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.
