You know, Ken Bone, the loveable teddy bear guy from the 2nd debate, with the red sweater, black glasses and cheesy moustache. The human meme, the one in the viral video dancing with Hillary. He became an overnight internet sensation after the 2nd debate.
He agreed to do a live reddit “Ask me anything” chat. He however used his personal reddit ID, which apparently has a history. A few internet sleuths dug through his reddit history and uncovered some not so popular opinions of Bone:
Trayvon Martin’s shooting was justified
He likes preggo porn
Admitted to committing insurance fraud as a pizza delivery guy
Glommed on the celebrity nude images stolen from Jennifer Lawrence, etc.
He’s now having to defend some of these positions or back track on them.
So who’s at fault, Ken for having these opinions and letting them become public, or the internet investigators for digging it up and uncovering it?
Of course his posting history also had some threads that demonstrated him as a man of significant compassion for others in some cases. But be that as it may.
Celebrity is a cruel mistress.
He actively embraced her and tried to use her for personal benefit. Most of us would find her hug back to be a bit uncomfortable I think but the choice to attempt to capitalize and monetize his moment in the sun was his and so was the lion’s share of responsibility for the consequence of that choice.
I’m going with this. Think about it - was he a regular person going about his day when he was arbitrarily plucked from obscurity, shoved in front of the camera in front of millions of viewers and told to ask a question?
No, he actively pursued the limelight. He made sure he was one of the chosen “undecided” voters. He made sure he could ask a question on camera. He wore a f*cking giant red sweater so everyone would notice him.
That’s how Internet celebrity works - first they build you up as the greatest thing since sliced bread, then they tear you down as the worst thing since Hitler. Then your fifteen minutes is up.
Yes, his posting history was ‘exposed’ in the AMA thread. But the vast majority of redditors just felt they made him more human. I didn’t see the usual pitchfork activity, if anything it was more a sense of ‘he’s one of us’.
First of all, “internet sleuths?” I mean, his username is right there at the top of the AMA and in front of every post. It’s a clickable link. All you have to do is click on it and scroll down. We’re calling that sleuthing now?
That said,
His post about Trayvon Martin expressed as much nuance as you can expect in a few hundred words. The shooting was justified, legally, as determined by a trial (and IMHO anyone who actually paid attention to what went down at the trial), but he also excoriated Zimmerman and expressed general remorse for the whole situation. His whole post was, I felt, a fairly accurate summary. I can excuse redditors for zeroing in on one part of the post and taking it out of context, but not actual journalists. A lot of these clickbait articles led with the headline “Ken Bone says Trayvon Martin’s death was justified” and then somewhere further down said, “He also called George Zimmerman a shitbag and said how sad the whole situation was, but whatever, we’ve got your clicks now!” How many people just read the headlines?
Nothing wrong with liking preggo porn, and that post was funny. Beautiful human submarines! Poetry.
Insurance fraud makes it sound like he took insurance money that didn’t belong to him. He faked an insurance card that he ultimately never needed. Illegal, sure, and a really, really bad idea, but he admitted as much and I’m really struggling to figure out who the victim is.
Yes, it’s terrible that celebrities have their privacy violated. I really feel that way. I’ve also seen the nudes. This is pretty much exactly what Ken Bone said. I don’t know what that makes us.
In short, his posting history is actually fairly normal. Like I said, I don’t care about the redditors who misconstrued all of this stuff for karma, and I can understand the douchebag clickbait articles that picked up the non-story, but when it went mainstream… come on. Leave the guy alone.
I missed the second debate. What was it that thrust Ken Bone into the spotlight?
Was it just his look? Or did it have something to do with the question he asked?
It was a contentious debate marked by interruptions and insults, and then here comes this wholesome looking guy straight out of a 1994 Sears photo catalog trying to ask a serious policy question. It was like, “Oh, right. This is supposed to be presidential.” We’d all almost forgotten.
But who knows why anything becomes a meme, really.
The only people at fault are those who would criticize him for being a normal person online. However, as a reddit user I am sure he knew that the internet was full of horrible people looking to tear down other people. I hope he makes alot of money off his shirts.
Ken Bone is responsible. Ken Bone typed the things.
Hopefully, Ken Bone realizes that every internet warrior castigating him also enjoys kink, celebrity nudes, and has posted stupid things. Pizza delivery insurance fraud, maybe not everyone.
Hmmm, sounds like you know of whence you speak… Aha! “Ask Me Anything (where the answer is ‘Buttercup’)” Wow, looks like you started out loving PB&J then moved on to naked Aryan photos… and were in favor of annexing the Sudetenland.