Overview

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was a scheduled passenger flight which departed from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China on March 8th, 2014, before disappearing off radar with a total of 239 people on board, including 12 crew members, less than an hour after the take-off.

Background

On March 8th, 2014, 12:41 a.m. local time, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport en route to Beijing, China, carrying 227 passengers of 13 nationalities, including 153 Chinese nationals, and 12 Malaysian crew members. At around 1:30 a.m., less than an hour into the flight, air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur reported that they lost contact with the plane after the transponder signal went offline over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

image courtesy: CNN | Google Maps

According to the officials, there were no indications of bad weather, technical problems or a distress signal from the crew at the time of its disappearance. The trip was expected to last about six hours over the distance of 2,700 miles (4,350 kilometers).

Notable Developments

Search and Rescue Mission

By 7:24 a.m., about an hour after the flight’s scheduled arrival time at the Beijing International Airport, Malaysia Airlines had issued a statement confirming that the plane is considered lost and a search-and-rescue operation is underway. In responding to the crisis, the Malaysian government and fourteen other nations dispatched dozens ships and planes to the area. In the following days, numerous sightings of potential plane debris and oil slicks were reported, but upon examination, they were determined to be insubstantial.

Online Reactions

Meanwhile on Twitter, people reacted to the news with messages of prayers and wishes for the passengers using hashtags #PrayForMH370 and #MH370^[6], peaking at 800,000 and 1.2 million tweets per day^[5] on March 8th. On Reddit, Redditor Mrgandaw began compiling the latest updates and official announcements in a series of posts titled “Comprehensive timeline: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370” on /r/news.^[4]

Crowdsearch Efforts

On March 12th, Colorado-based commercial satellite firm DigitalGlobe^[2] launched an online crowd-search mission where anyone can scour through aerial photographs of the region covering 1,235 square miles to look for signs of potential survivors, rafts or plane debris that would lead to any clues surrounding the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370’s disappearance. Shortly after its launch, the website reportedly became inaccessible as a result of a sudden and massive spike in traffic.

Hoaxes and Theories

As the search mission continued for several days with little result, online discussions^[8][9][10] about the flight ran amok with unfounded theories^[10] surrounding its whereabouts and fate, including references to the ABC drama series Lost and the Bermuda triangle, as well as conspiracy theories involving aliens, Edward Snowden, the Iranians and the North Koreans and even the Illuminati.

Safe Landing Rumor

Shortly after the search mission began, various rumors about the fate of the passengers began to spread online in China, including a news article^[11] saying the plane had made a safe emergency landing in Nanning and mass speculations that passengers may have survived as indicated by their active cell phone signal and online status on instant messaging services.

The Bermuda Triangle

As early as on March 14th, a photograph of a submerged aircraft began circulating on Facebook^[12], falsely described as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 found in the Bermuda Triangle, a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean that has garnered notoriety after a number of aircraft and ships disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Video of Malaysia MH370 Plane found in Bermuda Triangle! Passengers alive! insidevideo.net Breaking news video footage of this miracle just released on CNN!

Chris Goodfellow’s Electrical Fire Theory

On March 14th, Canadian veteran commercial pilot Chris Goodfellow^[13] shared a relatively simple and plausible explanation as to why the missing plane took a sharp turn before going offline on his Google+ page. According to Goodfellow, MH370 may have turned in order to make an emergency landing at the Palau Kangkawi airport in the crisis of an irrecuperable electrical problem or a cabin fire, which would also explain the unusual shutdown of the plane’s transponders and tracking equipments. Goodfellow’s theory quickly gained favor on Google+, garnering more than 3,800 +1s and 2,400 shares, before getting picked up by numerous tech blogs and U.S. news outlets.

Courtney Love’s Suspicion

On March 16th, Tomnod posted a Facebook status update^[14] showing a satellite image of an object that appears to be floating in the zone identified as #128148, along with a note that the analysis team has preliminarily concluded that it is more likely to be a boat than plane debris. On the next day, American singer-songwriter Courtney Love posted an annotated version of the same image with a link to the Tomnod map of the zone to her Facebook timeline^[15], adding that she suspects this is where the plane may be. Love’s Facebook post subsequently went viral in the blogosphere, racking up more than 15,000 likes and 13,000 shares, while even spawning a few parodies.

I’m no expert but up close this does look like a plane and an oil slick. link… prayers go out to the families #MH370 and its like a mile away Pulau Perak, where they “last” tracked it 5°39’08.5"N 98°50’38.0"E but what do I know?

Malaysia Airlines “Lose Yourself” Ad Hoax

On March 16th, an alleged full-page advertisement for Malaysia Airlines with foreshadowing tag lines like “lose yourself on a journey of epic proportions” and “where you go / no one will ever know” began circulating on Twitter.

Discovery of Debris

On July 29th, 2015, over one year and a half after the disappearance of the flight, a piece of aircraft debris was found on the beach of Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, which was subsequently identified as a right wing flaperon from a Boeing 777. The discovery of potential debris from the commercial jet made the headlines in the news around the world, while sparking similar buzz in the social media and reinvigorating public interest in the mystery of the Flight MH370.

The artifact was then sent to Toulouse, France for a closer inspection by the BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety), where it was positively identified as a fragment from the ill-fated flight. On August 6th, the origin of the debris was officially confirmed as the missing airplane by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak during an emergency news conference.

Search Interest

External References

About

Yu-Gi-Oh! (Japanese: 遊戯王, Yūgiō) is a manga series created by Kazuki Takahashi. The manga’s plot follows Yugi Mutou, who finds an artifact called the Millennium Puzzle, which holds the spirit of the Pharaoh who has lost his memories. Throughout the series, Yugi and his friends attempt to help the Pharaoh regain his memories, while partaking in games of “Duel Monsters”, which is a card game revolving around summoning and battling monsters, casting spells and setting traps. There are many series based off the manga, including a trading card game, five TV shows, and video games.

History

The first issue of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga was released in September 30th, 1996. Originally, Kazuki Takahashi planned to make the manga a horror series, making “Duel Monsters” be played only twice in the story. However, the card game was met with positive reception and from chapter 60 onward, Duel Monsters became one of the key elements of the story. When the Studio Gallop’s Anime series based off of Yu-Gi-Oh! was released in April 18th, 2000, Duel Monsters became the main premise of the story and was played more frequently than in the manga. Studio Gallop’s version of Yu-Gi-Oh! also introduced holographic duels and Duel Disks, an invention by the series’ antagonist Seto Kaiba, both features allowing Duel Monsters to be played anywhere, as opposed to the manga in which the games are played on table-like structures called Duel Boxes. These new features were positively received by viewers and were used in all future anime series based off of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe.

Fandom

Yu-Gi-Oh! is very popular online, with over 150,000 entires on DeviantArt, 60,000 fan fictions on Fanfiction.net, and a subreddit with over 24,000 subscribers. There are also many single topic blogs on Tumblr dedicated to the franchise. A common thing the fandom does is make custom cards using the site Yugioh Card Maker. Another popular website is Pojo. Pojo’s site hosts card tips, anime information and strategies for playing the TCG. They review decks and talk about the best ways to win duels in the card game. Other websites like YugiohCardGuide and YugiohPrices help fans of the game find, trade and buy rare cards.

Fan Art

Cosplay

Related Memes

Abridged Series

Abridged Series is a subgenre of video parodies that involve narrating the condensed version of popular media that often poke fun at faulty or unconventional premise and plotlines found in the said media.The Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged Series was the first of its kind, spawning multiple other series, such as Dragon Ball Z Abridged or “Attack On Titan” Abridged, and memes such as “Screw the Rules, I have Money!”. The original Abridged Series was made by LittleKuriboh or Martin Billany, becoming an instant hit and gaining millions of views.

You Just Activated My Trap Card!

You Just Activated My Trap Card is a catchphrase derived from the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game. In the game itself, it is a warning to the opponent that their actions are about to be countered by the activation of a Trap Card, a card type that is unique in that it must be set down first and can be activated during the opponent’s turn in response to an action, thus functioning as a “trap” (hence the name). As a catchphrase outside of the card game, it is usually used to warn people on the Internet in debates that they’re about to proven wrong.

