Thursday, November 28, 2013

Assignment #5: Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop (Leslie Garay)

            The “Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop” meme became popular on the internet late 2011. It is based of a photograph that captures a University of California, Davis police officer, Lieutenant John Pike, nonchalantly or seemingly “casually” pepper spraying a group of UC Davis students. These students were part of the Occupy movement, protesting the university’s rising tuition costs. Their demonstration was a non-violent one: they were seated as a group on the pavement, holding on to each other and refusing to move. Thus, though they did not adhere to the police orders to leave, their protest was nevertheless “peaceful.” That is why the photo that was captured that day of this cop pepper spraying the students was so controversial: the students were essentially doing nothing. They may have been participating in a form of civil disobedience, but they were not attacking or threatening anyone. The students had not administered any kind of violence that would justify the officer’s use of brutality. Overall, the meme captures the ridiculousness of the officer’s actions.


            This photograph (by Louise Macabitas) first became famous when Macabitas’ photograph was uploaded on Reddit and later photoshopped twice. The first version featured another meme, “Strutting Leo” (Leonardo DiCaprio), doing the pepper spraying instead of the cop.


            The second photoshopped version of Macabita’s photo then featured Lieutenant Pike pepper spraying those featured in the 1819 painting “Declaration of Independence” by John Trumbull.


            Soon enough, more such photoshopped images featuring Pike pepper spraying surfaced on the internet in Tumblr blogs, Facebook pages, and even other media outlets like the Washington Post, ABC News, CBS News, and more. Google Insights cites that this meme was popular beginning November 2011, immediately after the incident involving the students and Pike. However, its popularity quickly declined. By February 2012, there was hardly any interest in the meme.

Sources:

1.) Scott, Maxwell Carl. "Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop." Know Your Meme News.
Cheezburger, Inc., 20 Nov. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.