If you have thus far remained blissfully unaware of the meme-ization of Harambe, the gorilla killed by the Cincinnati Zoo months ago to save a young boy’s life… good.
It’s really one of the dumbest memes in recent history, and anyone who brings up Harambe in any context is going to just open those floodgates:
The killing of Harambe 3 months ago today reminds us to be a voice for the voiceless. https://t.co/wMZpWlLicY pic.twitter.com/8WtlDhRlIy
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 28, 2016
Oh dear.
See, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein tweeted about her statement from a while back about the shooting of Harambe, in which she said, “The killing of Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo highlights the need to adopt stronger legal protections for the rights of animals… Harambe was killed by a zoo which raises revenues by selling tickets to see captive animals, including primates. While good emergency staff training might have prevented such a catastrophic outcome, the Green Party believes that captivity for such entertainment is ethically wrong and fundamentally exploitive and should be illegal.”
But thanks to the meme-ing of Harambe, everyone kind of flipped out:
@DrJillStein noooooooo delete this jill
— Being Watched (@DuckSpeech) August 28, 2016
@DrJillStein what??? How?? You're most definitely just saying whatever to get young and impressionable people behind you.
— OfficerBae (@Officerbabyface) August 28, 2016
@DrJillStein Oh my god. This is your trick for getting millennials?
— Bradley (@TweetOfBradley) August 28, 2016
@atownbrown08 @DrJillStein Excuse me, yes I do.
— Bradley (@TweetOfBradley) August 28, 2016
@hoaxie @DrJillStein @charles_kinbote This isn't even in the top-15 of most problematic things she's ever said, though.
— S T A B L E T I T O (@screenclutter) August 28, 2016
.@DrJillStein thank God I lived to see you say this before the wifi killed me
— (((Popehat))) (@Popehat) August 28, 2016
@DrJillStein He's getting more votes than you.
— Ethan Kassel (@EthanRKassel) August 28, 2016
You're just trying to steal Harambe voters because he beats you in the polls. @DrJillStein
— Michelle Catlin (@CatlinNya) August 28, 2016
.@DrJillStein You realize you're taking votes away from Harambe in Texas in favor of neoliberal warmonger Deez Nutz? https://t.co/SJYB8TEP3s
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) August 29, 2016
And apparently it’s shocking that tweeting about a meme gets you more attention than talking about policy:
100+ journalists replied to my tweet on Harambe. Where were they when I called to end racism & police violence? ? https://t.co/XbskYkTdBe
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 29, 2016
Why'd media pay more attention to 1 tweet on Harambe than my entire visit to Baltimore to talk about ending poverty? pic.twitter.com/78tdtep783
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 29, 2016
Real question to these journalists: why do you find Harambe more interesting than ending racism & police violence? https://t.co/6rkl0sl8t5
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 29, 2016
[image via screengrab]
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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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