Enemy Controller

Enemy Controller is a series of MAD videos on Nico Nico Douga and YouTube, centered around a scene from the 3rd season of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime where Seto Kaiba uses the card to control one of Yugi’s monsters.

The King of GETs

The King of GETs is a variation of the GET meme, specific to 4chan’s /a/ board, although it has since spread to other boards, like /v/, /jp/, /b/, and /vp/.

It’s Raining Kaiba

It’s Raining Kaiba is a series of edited images of Yu-Gi-Oh! character Seto Kaiba looking through the window as it’s raining, from an episode of the anime series, which eventually became a joke within the fandom on Tumblr, before spreading to other sites.

Joey Wheeler’s Creepy Chin

Joey Wheeler’s Creepy Chin is a series of edited images of character Joey Wheeler with a facial expression with a creepy smile and pointy chin. Most edits of the image involve pasting his chin and mouth over other characters.

It’s Time to D-D-D-Duel!

“It’s Time to D-d-d-duel!” is a memorable quote from the main character of the series, Yugi Muto, said prior to a Shadow Game duel. The catchphrase is often mocked in parody videos or image macros.

Search Interest

External References

About

Jon Stewart is an American comedian best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In February 2015, Stewart announced his upcoming retirement from the show.

Career

In 1986, Stewart began performing stand-up comedy in New York City.^[2] From 1989 onward, he helped write and hosted several comedy programs on television, including Short Attention Span Theater, You Wrote It, You Watch It (shown below, left) and The Jon Stewart Show (shown below, right).^[3]

In 1999, he became the host of The Daily Show, following the departure of Craig Kilborn (shown below).^[4]

Online History

The Daily Show

Episodes of The Daily Show are hosted by the program’s official website, thedailyshow.com,^[1] including exclusive extended interviews and one minute episode summaries.

Retirement

On February 10th, 2015, Stewart announced his impending retirement as the the host of The Daily Show (shown below). Following the episode, multiple posts about the news reached the front page of Reddit.^[18][19] In the comings days, several news sites published articles about Stewart’s announcement, including the AV Club,^[9]NPR,^[10] The Washington Post,^[11] The New York Times,^[12] Time,^[13]CNN^[14] and USA Today.^[15] The last episode of featuring Stewart was scheduled to air on August 6th, 2015.

During the last week of Stewart’s hosting the show, he scheduled only comedians as guests; these included Amy Schumer, Louis CK and Denis Leary. Comedy Central promoted the hashtag #JonVoyage for people to use on Twitter and Instagram to express their feelings about the finale, and it was used the more than 30,000 times in the 24 hours before the premiere aired on both platforms combined, and there were an additional 300,000 tweets using “Jon Stewart” or “The Daily Show.”^[20] Comedy Central took out an advertisement on the back page of the New York Times that read “Here it is, your moment of zen. Thank you, Jon, from all of us at Comedy Central,” in reference to Stewart’s last line of every episode.

Crossfire Appearance

On October 15th, 2004, Stewart appeared as a guest on the CNN televised debate show Crossfire, where he criticized hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson for being “partisan hacks” and “hurting America” with polarized political rhetoric. Following the appearance, videos of the exchange spread widely across the Internet with many praising Stewart’s arguments. The following year, the show was canceled and CNN’s incoming president Jonathan Klein referenced Stewart’s comments when asked about the year’s cancellations.^[9] On January 16th, 2006, YouTuber Alex Felker uploaded a clip of the appearance, which gained over 8.4 million views and 15,800 comments over the next nine years (shown below).

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

On October 30th, 2010, Stewart and fellow Comedy Central satirical news host Stephen Colbert held the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” which took place at the National Mall in Washington, DC. An estimated 215,000 people attended the rally according to aerial photography analysis reported by CBS News.^[16] The stated purposed of the event was to allow the majority of Americans to be heard above extreme fringe groups polarizing American politics.

Reddit AMA

On November 14th, 2014, Stewart participated in an “ask me anything” (AMA) thread on the /r/IAmA^[17] subreddit, where he promoted his 2014 drama film Rosewater, discussed his experiences as the host of The Daily Show and his infamous Crossfire appearance. Within three months, the post garnered upwards of 5,100 votes (93% upvoted) and 7,900 comments.

Social Media Presence

As of February 2015, the official Facebook^[6] page for The Daily Show has over 4.8 million likes and the show’s Twitter^[7] feed has more than 3.1 million followers.

Related Memes

#AccordingtoPalin

#AccordingtoPalin was a viral hashtag campaign launched by Jon Stewart and the staff of The Daily Show meant to satirize Sarah Palin’s inaccurate description of American patriot Paul Revere’s “Midnight Ride.” Tweets using the hashtag began circulating in June 2011 and generally consisted of intentional misrepresentations of historical events.

“I’m Not a Scientist”

I’m Not a Scientist refers to a flippant remark Republican Senator Marco Rubio made in response to a question regarding the age of the earth in November 2012. On June 4th, The Daily Show featured a segment covering the trend of conservative politicians saying they aren’t scientists.

#McConnelling

#McConnelling refers to a series of video remixes featuring footage from one of Mitch McConnell’s 2014 election campaign advertisements with unfitting music overlaid. The fad and its associated hashtag was launched by Stewart during a March 13th, 2014 segment of The Daily Show.

Santa Claus is White

Santa Claus is White was a statement made by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in response to Slate writer Aisha Harris’ op-ed article titled “Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore.” Stewart was quick to mock the statements during an episode of The Daily Show in December 2013.

#TheDailyShowGoneTooFar

#TheDailyShowGoneTooFar is a hashtag protest started by One Direction fans against The Daily Show following the broadcast of a satirical news segment implicating the popular British boy band with global terrorism in September 2014.

Personal Life

Jon Stewart was born under the name of Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz on November 28, 1962 in New York City. He would later legally change his last name to Stewart in June of 2001. He attended The College of William & Mary in Virginia from which he graduated in 1984, majoring in Psychology while played on the soccer team. Stewart married Tracey Lyn McShane In 2000 and has 2 children with her.^[3] Although of Jewish descent and raised in Jewish tradition, he is irreligious.^[8]

Search Interest

External References

About

Know Your Meme is a database style website run by Cheezburger Networks which is used to document memes, events, news, and viral media that spreads across or has an impact on the internet. As of March 2014, the site is maintained by staff members (Brad Kim, Don Caldwell and Molly Horan) as well as one developer (James Wu). Although it has a small support team, the site is largely dependent on crowdsourcing for the documentation of memes as they develop and for the submission of viral media as it spreads.

Origins

The Video Series

Know Your Meme (also abbreviated as KYM) began in late 2007 as a segment of the daily webcast Rocketboom.^[1]

As the segment became more frequent, the creators decided to spin-off the shorts into its own video series hosted by Kenyatta Cheese, Elspeth Rountree, Jamie Wilkinson, and Andrew Baron. Although the first video was released December 17, 2007, covering One Take, the YouTube channel KnowYourMeme didn’t get registered until November 5, 2009,^[2] and the videos didn’t get re-uploaded until even later in 2011.^[3]

The Website

The website presence of Know Your Meme began as a single page within the Rocketboom wiki, Wikiboom.^[4] The internet meme database soon found its new home at the domain knowyourmeme.com which was created November 25, 2007, but did not go live until December of 2008. In March of 2011, the web site and web series ownership was transferred to Cheezburger Networks for an undisclosed, seven-figure amount.

Functionality

Web Series

• For a full selection of episodes, please visit the Episodes tab.

The origin of the web segment Know Your Meme began as a simple and logical, yet witty dissection of what made a meme popular and how it related to other similar memes. As the segment became a spin-off series, the videos became longer and more closely examined the origins and workings of how the memes spread. This formula eventually led to the formula used to document memes on the Internet Meme Database. The focus of the earlier videos covered popular established memes, but then shifted in 2010 to focus on more current and relevant memes. Production of the web series ran from Late 2007 until Late 2012 and is currently in a suspended state of production.

