Assignment #2: "PEPPER SPRAY ALL THE THINGS"
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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/
-
in addition to providing a convenient means of self-defense (associated
with over sixty deaths when used by police in
1990-1995<http://articles.
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/
outlets<http://www.rtl.nl/(/
all<http://www.npr.org/2011/
over<http://www.sueddeutsche.
the<http://translate.
world<http://gawker.com/
:
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/
has since grown dramatically, with KYM's database now listing 1,872
images<http://knowyourmeme.
for
the "Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop." The meme became so popular that
it <http://gawker.com/5861431/uc-
became<http://www.
a <http://boingboing.net/2011/
major<http://bits.blogs.
story<http://www.
in<http://latimesblogs.
its<http://newsfeed.time.com/
own<http://www.
right<http://digitallife.
(It also went meta, spawning sardonic Amazon customer
reviews<http://www.amazon.com/
, fake Twitter accounts <https://twitter.com/
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:
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Here's the issue with Insights: It's a poor measure of popularity for
situational memes. By
definition<http://support.
"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/
.
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.
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