Rise of the Honey Badger

In a chapter of A New Literacies Sampler titled ‘Online Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production’, the author illustrates the parameters for a meme as well as several examples of qualifying pieces of media. Although he is careful to clarify that a meme does not need to be media (memes have existed far longer than modern technology) today’s memes are generally viral media content that spread quickly from person to person, not unlike the biological spread of a virus.  According to Richard Dawkins, a meme must have longevity, fidelity, and fecundity in order to be successful; that is, the length it can survive, its replicability, and the rate the meme is copied and spread.

One example of a popular meme is the video “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” narrated by Randall, which has over 63 million views on YouTube.

                                       

           The video consists of footage from a nature documentary about the honey badger with a humorous voiceover by Randall. It went viral after being posted in 2011, even being referenced in television and by famous athletes who announced they would emulate the honey badger’s attitude of  “take what you want regardless of others” and “Honey Badger don’t give a shit”. There were several similar videos preceding “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger”, but none of them received as much media attention as Honey Badger did. They were all variations on the theme of a comedic voiceover of nature documentary excerpts, some examples of which are “I Hate Nature” and  “Fuck Planet Earth”.

                                    

 “I Hate Nature” is considered by Know Your Meme to be the earliest precursor to Honey Badger. However, “Spiders on Drugs” is also reminiscent of the Honey Badger video’s style, and was uploaded in 2006 with currently over 34 million views on YouTube. “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” video itself has not changed over the years, however, due to its success and viral spread the narrator created a series of similar videos titled “Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals”. Randall has also created commercials in the same narrative style and narrated a commercial for the television show Mythbusters, among other things.

            “The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger” video fits Dawkins’ parameters of meme success; fidelity, longevity, and fecundity. Due to its unique narration style the video is certainly memorable, and the layout (comedic voiceover to nature scenes) is easily replicated by others who may wish to create similar videos. It certainly was not difficult for Randall, as “Randall’s Wild Wild World of Animals” has over 160 videos, some of which feature Randall singing popular songs in the same tone and style he used for Honey Badger, titled “Honey Badger Sings”. Other users have created songs and remixes to the Honey Badger video, and a series of photographic memes have also sprung up.

            The video also possesses longevity; even though it is no longer so viral, it is still a highly viewed video and views continued to spike a year after its release. More so, its longevity exists in the people who have seen the video; although it is likely better known among young people, a huge number of people know what Honey Badger refers to and likely will for a long time. Finally, its fecundity is undeniable; it spread quickly from erson to person, largely due to its carefree comedic element. Additionally, since the video is only 3 ½ minutes long, it was not difficult for people to show their friends which also contributed to its spread.

Social Networking and Racism

In the article “Theorizing Race and Racism on the Web” Jesse Daniels examines how digital interactions can lead to racism despite the perceived “facelessness” of the internet, as well as how this affects online communities where identity often develops. At one point in the article he specifically focuses on how interactions on social networking sites can reveal and lead to racism, sometimes without the perpetrator being aware of it, such as when it is unconscious. The two main sites discussed in the article were MySpace and Facebook. Regarding the two, Daniels says “Watkins found that the same racialized language used to differentiate between safe and unsafe people and communities was used to describe Facebook and MySpace” (8). The “white flight” from MySpace to Facebook made people think they were joining a cleaner, friendlier website as they left an inferior one behind. In reality, it was only as clean as they made it.

Recently, the police in Norfolk, England were contacted after a person posted a racistcomment on a banter/insult facebook page for soccer team managed by a black man.  Although this is only one example, it seems a recurring theme that it is, in actuality, Facebook that is “trashy”, and certainly not “clean” or “trustworthy” like people initially thought. There have been several articles regarding racism on Facebook recently, and almost all of the perpetrators were white. Many of them were contacted by the police for hate-crime related sentiments. Some, however, were just disrespectful without actually being threatening, leaving others to marvel at their ignorance. Although digital demographics are able to shift very quickly, Daniels assumption that Facebook is more “white” may still hold true. What does not hold true is those users’ assumptions that it is a superior site and their presence makes it better.