Internet Meme Database

The catalog of memes within the site became known as the Internet Meme Database. While the articles and cross-referencing resembled similar Wiki-styled encyclopedias (such as Encyclopedia Dramatica), pages were more focused on user feedback, non-biased meme examination, and image/video hosting. As of May 2014, the IMD contains over 11 thousand articles, only about 1900 of which are considered as “confirmed” memes. Beginning in early 2011, the Database started offering more classification for articles other than “meme”.^[5] The 5 classifications it offers for articles are:

• Click on each of the buttons below to view entries in the corresponding confirmed category.

These articles are then sorted by Submissions, Confirmed, and Deadpooled labels after they have been edited and reviewed. These labels help new users determine whether the meme in question is in fact legitimate or otherwise pervasive throughout the internet. Articles are automatically given a “Submission” label after their initial creation. If an article does not meet the guidelines or is otherwise unsupported, then it is given a “Deadpool” label. Should an article show a fair amount of proper spread and recognition through out a portion of the internet, then it is given the title of “Confirmed”.

Daily Blog

• To view past blog post, please visit the Blog tab or our Homepage.

Visitors of Know Your Meme are presented with a daily updated internet news blog on the homepage which features memes, events, and other viral media that is trending at the time. Time to time, special blogs are posted which recap the hit memes of the year^[6] and feature visual break downs of memes^[7] or exclusive interviews.^[8] The site also previously featured a monthly blog, recapping the hit memes and events of the month.

Forums

• Users are encouraged to visit the Forums tab or our IRC channels: #knowyourmeme and #OMGKYM.

Due to the user driven dependence of the site, a forums section was created for users to fraternize and discuss the relevance of memes and current trends of the internet. To date (September 2014) the Forums contains almost 20,000 unique threads. Each of these are sorted into sections of Discussion, Media, Fun!, and Site Maintenance which themselves have many sub-topics.

Spread

As of March 2014, the Know Your Meme YouTube channel currently has 214,973 subscribers and approximately 24.5 million views.^[2] The Facebook page for KYM has 313K likes and the Twitter account has 27.2K Followers. The number of users registered for the site is approximately 222,000 with only a fraction of those being active users.

Know Your Meme’s research and reporting has appeared in major news publications and outlets, including the New York Times,^[11] Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR,^[12]PBS, CNN, MSNBC, Wired,^[13]TIME,^[14] Newsweek, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and The Estadão among others. Know Your Meme has also earned several awards for its research including the 2010 Streamy Award for Best Guest Star in a Web Series and the 2012 Webby’s Award for Best Cultural Blog.

Traffic

Current Quantcast readings indicate that Know Your Meme currently receives (as of March 2014) upwards of around 11.5 million views per month and give the site a US ranking of 486th.^[9] Rival website ranking corporation, Alexa, places the site at 1,185, but only obtains it’s data through estimates and not direct measurements.^[10]

Search Interest

Google Trends shows a steady incline since the site’s birth up until late 2011 after which searches rapidly declined until late 2013. This rapid decline is most likely due to the suspension of the KnowYourMeme video series.

External References

About

Beako (Japanese: ベア子) is a lolicon-oppising loli figure inspired by Backbeard^[1], a major antagonist in a Japanese popular Yo-kai manga GeGeGe no Kitarō^[2] written by Shigeru Mizuki. This loli girl, also recognized as a gijinka character of the Yo-kai, has been a famous moe character in the Japanese imageboard community Futaba Channel (2chan) since 2005 and she is also known as the de-facto mascot in the English-language anime/manga blog Sankaku Complex.

Origin

In around 2004, a photoshopped image of the American Yo-kai having a giant shadow with a single large eye began to be often used as a reaction image for yelling at lolicon^[3] people in Futaba’s /b/ (Nijiura) boards. The utterrance given to the image “Damn All You Lolicon!” (このロリコンどもめ!, Kono Rorikon Domome!) became to characterize Backbeard as the lolicon-opposing Yo-kai among Futaba users, and it also caused photoshop and exploitable memes featuring both Backbeard and this catchphrase on the Japanese largest imageboard.

“Damn All You Lolicon!”

Inspired by this Backbeard popularity on Futaba, a Japanese illustrator Torotei (とろてい) drew a loli girl as Backbeard’s daughter and posted this character named Beako (ベア子) to his blog on September 11th, 2005.^[4]

Spread

Beako was quickly brought into Futaba’s /b/ boards, and she became to a popular mascot as well as her father. Many fan creations for this lolicon-opposing loli girl has been created by anonymous illustrators in Futaba, and the fandom for her has also spread to illustrators communities pixiv^[5], Nico Nico Seiga^[6] and deviantART.^[7]

Furthermore, Toronei has continued posting four-frame comic strip series for Beako to his web page^[8] and releasing Beako doujin comics anually at the anual Futaba fan convention since 2006. The title of this manga Backbeard-sama ga Miteru (バックベアード様が見てる; lit. “Backbeard Watches Over Us”; abbr: ベア見て, Beamite) is a parody for Maria-sama ga Miteru.^[9] In his official manga series, Beako is depicted as a dojikko^[10] who always observes lolicon people and tries reclaiming them from the sick. Additionally, several official Beako figures were released from Pink Company under authorization of the author.

Left: Torotei’s Comic Book Art Cover | Center & Right: Official Beako Figures

Meanwhile in the outside of Japan, English Japanese blog Sankaku Complex has become the base for Beako^[11] and lolicon pictures^[12], and so Beako has become the de facto mascot of the blog site.

Reaction from the Official

In the episodes of the 5th season of GeGeGe no Kitaro TV anime series aired in 2007, Backbeard showed up with a loli witch girl Zambia (shown below, left). And in an official Neko Musume^[13] illustration published on a Japanese moe magazine Megami Magazine in February 2008, Backbeard is peeping that loli cat girl from the behind (shown below, right). It’s said that these are homage from the anime staffs to Backbeard’s online fame and Beako.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos/illustrations listed in this section.

About

Oreimo Cover Art Parodies, known in Japan as “My Sister’s Cover Art Style” (Japanese: 俺の妹表紙風, Ore no Imoumo Hyōshi Fu), is a series of spoof illustrations based off the first volume cover art of the light novel series Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない, lit. My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute), or simply known as Oreimo (俺妹) for short.

Origin

The Japanese light novel series Oreimo^[1] was written by Tsukasa Fushimi and its first volume was released in Japan under the publisher ASCII Media Works on August 10th, 2008. The initial cover art of the volume was created by the series’ illustrator Hiro Kanzaki, where it featured main character Kirino Kosaka standing with her arms crossed and wearing a stern expression, while protagonist and older brother Kyosuke Kosaka is shown from behind looking disgruntled.

Spread

After the publication of the light novel, illustrators online saw the potential of the cover art as a source of parody, and began reproducing illustrations with character from various series. Often time, these artworks are usually titled under “My Little X Can’t Be This Y,” a phrasal template based off the series’ name. The creation of these parodies kept appearing at a steady rate as the novel series went on, but would later see a surge of interest after the announcement of the anime adaptation in May 2010. During that same time, the fad would also see interest overseas in art-sharing sites like deviantART^[2], Tumblr^[3], and as well as 4chan. Over 2,000 parody artworks has since submitted within the Japanese illustrators community pixiv^[4][5] and as well as on Nico Nico Seiga,^[6] where many of these creations has been collected on the art-dumping site Danbooru.^[7]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Scarlett Johansson Leaked Nudes refers to nude photographs of actress Scarlett Johansson that were disseminated across the web in September of 2011. The images were uploaded by hacker Christopher Chaney, who retrieved the photos by hacking into various celebrities computers and mobile devices.

Background

On March 20th, 2011, the celebrity gossip blog StupidRumors.com^[9] reported that a group of hackers had obtained nude photos of 50 celebrities, including Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, Vanessa Hudgens, Scarlett Johansson, Ali Larter, Busy Philipps, Miley Cyrus, Emma Caulfield, Addison Timlin and Renee Olstead. The site went on to state that the FBI had launched an investigation into the leak.

