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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Meme

Open Thread: On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Meme

by Anne Laurie|  March 10, 20158:50 pm| 64 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Women's Rights Are Human Rights, Clown Shoes

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Comments on my piece on Madonna thinking 'Hilary Clinton' said something I wrote are predictably amazing. pic.twitter.com/IgXTpgOfsJ

— Erin Gloria Ryan (@morninggloria) March 10, 2015

Erin Gloria Ryan is a writer at Jezebel. Hillary Clinton is a well-known politician and supporter of women’s rights. Madonna is a Single Name Celebrity, and what the Victorians might’ve called a “magpie” — among other things, an inveterate picker-up of shiny trifles. (I was amazed to discover that, per Urban Dictionary, that usage has not completely aged out.) Eventually, on the internets, these three inviduals were bound to converge, as described by Ms. Ryan…

On Sunday, Madonna honored International Women’s Day by tweeting and Instagramming to her millions of followers a sassy quote purported to be by a very powerful woman who everybody is pretty sure will soon announce a run for President (just as soon as she satisfactorily explains that whole email thing). I spotted a couple of problems with it. First, former First Lady Clinton doesn’t spell her first name “Hilary.” Second, Hillary never said those words: The quote in question is actually from a piece that I wrote, and for the past three years, it’s spread around the internet like a fun and viral girl power missive from the lips of Hillary Clinton herself.

My words’ journey to Hillary Clinton meme land began in May of 2012, when then-Secretary of State Clinton appeared before press in Bangladesh sporting red lipstick, black plastic-framed glasses, and no other evident makeup. In response, fedora industry pillar Matt Drudge featured the look prominently on his site, Fox News started talking about it, Twitter Got Really Stupid—you know, your standard modern day manic news cycle idiocy.

I wrote a piece about the incident that basically called all of her aesthetic naysayers idiots for focusing on her looks when her looks weren’t the point. The following passage was included in the post:

You may not agree with a woman, but to criticize her appearance — as opposed to her ideas or actions — isn’t doing anyone any favors, least of all you. Insulting a woman’s looks when they have nothing to do with the issue at hand implies a lack of comprehension on your part, an inability to engage in high-level thinking. You may think she’s ugly, but everyone else thinks you’re an idiot.

… Almost immediately (according to Google, the same day that I wrote the piece), the internet decided that Hillary Clinton had said those lines. In the ensuing months, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest jumped aboard. Even women’s rights organizations, who you’d think would know enough to Google stuff—joined the chorus. And before you know it (and despite the efforts of several eagle-eyed internet fact-checkers and the fact that the piece I wrote is the second highest result when you search for the quote), I became Hillary Clinton’s unwitting ghostwriter….

The more you know. And among the things we know — if you think Hillary Clinton’s fans are defensive of her image, they will never be able to match the uncut rabid protectiveness of Ms. Ciccone’s loyalists.
***********
Apart from marveling the wonders abounding across this series of virtual tubes, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Reader Interactions

64Comments

  1. 1.

    David Koch

    March 10, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    What?

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    March 10, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    And among the things we know — if you think Hillary Clinton’s fans are defensive of her image, they will never be able to match the uncut rabid protectiveness of Ms. Ciccone’s loyalists.

    I beg to fucking differ. How dare you?!

  3. 3.

    raven

    March 10, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    If you didn’t see “Better Call Saul” this week, do.

  4. 4.

    Mike J

    March 10, 2015 at 8:56 pm

    Get Into the Groovy.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    March 10, 2015 at 8:56 pm

    Get your popular abused substances in Ireland while they’re still legal.

  6. 6.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 10, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    If you want something else to read, here is
    my post about the Indian government’s decision to ban the airing of the documentary, India’s daughter about the rape case that sparked weeks of protests in India.

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    Am sure everybody wants to know how Cliven Bundy is doing–is he holing up in his bunker a-waitin’ on the feds? Not so much.

