Post by Morreion on Oct 14, 2016 15:18:30 GMT -5
Ken Bone was a ‘hero.’ Now Ken Bone is ‘bad.’ It was his destiny as a human meme. (WaPo)
Kenneth Bone is the same person on Friday as he was on Sunday: a 34-year-old, politically ambiguous, white Midwesterner who is suddenly a figure of widespread interest thanks to his mild, be-sweatered appearance during a unpalatable political event. But as a meme, Kenneth Bone has changed quite a bit.
Sunday is when Kenneth Bone the person gave way to Kenneth Bone the meme. At first he was an American Hero, and even described himself as a “huggable, likable guy in the middle of a really nasty and divisive debate.” But then overnight on Thursday, things changed.
Bone agreed to do a Reddit Ask me Anything — as a newly famous human meme does — using his real Reddit handle. This allowed anybody to simply click through and read his entire history as an anonymous Reddit user. And now that we’ve learned more about the man, Kenneth Bone is no longer a Hero. Now, Kenneth Bone is Bad.
[Earlier: America needed a hero. Kenneth Bone answered the call.]
The fact that the Ken Bone meme isn’t as pure and fun as it once was shouldn’t surprise anyone with an Internet connection. Every meme has a cycle that ends with the meme being “ruined” in some way. That can happen through overexposure, brands swooping in to take advantage, or the simple march of time. (These days “being co-opted by Nazi trolls” is also an actual meme endgame.) But when the Internet turns a real human being into a meme, the end of that cycle can be particularly vicious and swift.
In Ken Bone’s case, the end came because his Reddit history revealed he . . . is a politically ambiguous, white Midwesterner who has sometimes privately been wrong or gross on the Internet, in ways that the Ken Bone meme, as it evolved, does not allow.
Sunday is when Kenneth Bone the person gave way to Kenneth Bone the meme. At first he was an American Hero, and even described himself as a “huggable, likable guy in the middle of a really nasty and divisive debate.” But then overnight on Thursday, things changed.
Bone agreed to do a Reddit Ask me Anything — as a newly famous human meme does — using his real Reddit handle. This allowed anybody to simply click through and read his entire history as an anonymous Reddit user. And now that we’ve learned more about the man, Kenneth Bone is no longer a Hero. Now, Kenneth Bone is Bad.
[Earlier: America needed a hero. Kenneth Bone answered the call.]
The fact that the Ken Bone meme isn’t as pure and fun as it once was shouldn’t surprise anyone with an Internet connection. Every meme has a cycle that ends with the meme being “ruined” in some way. That can happen through overexposure, brands swooping in to take advantage, or the simple march of time. (These days “being co-opted by Nazi trolls” is also an actual meme endgame.) But when the Internet turns a real human being into a meme, the end of that cycle can be particularly vicious and swift.
In Ken Bone’s case, the end came because his Reddit history revealed he . . . is a politically ambiguous, white Midwesterner who has sometimes privately been wrong or gross on the Internet, in ways that the Ken Bone meme, as it evolved, does not allow.