Developments

September 13th: Photo Leak Begins

The content aggregating blog WorldStarHipHop.com^[6] was the first site to leak nude photos of actress Scarlett Johannson online on September 13th, 2011. The same day, Redditor MetalKeirSolid submitted a post to the /r/reddit.com subreddit titled “Scarlett Johansson Leaked Ass Picture”^[1], which reached the front page receiving over 23,800 up votes that day. The post included a photo of the actress taken with her mirror showing her exposed buttocks in the reflection (shown below, right). Also on September 13th, the photos were highlighted on the Internet news sites Perez Hilton^[2] and BuzzFeed.^[7]

September 14th: Online Reaction

On Reddit^[10], the images sparked a discussion about whether or not users should be celebrating invaded another person’s privacy. A thread by Redditor aboutandy reached the frontpage where he asked the following question:

“I know she is ungodly hot, but the fact is that these photos were stolen from her and she is probably humiliated right now. Should we really be so excited that these photos came out?”

To verify the authenticity of the photo, EXIF data was taken from a photo used in a real estate listing for her home that matched the nude photos. The images appear to have been taken with a Blackberry 9000 camera phone.

Several Redditors began submitting commentary about the incident in the form of advice animal image macros, many of which contained jokes referring to many Redditor’s overt infatuation with the actress.

September 15th: ScarlettJohansonning

On September 15th, 2011, the entertainment blog Gather^[11] published an article titled “Scarlett Johansson Phone Hack Inspires ‘Naked Tush’ Meme”, describing an exposed buttock photo fad mimicking the Johansson photo. The article linked to a Tumblr blog titled “Tush”^[12], which compiled examples of the fad under the tag “#Scarlettjohanssoning.”

October 12th: FBI Investigation & Arrest

According to TMZ^[3] and The Washington Post^[4], Johansson contacted the FBI to help find the individual who hacked into her cell phone to steal the pictures. ABC News^[8] reported that a “cell phone hacker ring” might be responsible for the Johansson leak, and that Mila Kunis had become a victim of the hacks as well.

On October 12th, 2011, TMZ^[13] reported that the FBI arrested a 35-year-old Florida resident named Christopher Chaney. In the case dubbed “Operation Hackerazzi”, Chaney was accused of hacking into the phones and computers of celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Vanessa Hudgens, Ali Larter, Jessica Alba and Emma Caulfield. Gawker^[14] revealed that the man used the online handle “Gook” and was an active user of the image board 4chan. According to the Los Angeles Times blog^[15], though the FBI investigation began in 2010, Scarlett Johansson’s involvement with the FBI may have sped up the arrests.

According to a grand jury indictment, Chaney used multiple aliases to acquire private information and nude photos belonging to celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera and Mila Kunis. In all, more than 50 victims were identified and Chaney was charged with several crimes including accessing protected computers without authorization, damaging protected computers without authorization, wiretapping and aggravated identity theft.

November 1st: Johansson Responds

In an interview in the December 2011 issue of Vanity Fair^[16], Scarlett commented on the photo leak, stating that they were originally taken for her husband at the time, Ryan Reynolds.^[16] She said that she found nothing wrong with taking them^[17] remarking, “I know my best angles.”^[18]

June 27th, 2011: Chaney Convicted

On June 27th, 2011, The Huffington Post^[19] reported that Chaney pled guilty to nine counts and was sentenced to 71 months in prison, was ordered to pay $66,179.46 in restitution to Johansson and an additional $150,000 to others he had hacked. The article went on to quote U.S. attorney Lisa Feldman, who claimed Chaney had continued hacking into celebrity cell phones and computers after having his computer seized by the FBI.

The Actress

Scarlett Johansson was born in New York City on November 22nd, 1984 and spent her early life growing up in the Bronx in an Ashkenazi Jewish family. She received awards for her role as Charlotte in the 2003 film Lost in Translation from BAFTA, Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics and Upsteam. In May of 2008 she released her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, consisting almost entirely of Tom Waits covers. She has a history of political activism, and campaigned for presidential candidates John Kerry and Barack Obama.

Search Interest

External Links

About

“What Are Those?" is a video remix and parody series stemming from a short clip of a man loudly asking a police officer “What are those?” while panning to his black work boots.

Origin

On October 2nd, 2011, Urban Dictionary^[4] user JOHNxRYAN95 created an entry for “What Are Those?”, defining it as a question yelled at someone wearing unkempt or off-brand footwear. On June 14th, 2015, Instagram user Brandon Moore (a.k.a. Young Busco) uploaded a video in which he confronts a police officer by loudly asking “What are those?” before panning to his black shoes (shown below). Within three weeks, the video gained over 2,300 likes and 1,200 comments.

Spread

On June 18th, Viner A-RODney King^[3] reuploaded the video to Vine, where it received upwards of 20 million loops, 271,000 likes and 136,000 revines in the following two weeks. On June 20th, 2015, YouTuber Crey Crey^[2] reuploaded a looped version of the original Vine video, garnering more than 210,000 views and 1,700 likes over the following two weeks. On June 27th, the DeboraGrano Vines YouTube channel uploaded a compilation of notable remixes and parodies of the clip on Vine (shown below).

On June 28th, Viner Samuel Grubbs uploaded footage of a man standing at a pulpit before jumping down and asking a seated church goer “What are those?” (shown below, left). The following day, the pop culture blog Complex^[1] published an article about the Vine video series followed by an interview^[5] with the video’s creator. On July 1st, Viner Danny Gonzalez uploaded an autotuned remix of the original “what are those” audio dubbed over a scene from the film Jurassic Park (shown below). In the first 24 hours, the video gathered upwards of 8.9 million loops, 205,000 likes and 110,000 revines.

On July 21st, Viner Joey Gatto shared a Vine of himself pulling the prank on his grandmother, to which she calmly responds “they are my Crocs.” Though presumably staged, the video has garnered more than 33.7 million views and 11,000 comments in less than two weeks.

On August 4th, Viner Bryce Lyle posted a video of a boy at a Michael Jordan basketball camp pranking the 52-year-old legend with the question “what are those???” during a Q&A session. As the crowd reacted with laughter, Jordan eventually responded:

“I have one question for you… What are those???”
“I’m lost in that Vine stuff, man… What are those? These are 29 lows.”

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Doritosgate was a controversional event aimed at gaming journalists and their notorious reputation with product advertising. The controversy was sparked by writer Rab Florence in an article posted on Eurogamer.net covering the shortcomings of video game journalism at the time and how he believed they were influenced by ad revenue.

Background

On October 24th, 2012, writer Rab Florence posted an article titled “Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos”^[1] on Eurogamer.net. In the article, Florence comments on the state of gaming journalism due to his personal experiences with the Games Media Awards 2012^[3] a week prior on October 18th and after seeing an image of Geoff Keighley surrounded by product placement (shown below) from that same date spread on the internet. In the article, Florence is especially critical towards gaming journalists and their relation with product advertising, specifically Doritos and Mountain Dew. The article was edited after its release by the Eurogamer staff due to a libel complaint, but an unedited version can still be found on NeoGAF.^[2]

Notable Developments

Following the publishing of the article, journalist Lauren Wainwright, who was quoted in the article for several tweets she made during the GMAs 2012, filed a libel complaint towards Eurogamer together with her employer Intent Media, the organisor of the GMAs. This lead to Eurogamer to remove the specific sections in the article where Wainwright was quoted a day after the publishing, which was also explained through an official tweet from Eurogamer.

On October 25th, following the decision of Eurogamer to edit the article, Rab Florence decided to leave Eurogamer by his own accord. Alongside his departure, Florence tweeted that he didn’t blame Eurogamer because of the pressure of legal action they were placed under and was aware which parties were to blame for the events that happened.