    A November 2014 BLM public meeting in Pahrump, Nevada, to discuss the proposed management plan (the same one that prompted some commissioners to resolve to say “no” to the BLM) was canceled after a hundred or so people showed up to protest—too many to fit into the community hall the meeting was scheduled for. According to commissioner Lorinda Wichman, Bundy supporters had sent an email blast to locals, encouraging them to show up to “help save our right to use our public lands,” to protest any potential BLM “retaliation of the Bundy family,” (which some Bundyites have claimed is one of the goals of the resource management plan) and calling the BLM the “Bureau of Land Grabbing Maggots.”

    And every day that passes without a federal government move to prosecute Bundy is a day that he and his followers are emboldened. “We have not been bothered by nor have we even seen a US government licensed vehicle of any kind on the Bundy Ranch or the northeast portion of Clark County,” Bundy said in his email, referring to the last 11 months. “Cattle prices are good and green grass is growing!”

  8. 8.

    Bobby B.

    March 10, 2015 at 8:58 pm

    I’m going to stay on my virtual tubes, typing with rage in the belief that it matters. Respect my fingers of fury! Ignore my pot belly!

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 10, 2015 at 9:02 pm

    “intelligence shaming”? Madonna loyalists? what are MRAs? Does Madge still record music, or just pop up for elaborate dance numbers on award shows? I am as old as the dirt under the hills

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    March 10, 2015 at 9:07 pm

    And, bigfoot is bigfooted in turn…

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 9:10 pm

    My presumption in 2015 is that only Andy Sullivan still listens to Madonna. Which is how it should be henceforth.

  12. 12.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:10 pm

    OK, no more criticizing women based on their appearance, just as long as we can still do it for men, especially for male politicians.

    Edit: because having to give up dissing male pols on the basis of their appearance would be whale of a concession in the name of gender equality. OK, I am a bad man, I admit it. But I have to make my stand here.

  13. 13.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 10, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    @jl: Politicians are fair game, both male and female, also too, anyone in the public eye and John Cole and his multicolored stripy bathrobes.

  14. 14.

    Mike J

    March 10, 2015 at 9:14 pm

    @jl: You probably wear earth tones.

  15. 15.

    muddy

    March 10, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: MRA is Men’s Rights Activists. I’m always thinking it’s Assholes, but that just goes to show how much oppression they receive.

  16. 16.

    Culture of Truth

    March 10, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    To sum up, people are really stupid.

  17. 17.

    raven

    March 10, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    Andrea just recalled the wonderful pink sweater Hillary was wearing years ago when she interviewed her. so there

  18. 18.

    Baud

    March 10, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    @raven: If Andrea used the N-word, would you?

  19. 19.

    Anne Laurie

    March 10, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    @Culture of Truth: “’For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?’”

  20. 20.

    Sad_Dem

    March 10, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Internet comments with random ALL CAPS words and phrases are ALWAYS misguided loony rants. They deserve a name, but it has to be distinct from the wingnut random first-letter capitalization and apostrophe abuse.

  21. 21.

    PurpleGirl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    I reserve the right to comment on a woman’s look if I think that they are wearing something that is truly fugly. This does not translate to thinking they are dumb, stupid, unthinking or anything along those lines. It only means that I think they are wearing something fugly.

    ETA: I’m feeling really crappy and I’m going to sleep. Talk to you all tomorrow.

  22. 22.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    @Baud:

    Naugahyde? HRC wearing naugahyde vests again?
    I wouldn’t mention it unless they were earth tone.

  23. 23.

    raven

    March 10, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    @Baud: what’s that got to do with the price of tomatoes?

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    Anybody know how Scotty Walker and Sam Brownback’s state revenues are doing? Because I think Jerry’s state is kicking their butts.

    California’s revenues swelled by about $1 billion more than expected last month, a sign of continued financial recovery likely to prompt jockeying for additional funding by social service agencies hard hit by recession-era budget cuts.

    The unanticipated boost came from personal income taxes, sales taxes and the alcoholic beverage excise tax, all of which came in above expectations, state controller Betty Yee said in a report released Tuesday.

  25. 25.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 10, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    @PurpleGirl: Fashun bloggers and their trend salad is always good for some laughs, but I usually don’t comment on those blogs.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    March 10, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    @Sad_Dem:

    They deserve a name, but it has to be distinct from the wingnut random first-letter capitalization and apostrophe abuse.

