May 28th, 2016 the 17 year old Gorilla Harambe was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after picking up and dragging a 4 year old who climbed into the Gorilla’s enclosure. Footage of the incident surfaced online and sparked outrage by some over the alleged negligence of the parents and the zoo’s decision to shoot and kill Harambe. But most recognized it as an unfortunate tragedy. What should have been a temporary news story turned into a collection of memes and hashtags that have continued to circulate widely on social media.
Why Harambe?
The fact that Harambe was turned into a meme in the first place is not surprising. When stories like this get covered on the news and begin circulating on social media, they are often easy targets for the …show more content…
After a single picture was posted of the cat online, the Internet became fixated on the cat’s appearance and social media was overtaken by Grumpy Cat memes. As a picture of animal that doesn’t really convey an inherent message, both Grumpy Cat and Harambe were pictures that could be easily captioned to serve any number of purposes.
When individuals use a picture of Harambe for a meme, they are no longer referencing the gorilla Harambe who was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo. They are referencing Harambe the meme: an image that is meaningless on its own, but that has been given new meanings as it’s been repurposed over and over again by social media users. Through the creation and sharing of these memes, individuals have entered into networked collectivism, which the scholar Nancy Baym describes as a loose participation in a shared online experience that remains distinct from the formation of online …show more content…
In the week following the 2016 presidential election, various articles circulated claiming that Harambe had received between 11,000–15,000 write-in votes. However, articles since then have revealed that these claims were false. Although official counts were never released stating the number of write-in votes Harambe received, he certainly was written down on some ballots. Unfortunately, I happen to know several people who wrote down Harambe.
As alarming as this is, the fact that these false claims also contributed to an extensive circulation of fake news is also cause for alarm. Fake news has recently become a popular topic of discussion and source of anxiety. As crazy as it may sound to some that people could actually vote for Harambe for president, the immense popularity of Harambe on the Internet made the story believable. Not only were the articles spread on social media, but they also led many people to tweet about how many votes Harambe got and spread the false claims even
Why Harambe?
The fact that Harambe was turned into a meme in the first place is not surprising. When stories like this get covered on the news and begin circulating on social media, they are often easy targets for the …show more content…
After a single picture was posted of the cat online, the Internet became fixated on the cat’s appearance and social media was overtaken by Grumpy Cat memes. As a picture of animal that doesn’t really convey an inherent message, both Grumpy Cat and Harambe were pictures that could be easily captioned to serve any number of purposes.
When individuals use a picture of Harambe for a meme, they are no longer referencing the gorilla Harambe who was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo. They are referencing Harambe the meme: an image that is meaningless on its own, but that has been given new meanings as it’s been repurposed over and over again by social media users. Through the creation and sharing of these memes, individuals have entered into networked collectivism, which the scholar Nancy Baym describes as a loose participation in a shared online experience that remains distinct from the formation of online …show more content…
In the week following the 2016 presidential election, various articles circulated claiming that Harambe had received between 11,000–15,000 write-in votes. However, articles since then have revealed that these claims were false. Although official counts were never released stating the number of write-in votes Harambe received, he certainly was written down on some ballots. Unfortunately, I happen to know several people who wrote down Harambe.
As alarming as this is, the fact that these false claims also contributed to an extensive circulation of fake news is also cause for alarm. Fake news has recently become a popular topic of discussion and source of anxiety. As crazy as it may sound to some that people could actually vote for Harambe for president, the immense popularity of Harambe on the Internet made the story believable. Not only were the articles spread on social media, but they also led many people to tweet about how many votes Harambe got and spread the false claims even