In the days following the above mentioned events, various news and gaming websites reported on it alongside their stance on video game journalism. Many of these shared Florence’s message and were displeased with the legal threat by Wainwright, such as Forbes,^[4] Rock Paper Shotgun,^[5] Penny Arcade,^[7] Destructoid^[8] and CinemaBlend.^[9] Kotaku, a gaming blog often accused of posting biased reviews based on ad revenue, didn’t share Florence’s opinion.^[10] On October 30th, Eurogamer’s Tom Bramwell, the person who edited Florence’s article, also made an aftermath article^[6] to cover his view and opinion towards the events. In the weeks following the publishing of the article, both the article and the events that followed were commonly discussed on NeoGAF.^[11] On November 25th, Geoff Keighley, the person who held the initial interview that led to Florence’s article, shared on Twitter that he would respond to Doritosgate (shown below), but never followed through with this. On January 1st, 2013, Youtube channel AngryJoeShow listed Doritosgate as his number 3 of his top 10 gaming controversies of 2012.^[12]

Search Interest

External References

About

“Git Gud”, an intentional misspelling of the phrase “get good,” is an expression used to heckle inexperienced players or newbies in online video games, similar to the use of the phrase “lurk more” on forums.

Origin

According to a GameFAQs forums^[1] discussion from September 2009, the term was coined on PlayStation 3’s Metal Gear Online community as a corrupted way of telling a fellow player “get better.”

Spread

On July 10th, 2008, Urban Dictionary user PaperCupp submitted a definition^[2] of the word, explaining it as another way of saying “get better.” In February 2012, the phrase started to gain significant momentum on 4chan’s /v/ (Video Games) and other video game-related boards^[3], particularly within the Dark Souls and Call of Duty communities. For instance, on September 1st, 2013, a parody image of a film Get Rich or Die Tryin’ named Git Gud or Die Tryin’ (pictured below) was posted on 4chan’s /vg/ (Video Games – General) Dark Souls General^[7]. The image was later posted on Reddit.^[8]

“Git Gud” is also used on a variety of other gaming communites, like Team Fortress 2^[4], Dust 514^[5], League of Legends^[6], and many more.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Gak is a putty toy and a modeling compound of variable colors that has been sold for distribution to children. While the product has enjoyed popularity since its release in 1992, it became notable online with the airing of re-branded commercials during the third season premiere of Hasbro’s animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in November 2012.

Background

According to Wikipedia,^[3] the original edition of Gak by Mattel was manufactured in 1992, but ceased production several times throughout the years, making few, short-lived comebacks. In 2012, the product was reintroduced with licensing by Nickelodeon in commercials proclaiming “Gak is Back” (shown below) that were frequently played on several children’s networks.

On October 20th, Gak commercials were aired on The Hub network during a Bronystate livestream (shown below, left) showing a rerun of the My Little Pony episode “Winter Wrap Up”, four ads being shown in a row during a single commercial break. During the stream, many viewers began commenting and poking fun at the repetitive ads in the chat room. However, due to the fewer amount of viewers present at the time, the subject was soon dropped thereafter.

Four weeks later, during the season three premiere of the show on November 10th, a larger majority of livestream viewers attended and quickly took notice of the frequent Gak ads, causing the chat room to be flooded with numerous Gak-related spam (shown below, right).

Notable Developments

Following the second livestream, Gak-related threads subsequently appeared in the /mlp/ (My Little Pony) board on 4chan.^[5] The same day, the Gak commerical was featured on the My Little Pony fan blog Equestria Daily,^[1] an “Ask Gak” Tumblr^[2] was created and a Gak thread was submitted to the My Little Pony fan forum Canterlot.^[6] Redditor UDNTOME submitted a post entitled “Gak Gak Gak Gak Gak Gak” to the /r/MLPLounge^[4] subreddit (shown below), which received over 165 up votes and 115 comments within the next three days. “Gak” simultaneously appeared on other nonprofit Brony chats, as well.

For the remainder of November 10th, the Bronystate chat, along with the site’s regulars, experienced endless “Gak” spam. The following night, the site’s moderators enabled a setting that automatically kicked any attendant that mentioned the word within the chat.

Notable Examples

Images

Many viewers created fanarts, image macros and animated GIFs inspired by the Gak fad. Additional examples can be found on Tumblr^[7] under the tag “#gak.”

Videos

Several YouTubers uploaded YouTube poop videos featuring Gak commercial footage in My Little Pony scenes, while others created music remixes featuring audio from the commercials.

Search Interest

External References

About

“My Faggot Dog” is the name given to an image and copypasta of a picture of a dog with a smug expression, accompanied by a pleading call for help. The dog picture has been used as exploitable and reaction face.

Origin

The original post comes from the GotGames.com.au forums, where it was first posted on July 19th, 2011 by user Wankee. The post contained the following message and a picture of the dog.^[11]

“Every fucking day. Every single fucking day when i come home this little faggot just sits there and gives me this stupid look on his face. What should i do about him? Ideas?”

Spread

Wankee’s post was reposted on the forums of the defunct page Insidethehype.com the same day, where users made several photoshops of the image. The version posted on Inside the Hype became the official copypasta that would accompany the image (shown below).^[12]

After its initial appearance, The My Faggot Dog copypasta was posted in several different forums.^[3][4][5] The My Faggot Dog’s first appearance on Reddit was in a post called “WHY U LOOK AT ME LIKETHAT?” posted on r/TrollingAnimals September 7th, 2011.^[1] It was then reposted onto Reddit several times. The image became popular on Tumblr^[2] and appeared in many macros and Photoshopped images.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

People Die if They are Killed is a memorable quote from the 2006 anime series Fate/Stay Night by studio Deen. Due to the redundancy of the statement and several translation issues from japanese to english, The quote has since become popular among fans of the series as well as 4Chan’s/a/ board being the prime examples of redundant statements and “lost in translation” found in subbed anime.

Origin

Though the quote originally appeared on the visual novel version of the series, it became notable on the 23rd episode of the Studio Deen animated adaptation. In the episode, main protagonist Shirou Emiya shares his wisdom to his Servant Saber, saying that “People die if they are killed”. The quote itself plays on an idiom that describes tough individuals who “won’t die if they are killed”.

Spread

Though there are no surviving records, the earliest examples of the quote is believed to have come from 4Chan’s /a/ board. Users would mock at the seemingly redundant statement and how it represents characters at being passionate yet very thick headed. The quote would also be accompanied by another statement or image that is synonymous/contradicts with it or with the image macro O RLY? and You Don’t Say?. The earliest surviving record of the quote was a screenshot of the scene in the image search engine site Danbooru on June 17th, 2006^[1]. On February 10th, 2007, the Danbooru wiki submitted an entry regarding the quote^[2] which was copy pasted from the Lurkmore Wiki^[3]. On 4chan’s Archive.moe, there are over 1.700 archived threads regarding the quote with the earliest being from February 4th, 2008.^[5]
On July 24th, 2008, Youtube user Albana uploaded a video titled “People die if they are killed !” which shows the scene of the quote. It has since gathered more than 652.000 views as of 2015^[4].

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Every discussion and media upload shall go under the related entry. For the related video gaming controversy discussion, see gamergate

About

Quinnspiracy refers to the online controversy surrounding indie game developer Zoe Quinn’s alleged affair with a number of men working in the video game industry, including a staff writer at the Gawker-affiliated video game news site Kotaku, supposedly in exchange for publicity for her and her 2014 text-based indie game Depression Quest. In August 2014, the scandal came into public’s light when Eron Gjoni, her now-former boyfriend, chronicled the details of her affairs in an expose blog post, which prompted online discussions regarding the validity of Gjoni’s claim and ethics in video game journalism at large. Due to the scandal’s online amplification in reaction to perceived media suppression, the event has been cited as an example of the “Streisand Effect”.