    I think the traditional term is “crank”. There’s a long history of internet cranks, dating back at least to the classic Ludwig Plutonium.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    March 10, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    @raven: I may have misinterpreted your comment.

  28. 28.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:43 pm

    @trollhattan: Commie California economy and jobs growth rates are very good compared to most other states since recovery started (though we dropped more than most in recession). And most of that is in Super Commie Northern California.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    March 10, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Wait just a doggone minute. I’m sure I heard somewhere that raising taxes hurts the economy and results in decreased revenues. We all know that California recently raised taxes, so there’s no way they could have unexpectedly high revenues. Betty Yee must be cooking the books somehow, probably with all the money she’s stealing from the overflowing treasuries in states like Kansas that wisely chose to lower taxes.

  30. 30.

    raven

    March 10, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    @Baud: I was just pointing out that, in the middle of an interview with Rachel about today’s presser, she thought that was relevant.

  31. 31.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    March 10, 2015 at 9:45 pm

    So, this was going on in Selma this last weekend, too.

    I’m really beginning to warm to the idea of cutting about 8 states loose–if we could get all the minorities out before we let them go. Hell, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, maybe Tennessee… Have we had any white people even halfway worthwhile that’s come out of those states in the last 150 years, aside from Al Gore and Bill Clinton? I know there’s still hope for Georgia and Texas, given enough time, but, shit, how long are we going to have to wait? Just get the people out who’d get fucked over 37 ways if they stayed behind, and let the whole raft of them go.

  32. 32.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:47 pm

    @Roger Moore: A carbon tax makes CalNation strong! Strong like beast!

  33. 33.

    raven

    March 10, 2015 at 9:49 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): My friends niece is in that at 3:33.

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I don’t want to break out my passport to go to NOLA. Maybe we could do something like they did for Danzig after WWI (or perhaps not, given the precedent)?

  35. 35.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    I have a thought on the deleted personal emails thing. The GOP and the press is going to harp on that, and GOP will certainly try to keep this supposedly major scandal going.

    But with so many work related emails released, it would be very hard to hide selectively deleted emails. There would be cross reference, a mention of something that was not there. And with the records public, arguments that she did delete work emails could be evaluated with publicly available record.

    So, if HRC did the deletions honestly and carefully (latter probably IMHO a bigger if than the former), then this scandal will be done, except down in the fantasy RWNJ death match cage.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    March 10, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    @raven: She’s cute. Glad she wasn’t one of the confederate sympathizers.

  37. 37.

    kindness

    March 10, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    Never was a fan of Modonna’s music. More power to her trying to empower others. The Hillary fest going on? It won’t stop. Not even if she wins which she will.

    We libs will just have to switch nouns. The foaming at the mouth crew will go from hating uppity black presidents to uppity woman presidents. They won’t miss a beat. It’ll shock us for a solid 5 seconds.

    The demeaning and dehumanization of your opponent is useful if you plan on treating them less than human. They do too.

  38. 38.

    jl

    March 10, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    @kindness: This is why a Biden presidency would wreak havoc with the GOP base. They would have to roll out a crazed lech old coot white man script. Would be a nightmare for them.

    Won’t happen thought, since Biden is (I think) too old and too ‘Joe Biden’ for public to accept. enough to beat HRC, or probably a few other strong contenders.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    March 10, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    @raven: Just caught up. Banks is a fine actor. The cinematography in that show is just incredible too.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 10:20 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve seen many recommendations for the show, but I have yet to give it a shot. Does one have to have watched Breaking Bad to know what is going on?

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 10:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Helps but not a requirement, it stands on its own (but catch up in sequence). Because it’s a prequel there are some connections that won’t seem as important as they will become.

    It will, however, eventually force you to watch BB.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 10:30 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    Ron Paul’s new slogan: “Audit the Yee!”

  43. 43.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 10, 2015 at 10:32 pm

    There is a kind of misogyny I have been noticing. It’s not overtly hostile, but when a woman makes an argument, some men compulsively go into contrarian mode. I see counterarguments that are weird and slapdash and have a ‘just to hear myself talk’ element that I rarely see when the original statement comes from a man.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 10:32 pm

    @trollhattan:

    It will, however, eventually force you to watch BB.

