Watching another meme being born

Back in April, I wrote about watching the birth of an Internet meme. It’s just happened again, but this time it’s even better, and with a really good message.

Today, one of my Facebook friends shared an image that had been shared by a page my friend follows. I traced backwards to the original, which was by attn.: and published on their page a number of hours earlier.

When I saw the share today, I wondered, as I put it last April, “…first, if the quote is genuine, and second, how old it is.” I wondered that, but didn’t feel like checking it out, as, in fact, I almost never do.

This evening I was catching up on some of my YouTube subscriptions, and I noticed in the sidebar a video from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, a segment on transgender rights (that video is below). So, I watched it, and that turned out to be the source of the Internet meme. I don’t know precisely when it aired originally, but the video was posted on June 28, which makes it pretty recent.

So, I went back to Facebook, found my friend’s share, then went to the page it was shared from, then searched Facebook for attn: to find the original posting.

I don’t usually bother checking out Internet memes, because of a lack of time, mostly, but this one kind of fell into my virtual lap. I wonder if this will be more common now, or was this just a coincidence?

In any event, Oliver’s video is brilliant, the best look at transgender rights I’ve ever seen in mainstream media (we’ll put aside the question of how “mainstream” HBO is). The point is, he said the sorts of things that broadcast media ought to say, or, at least, stop and think about. Everytime I’ve seen a mainstream journalist become fixated on a transgendered persons genitalia it’s creeped me out in exactly the way that Oliver suggests.

I also think he makes great points about people not really wanting to jump into anti-trans bigotry.

When I saw the meme earlier today, I thought the sentiment was great, and would like to have shared it, but there was the usual wondering about its age and accuracy. When I saw the video, it was all complete: Another Internet meme traced back to its original source, and a great message to share.