Background

On December 4th, 2013, Quinn submitted her game Depression Quest to Steam Greenlight^[1] to be selected for release on the software distribution service. On December 12th, Quinn (@Quinnspiracy) posted several tweets complaining about harassment she had allegedly received for placing the game on Greenlight, specifically from the *chan board Wizardchan.^[2] On August 11th, 2014 the game was released on Steam.^[3]

Note: click on the image to visit the website and play the game

On August 16th, Quinn’s ex boyfriend Eron Gjoni launched a Wordpress blog^[4] titled “The Zoe Post,” featuring screenshots and pictures providing evidence that Quinn cheated on him with five different men, including her boss Joshua Boggs and video game journalist Nathan Grayson, who writes for Kotaku and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gjoni later released a video proving his chat-logs were authentic.^[30]

Note: click on the image to read the original post in full-length

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

On August 17th, Redditor MannoSlimmins submitted a series of screenshots to provide evidence that Quinn faked being harassed by Wizardchan users to garner support for her game to the /r/TumblrInAction^[6] subreddit. The same day, Tumblr^[7] user KC-Vidya-Rants published a blog post denouncing Quinn for using Robin Williams’ suicide to promote her game and faking harassment for sympathy. In the first 48 hours, the post gained over 940 notes. Meanwhile, Escapist Magazine Forums^[5] member Rebant submitted a thread about the scandal, which criticized Quinn’s behavior and video game blogs for ignoring the story. Later, on August 20th JonTron made multiple tweets about Zoe which garnered attention around Twitter.

Wizardchan Counterclaim

Prior to the release of Quinn’s game, on April 11th, 2014, Wizardchan, the site Quinn said she had allegedly received harassment from for placing the game on Greenlight in December 2013, counterclaimed that they did not doxx her in a series of images that conveys their side of the story with a chronological breakdown and an explanation why they didn’t target her.^[15]

Note: click on the images to view and read the contents

Phil Fish’s Twitter Rant

Also on August 17th, indie game developer Phil Fish defended Quinn on Twitter, calling those who were attacking her “cowards” and claimed he was “canceling projects” in retaliation (shown below).

Fish at one point went as far as to compare the people who were attacking Quinn to rapists. However, he deleted this tweet moments after posting it.

Quinnspiracy Theory and “Five Guys Burger and Fries”

On August 18th, YouTuber Internet Aristocrat uploaded a video titled “Quinnspiracy Theory: The Five Guys Saga,” which criticized Quinn for using sex to influence journalists and for portraying herself as a victim to receive donations and support (shown below). The name spawns from the fact that Quinn allegedly slept with five different men who had positions in the video game or video game journalism industries. The following day, the video was submitted to the /r/videos^[14] subreddit, where it gained over 2,200 votes (87% upvoted) and 460 comments.

In homage to this video, 4chan’s /v/ (video games) board began using references to the Five Guys chain restaurant as a way to make threads about Quinn without it catching the attention of mods. On August 22nd, Internet Aristocrat published a follow-up video attempting to expose further speculation about Quinn using her relationships in the video game industry for personal gain (shown below).

Hacking & Doxing Claims

On August 19th, Quinn claimed that her Tumblr and Twitter page were both hacked and that she had been doxxed by users from /v/. The post was subsequently deleted. That day, Tumblr^[12] user The Spectacular Spider-Girl pointed out several inconsistencies in the story as evidence that Quinn fabricated the hacking.

In addition, the phone numbers included in the Tumblr dox post were found to have no connection with Zoe. The number listed as “Dad’s Work” is no longer functional and was associated with a closed down motorcycle store called, “Twin-Tech Motorcycle Shop.” The number that was listed as “zoe’s Cellphone” connected to a text to land line phone located in Hawaii.

Rebel Game Jam & The Fine Young Capitalists Doxxing

During the immediate fallout of Eron Gjorni’s blog posts, a Reddit user going by the name of SillySladar has raised allegations that Zoe Quinn intentionally sabotaged a female-centric game development event on the grounds that the idea was oppressive, in order to promote her own similar event, Rebel Jam, which is currently being organized^[18].

On August 19th, The Fine Young Capitalists released a SoundCloud recording as their explanation as what to what was going on and why they were doxxed.^[20] On August 20th, the founder of The Fine Young Capitalists conducted an interview with Invision Game Community about the whole ordeal. The following day, YouTuber PressFartToContinue uploaded a video with the project’s founder explaining the story behind how Quinn led a crusade against The Fine Young Capitalists game jam (shown below).

Pepsi GAME_JAM

Around the end of March 2014, Pepsi was arranged to sponsor a televised ‘Game Jam’ that would feature game developers working in teams to create games. Zoe Quinn was one of the selected participants of this game jam. On the same day it began however, the game jam was halted due to disagreements about it’s terms.^[25] Some time after the failure of Pepsi’s game jam, Quinn wrote a blog post vaguely detailing the events surrounding the game jam’s failure, essentially indicting herself as the catalyst for the debacle.^[26] On August 25th, Eron Gjoni, Quinn’s ex, later shared his view on her role in these events in a Reddit AMA (shown below).^[35]

GamesNosh Article

On August 19th, the video game news blog Games Nosh^[10] published an article accusing Quinn of “exploiting games press for coverage.” Hours later, the @GamesNosh Twitter feed announced that their host had asked them to remove the article (shown below). That day, the page was removed and redirected a HostGator 404 page. The article was subsequently mirrored on Pastebin.^[13]

N4G Article

On August 19th, the video game rumor site N4G published an article that Quinn “was being accused of exploiting games press for coverage.” Hours later, the article was removed. N4G has not made a public statement on why the article was removed.

Total Biscuit’s Response

Also on August 19th, British video game critic Total Biscuit published a blog post which denounced Quinn if she had abused the DMCA to take down criticism of her product and lamented the cronyism present in the gaming journalism industry. The post was subsequently submitted to /r/gaming,^[9] where comments were mass-deleted by a subreddit moderator. A screenshot of a Twitter conversation between /r/gaming senior moderator @ElChupacupcake and Quinn began circulating, with many speculating about his involvement in the deletions (shown below). Gamesnosh later wrote an article^[19] about the situation detailing the hate Total Biscuit received. On August 21st, MundaneMatt confirmed that the DMCA takedown notice had in-fact come from Zoe Quinn.^[22]

On August 28th, Total Biscuit released a lengthier second response on his blog^[38] and subsequently as a SoundCloud recording^[39]. In his response he expressed the perspective of the average “gamer” through the unfolding of this whole ordeal, and critiqued the style discourse taken by both ‘sides’ of the debate.

Kotaku’s Response

On August 20th, Kotaku writer Stephen Totilo released an article on Kotaku^[16] related to the questions surrounding their writer Nathan Grayson, one of the five men Zoe Quinn had allegedly cheated with. In the article, Totilo stated that Kotaku’s leadership team found no compelling evidence that any of the claims surrounding the suspected cronyism between Grayson and Quinn were true. Totila also stated that Grayson had only written an article^[17] that involved Zoe Quinn when they were still professional acquaintances, and that their romantic relationship didn’t start until after that in early april of the same year, which allegedly provided evidence related to Eron Gjoni’s claims regarding Quinn’s romantic affair with Grayson around that time.

As investigations into journalistic integrity continued over the days after the article was posted continued, Kotaku decided to make a second statement surrounding the events,^[36] this time instilling a ban on all of their journalists from contributing to the Patreons of game developers.

Censorship Controversy

Soon after the release of “The Zoe Post,”^[4] several online social media sites began deleting discussion threads surrounding the topic in attempts to prevent a “witch hunt”. Sites involved in such activities included N4G, The Escapist, NeoGAF, Reddit’s /r/games /r/gaming, Steam’s Depression Quest Forums (shown below), and 4chan’s /v/ board. Several of the blogs reporting on the Quinnspiracy issue (including Kotaku and Vice) also took part in heavily moderating and/or blocking comments on their posts^[37].