    You aren’t the boss of me!!! ::foot stomp/tears::

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    March 10, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: What Trollhattan said — but it’s probably more fun if you watch BB first. And you should — it’s an excellent series!

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 10:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I missed the first couple of seasons of BB so I decided to wait. Now it seems like a Herculean task.

  47. 47.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 10, 2015 at 10:40 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Don’t listen to those crazy people. Watch Steven Universe. Steven Universe is awesome.

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 10:42 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: What the hell is Steven Universe? Me, I am waiting for Wolf Hall.

    ETA: It turns out that I have watched episodes of it with my niece and nephew. It is pretty cool, but it’s no Banana Splits – but, in fairness, what is?

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    March 10, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    Come on. Everyone knows that if you’re going to watch a kids’ show, it should be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

  50. 50.

    Cervantes

    March 10, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Thanks.

    How effective is the ban?

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Your turbo bearings and I have been talking, so I just might could be the boss.

    Binge-watching BB has consumed significant amounts several friends’ time, but to my knowledge all have lived through it.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 10:50 pm

    This is how crazy our California summer-in-winter has been: my lime tree is in bloom (typically an April-May event).

    So. Very. Dry.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 10:50 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Your turbo bearings and I have been talking, so I just might could be the boss.

    Yes, sir. One does ever so want happy turbo bearings and other turbo parts (not meaning to leave anyone out – it was trollhattan who called out the bearings- I think all you parts are great and you all contribute to the whole) .

    Whew, I think I talked my way out of that one.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 10, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    I love MLP. However, Hasbro has all but abandoned it. Other shows are putting out three seasons in the time it takes MLP to process one. Season Five is about to start, finally, and with Hasbro going whole hog for their gruesome high school ‘this is more like the dumb little girl show we wanted’ spinoff, nobody knows what to expect.

    Steven Universe is relatively new, having arrived and had two seasons since MLP Season Four, and it’s gone from ‘incredibly heartwarming’ to ‘the shit’s about to hit the fan, isn’t it?’

  55. 55.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 10, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    @Cervantes: It won’t be aired on TV but not so effective if you have a good internet connection and some computer savvy.

    ETA: You are welcome!

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 11:05 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    And let this be a less…uh…crap, my oil is really old [scampers off].

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 11:08 pm

    @trollhattan:

    uh…crap, my oil is really old

    My SID just told me it is time for an oil change. I have a task for Saturday. All hail SID.

  58. 58.

    Hill Dweller

    March 10, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    Jon Stewart just did a bit saying Pelosi going to Syria was the same thing as the 47 Republican senators writing the letter to Iran. Both sides!

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    March 10, 2015 at 11:15 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    SID’s no Nancy, nomsayn? Mine’s been ragging my butt about the remote battery. Stoopid SID.

    Time to begin the two-hour task of chasing the kid to bed. This time change makes getting a middle-schooler up nearly unpossible.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 10, 2015 at 11:17 pm

    @trollhattan: Have fun. Always nice to speak Saab with someone.

  61. 61.

    A Humble Lurker

    March 11, 2015 at 12:44 am

    @Hill Dweller:
    Saw that. Made me want to bash my head into a wall. Even an un-savvy noob like me can see they’re not the same. No where near the same. Jeez.

  62. 62.

    David Koch

    March 11, 2015 at 1:24 am

    @Baud:

    If Andrea used the N-word, would you?

    Depends on the context

  63. 63.

    Cervantes

    March 11, 2015 at 6:45 am

    @raven:

    I shudder to think that she knows her audience.

  64. 64.

    jon

    March 11, 2015 at 10:11 am

    @jl: The Republican base has wanted President Biden for over six years now. “Impeach Obama!” they keep saying, and still are. Add 27% to whatever the Democrats usually get, and it’s a Biden landslide! JOEMENTUM!

    As for misappropriated quotes, I think that Jimmy Carter meme that’s actually a John Fugelsang quote is the best example of that phenomenon. Abraham Lincoln warned against believing everything you read on the internet. I read that somewhere.

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