You know you remember it; how it made you feel, where you
were when you heard the news, how you held your loved ones close after the news
took the world by storm. It has been a topic of conversation for a while now. I’m
talking about the death of Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, of course.
Harambe was shot to death after a young child fell/jumped into the enclosure at
the internationally recognized zoo. Was it the carelessness of the mother that
sent Harambe to death row? Did Harambe put the boy in danger? Was he protecting
the young boy from future endangerment aka going home with the mother that let
the child fall into an enclosure occupied by strong and unpredictable animals?
This debate took over social media, newsrooms, and dinner tables. Social media
took to the death of Harambe and created a divide between those who think the
mother was at fault for his death and those who sided with the decision to
execute the beautiful animal. I won’t
get into what side I took but I will say that Harambe will be deeply missed by
many. I didn’t know him personally but what I do know is that animals, much
like most humans, deserve to be treated with the upmost respect and
understanding. RIP Harambe. I hope you’re still protecting neglected young on
the other side.
For more Harambe memes that could be considered "too soon," visit the website below:
https://onsizzle.com/t/harambe
https://onsizzle.com/t/harambe
I first heard about Harambe when my boyfriend's little brother laughed and said "Dicks out for Harambe!" When we asked what that meant, he didn't really have an answer, but he told us that everyone was saying it, and told us what had happened. I was frustrated by the fact that he became a funny meme to some people. I thought that saying “dicks out” mocked the situation and the fact that a life was lost. As I saw more people react, I realized that the viral reactions had to do more with the passionate and polarized opinions than this phrase, but still, in the back of my mind I still felt some resentment towards whoever started the “Dicks out for Harambe” trend. After reading your post, I looked into the phrase. According to Reddit, one twitter user started the trend with the tweet “We comin with them dicks out to avenge harambe!!!” and in this context it means guns out. This twitter user basically joked about restoring justice by shooting those responsible for Harambe’s death. The exaggeration signifies that the phrase started by mocking the extent of the public outcry, as opposed to mocking the actual death. However, this context was lost as the phrase gained popularity, leading people around the world to actually pull their penises out of their clothing to join in on the craze. I think that the popularity of Harambe is an interesting case study, because as an immortalized meme he has brought attention to the ethics of animals in captivity, but at the same time “dicks out” is part and parcel with his representation. In a year’s time, will Harambe motivate a lot of the people who defended him in the viral conversation to become animal advocates, or will he just be that meme from a while back?
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