On August 23rd, an imgur album was published detailing reddit’s automated banning of any users who had simultaneously visited 4chan, and participated in discussion threads.^[23][24] Around the same time, a Reddit moderator leaked a private message he’d received from Zoe Quinn requesting for the deletion of posts about the incident (shown below).^[33] Soon after the leak, reddit administrators took it upon themselves to remove the suspected leaker’s moderator status. This resulted in a large backlash from users against reddit’s mods and admins.^[31][32] On September 7th, a SoundCloud interview with the banned /r/games moderator was published, detailing many of reddit’s internal moderation practices.^[40]

Zoe Quinn’s Response

On August 19th, Quinn published a post on her Tumblr^[11] blog about the scandal, claiming it was about her private life, complaining that members of 4chan had doxxed her and thanking moderators for removing posts about her across the web.

This has nothing to do with games and is not a matter of legitimate public interest, but is simply a personal matter. I would hope and request that the games press be respectful of what IS a personal matter, and not news, and not about games. This is explicitly about my private life, which has been regrettably forced into the public and framed by people who pose a threat to my safety and well being as well as that of the people I love. I would hope that the effort people have gone through to dress it up as anything more would not be enough to have those who see it for what it is take the bait.

Conflicts of Interest and Journalistic Integrity

As Quinn’s intimate ties to journalists were being revealed, it was discovered that several games journalists were actively contributing money to her via Patreon.^[27] Journalist Patricia Hernandez soon came under fire as well, as gamers began investigating other questionable journalist-developer relationships. Similarly, Robin Arnott, one of the “five guys” that were allegedly involved with Quinn, was also part of a game competition judging panel in which Quinn’s Depression Quest won, despite having competition from other widely successful and critically acclaimed games.

Related Memes

5 Guys Burgers and Fries

In “The Zoe Post,”^[4] Erjon makes the statement, “Now I can’t stop mentally referring to her as Burgers and Fries” as a reference to the fast food chain, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. Though Erjon did explicitly state not to use this reference on “The Zoe Post,” people found this reference to be humorous and continued to use it.

Vivian James

Vivian James is a fictional character created through the cooperation of 4chan’s /v/ board and indie game developer group The Fine Young Capitalists (TFYC) following a series of events in response to Zoe Quinn’s attack on TFYC while they were trying to fund a Game Jam with the intention of encouraging women to get into the gaming industry.

*nods respectfully toward you*

*Nods respectfully toward you* is a phrase originating from the @Marcoos93 Twitter account following a tweet in which he shared his support towards Zoe Quinn. The tweet quickly made people brand him as a white knight, resulting in the phrase being used to mock both @Marcoos93 and other male supporters of Zoe Quinn.

Search Interest

External References

About

I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter is a copypasta about a male who dreams of becoming a helicopter. It parodies absurd gender and sexual identification posts often found on forums like tumblr exploring the topic by including references to social justice terms like check your privilege.

Origin

This copypasta was originally written by Team Fortress 2 user Guuse^[1] in 2014 on March 17th, and was added to his Pastebin.^[2]

I sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter. Ever since I was a boy I dreamed of soaring over the oilfields dropping hot sticky loads on disgusting foreigners. People say to me that a person being a helicopter is Impossible and I’m fucking retarded but I don’t care, I’m beautiful. I’m having a plastic surgeon install rotary blades, 30 mm cannons and AMG-114 Hellfire missiles on my body. From now on I want you guys to call me “Apache” and respect my right to kill from above and kill needlessly. If you can’t accept me you’re a heliphobe and need to check your vehicle privilege. Thank you for being so understanding.

Guuse originally wrote the copypasta for use in spamming by binding it to key terms in game chat rooms during arguments on gender identity politics. In December 2014, Guuse posted a claim of authorship of the copypasta to his recruitment page on the European Team Fortress Two site.^[5]

Spread

After the original stream, the copypasta was submitted first to /r/copypasta^[4] on Reddit in July 2014, where it received 371 upvotes, and then to /r/sidehugs^[3] where it received 187 upvotes. The copypasta and its mutations are used frequently on 4chan, especially the /pol/ and /v/ boards, where it has been used 288 times and 153 times respectively as of August 2015.^[7][8] It was used over 600 times in YouTube comments as of August 2015, and derivations were used another 300 times.^[9][10]

On May 18, 2014, a definition titled “helisexual” was submitted on Urban Dictionary^[5], featuring multiple references to the original copypasta.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Sad Guys on Trading Floors is a single topic blog on Tumblr that posts news photographs of distressed stock traders and brokers on the exchange floor.

Origin

The Sad Guys on Trading Floors^[1] blog was created on Tumblr by Kansas City-based interactive art director Chris Riebschlager and San Francisco-based blogger Jess Hemerly on October 7th, 2008, during the week that saw the largest percentage drop in history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, even worse than any single week during the Great Depression in the United States, in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis which began in 2007.^[2][3] The first post on the site featured a dismayed-looking Asian daytrader with a facepalm gesture:

Spread

On the day of its launch, the blog was first picked up by BoingBoing.^[4] The next day, small collections of photographs from the blog were submitted to eBaumsworld, Metafilter^[13] and Aussie Stock Forums^[9], while another Tumblr blog with a very similar theme was launched under the name “Brokers With Hands on Their Faces.”^[5]

Throughout October 2008, the website continued to gain traction on the microblogging platform as concerns of a global-scale economic recession increasingly became inevitable, prompting additional media coverage from the New York Times^[11], Business Insider^[15], The Next Web^[12], Gawker^[10], TIME^[6] and Mashable.^[17] In 2009, Sad Guys on Trading Floors was nominated for a Webby Award^[7] in the Weird category. In August 2011, The Atlantic^[16] and Uproxx^[14] highlighted the blog following yet another major drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than 600 points in the wake of the downgrading of the U.S. government’s credit rating.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Google Search queries for “sad guys on trading floors” peaked the same month the site launched in October of 2008.

External References

About

The “I Want You” Poster refers to an American war propaganda bill featuring the iconic image of Uncle Sam pointing his finger at the reader that was widely used to recruit soldiers during both World War I and World War II. Due to the massive scale of its distribution across the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century, the poster still remains culturally relevant to this day as one of the most recognizable American relics from the era.

Origin

“Lord Kitchener Wants You”^[1] (below, left) was a wartime recruitment and propaganda poster created by the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in September 1914, based on a cover illustration (below, right) designed by the graphic artist Alfred Leete^[2] earlier that year for the London Opinion magazine.

It soon became the most famous product of the British propaganda campaign of World War I, and was the inspiration for the Uncle Sam recruitment poster.

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam^[3] is the national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the American government. Although the first recorded use of the name “Uncle Sam” dates back to 1775 during the Revolutionary War, the appearance which is most commonly associated with him in modern times was created in 1917 by the American artist James Montgomery Flagg^[4] as propaganda for the USA’s entry into World War I. Based on the Lord Kitchener recruitment poster, it has since become the most well-known derivation and a symbol for propaganda.

He is depicted as a stern elderly white man with white hair and a goatee beard, and dressed in clothing that recalls the colors and design of the flag of the United States – typically a top hat with white stars on a blue band, a red bow tie, and a blue coat.

Spread

From 1914 to the 1980s, the meme was spread almost solely in the form of imitations by artists looking to use it for serious purposes such as propaganda and raising public awareness of certain issues.

Parodies were not unheard of, although they were generally used to advance political agendas rather than being made purely for humor; the example below was created in the 1970s^[5] as an anti-war retort to the original Uncle Sam recruitment poster.

After the popularity of the internet surged, the meme was quickly adopted by the online community.

Real Life Presence

The popularity and effectiveness of both the original Lord Kitchener poster and the newer Uncle Sam poster lead to the creation of dozens of imitations and derivations in the decades afterwards, transcending countries and languages. A real-life variation of this meme is typically easy to identify due to the universal usage of a person with their finger pointed towards the viewer, often followed by a caption encouraging the viewer to support a cause.

Internet Presence

Although it had already been popular in real life for decades, the rise of the internet brought with it a renaissance for the meme. The most popular form of the meme is when Uncle Sam is replaced by a well-known character or person (see Notable Examples), but the original Uncle Sam poster is also frequently modified (template below).

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Search interest relating to the meme has remained steady over the years, although there was a notable peak in interest regarding Lord Kitchener around 2004.

External References

About

“Mitochondria is the Powerhouse of the Cell” is an expression describing the function of mitochondria organelles found in the cells of eukaryote organisms. On Tumblr, the phrase is typically mocked as an example of impractical information taught in public schools.

Origin

The phrase “powerhouse of the cell” used to describe the function of mitochondria was coined by biologist Philip Siekevitz in the article “Powerhouse of the Cell” published in 1957. In April, 2013, Tumblr^[1] user apatheticghost posted several things learned in school, which included “mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” (shown below). In the following two years, the post gained over 992,000 notes.

Spread

On February 12th, 2014, Tumblr user thomas-stillinski posted a photo of a biology exam in which the function of mitochondria is described as “the powerhouse of the cell” (shown below, left). On June 8th, Tumblr user kanga-roux posted another photo of a biology exam with mitchondria described as “the powerhouse of the cell” (shown below, right).

On October 6th, Tumblr^[4] user perks-of-being-chinese posted the phrase “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” which gathered more than 1,500 notes in the next month. On November 2nd, Tumblr^[3] user tylersivia-troyeoakley listed several things he learned in school, including “mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” (shown below).

On December 8th, Tumblr blog Meme Passion^[8] highlighted the original post and described the meme as a "reflection of adolescents’ general dissatisfaction with the school system. On December 15th, BuzzFeed^[5] included a multiple choice about mitochondrion in a quiz article titled “Could You Possibly Get A High School Diploma Now?” On May 26th, 2015, BuzzFeed featured another quiz^[6] specifically pertaining to facts about mitochondrion.

Search Interest

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About

“Full Retard”, also known as “Nigga, You Just Went Full Retard”, is a catchphrase associated to the character Kirk Lazarus from the 2008 comedy film Tropic Thunder played by the actor Robert Downey, Jr. The expression is normally used as a reply to ilogical or stupid posts, in similar fashion to other phrases like Facepalm or “What is this I don’t even”.

Origin

The catchphrase comes from the film Tropic Thunder, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jack Black and premiered on August 13th, 2008, revolving arround a group of actors who are making a Vietnam War movie. One scene features the character Kirk Lazarus (played Robert Downey Jr) giving Chuck Speedman (played by Ben Stiller) advice and criticism on one of his films, Simple Jack. In the scene, he talks about how Chuck’s acting method for his mentally handicapped character, the titular Simple Jack went “full retard”, thereby overdoing the acting and making a possibly decent film stupid. Kirk uses examples of other famous films and actors who played similar characters.

Lazarus: “Everybody knows you never do a full retard.”

Speedman: “What do you mean?”

Lazarus: “Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, ‘Rain Man,’ look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your cards. Autistic, sure. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, ‘Forrest Gump.’ Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain’t retarded. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.”

Spread

On August 6th, 2008, user kajoe submitted a definition for the term “full retard” on Urban Dictionary, descriving it as “act stupid, moronical or like an imbecile”.^[1] The same day, user RIZZING submitted on the media sharing page FunnyJunk a picture of Lazarus with the caption “Nigga, you just went full retard”, though this image didn’t gain traction.^[5] On September 6th, 2008, a thread on 4chan’s anime and manga board /a/ featured the first registered use of the term “full retard” on the site, refering to the character Clare from the manga series Claymore.^[2]

On May 11th, 2012, a fan Facebook page titled “Nigga, you just went full retard.” was created, gaining over 2,800 likes during the following three years.^[4] On July 17th, 2012, a MemeGenerator template was uploaded to the site, having over 1,500 images created and ranking as 3,648 most used template on the site as August 26th, 2015.^[4] The catchphrase itself and the original picture have been used as a common reaction to images or posts denoted as “stupid”, being used on some websites like 4chan^[3] or Tumblr.^[6]

Various Examples

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About

Baneposting refers to referencing and parodying an awkward dialogue between a CIA agent and the captive villain Bane from the opening scene of the 2012 DC superhero action film The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment of the Batman film trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan.

Origin

In early December 2011, a video clip of the prologue sequence from the then-upcoming 2012 superhero film The Dark Knight Rises was leaked online.^[10] The prologue features a CIA agent (played by Aidan Gillen) threatening three men with sacks over their heads aboard a moving airplane, explaining the first one to give up information would not be thrown out of the plane. The first two men are silent, but the third begins to talk with a muffled sounding voice. When the sack is pulled off, the man is revealed as Bane (played by Tom Hardy). He then reveals he plans to crash the plane, which he does with the help of his associates, before escaping himself.

On December 11th, 2011, an audio file of the leaked scene was posted to 4chan’s /tv/ (Television & Film) board,^[1] featuring the following dialogue between Bane and the CIA agent (shown below). Soon, commenters in the thread began scrutinizing the last two lines in the dialogue, as some misinterpreted Bane’s interspersed quote “[it would be extremely painful] …for you” as a double-entendre with suggestive connotations, i.e., “[I’m a big guy] …for you.”

CIA agent:“If I pull that [mask] off, will you die?”
Bane:“It would be extremely painful…”
CIA agent:“You’re a big guy.”
Bane:“…for you.”

Spread

On July 23rd, 2012, a user started a thread on a forum hosted on GameFAQs^[11] titled “Bane: It would be extremely painful….” discussing the quote and exchange. On August 9th, 2012, Reddit user captinc added a thread titled “Settle a stupid argument about Bane’s line for me please!” to the r/Batman^[12] subreddit, explaining he questioned the subtext of the exchange, saying:

“In the opening scene of TDKR when the man asks Bane if he dies if the mask comes off Bane says “it will be very painful” the man follows it up with “Youre a big guy” When of course Bane says “For You.” So my friends seem to think Bane is saying “im a big guy for you” where as I claim he is saying “It will be very painful, for you”
can someone please clear this up for me!"

On January 24th, 2014, YouTuber Muh Waifu^[9] uploaded a video titled “The Dark Tyrone Roges,” which features two testimonal spokespersons known as Rog & Tyrone reciting the scene’s dialog in a monotone style. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 90,000 views. On April 3rd, 2014, YouTuber Real Human Bean^[7] uploaded a video titled “/tv/ dubs The Dark Knight Rises” which featured the scene dubbed with cartoonish sound effects. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 35,000 videos.

On April 23rd, 2014, it was announced that Tom Hardy would be joining in an Ask Me Anything with director Steven Knight on Reddit^[2] to promote their film LOCKE. When 4chan users discovered that Tom was partaking in the thread, users decided to “raid” the interview by asking him questions pertaining to the now-infamous scene from The Dark Knight Rises, while users were encouraged to downvote legitimate questions about the subject of the interview and only upvote questions featuring references to that opening scene. The thread received more than 1,000 upvotes and over 1,200 replies. By the next day, the AMA thread was featured on several sites including Yahoo Canada^[3] and the Daily Dot^[4], and a screenshot collage of the thread was later submitted to /r/4chan subreddit,^[5] which received over 100 upvotes.

The AMA raid renewed interest in the scene and corresponding meme. On May 12th, 2014, SoundCloud user Masketta Man released a four-part musical tribute titled “UUUU”, which utilizes lines taken from the film. As of September 2014, the most listened to track has received over 20,000 plays.

On June 25th, 2014, YouTuber kekallday^[8] uploaded a video titled “Bane Star (Big Guy For You) ft. CIA” which features the scene with a cover of the Smash Mouth song “All Star” layered over it. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 62,000 views.

Association With Germanwings Flight 9525

On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps after French air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane less than an hour after takeoff. In the days following the crash, users on 8chan’s /bane/ board began to note several similarities between the crash and the opening scene of The Dark Knight Rises (shown below).

CIAss

On March 31st, 2014, an anonymous user on /tv/ posted a still from the plane scene of the CIA agent’s backside.^[13] The image has since been reposted on [s4s] and /tv/ multiple times.

A cropped version of the image, uploaded to /tv/ first on June 5th, 2014^[14], has been reuploaded for more than 2000 times on [s4s], making it the most reposted image on the board.^[15] There are also numerous photoshop parodies of the image.

Notable Examples

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