YouTube Viral Videos Part 2

So here is my follow up on the viral YouTube videos post from earlier in my blog. My first post can be viewed here. One thing I forgot to mention was the definition of a Viral Video. Wiki Definition of Viral Videos. On Wikipedia they talk about how viral videos are mostly funny. I agree with that but as of late there have been many new videos being posted that are far more political such as the ones below. in addition to that there are tons of videos going viral that are more about talent then just someone doing something silly or stupid. As we grow as an online community we are growing into new types of viral videos and the purpose of having them.


Lately there has been a lot of good going on in this country of ours. Also a lot of pain. First North Carolina showed itself to be a state of hatred, not just to same-sex couples who wish to get married, but also to heterosexual couples who are together out of wedlock. Then the day after we learned that President Obama has evolved his point of view to further help those who are LGBT. (Lesbian Gay Bi and Transgendered.) He came out is support of same-sex marriage. Or as I like to call it Marriage.

A few days before the vote for amendment 1 in North Carolina, on May 6^th, a video was put up on Youtube. It already has well over 1 million views. It featured a story that I wish was not true. It is a tale told by Shane about him and his love of his life Tom. It shows pictures and video clips of them showing their lives together over the course of six years. Then Shane tells us that Tom and he decided that they want to get married when it becomes legal. They also came out to their families. Shane’s family welcomed Tom into their lives with open arms. Tom’s family rejected both of them. Then sadly Tom fell to his death and because they were not legally married and had no wills Shane had no legal rights over Tom’s things or his body. He also was not allowed to attend his funeral. The video is really hard for me to watch as a Gay Man because I see the pain in Shane and feel the fear that one day that could be me. Until there is equality across the land there will be no justice for those who lose the ones that they love.

This video went viral because people in my community shared it with their friends and families on Facebook. Also it had an appearance on The Huffington Post. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/it-could-happen-to-you-gay-man-boyfriend-death_n_1499673.html

Please watch the video and share it with friends and family. The only way for people to really understand the lack of rights that the LGBT community has is to see it firsthand. Also I’ve noticed that more and more people are changing their tunes about how awful LGBT people are once they get to know a few people who are. Once anyone becomes human then it is hard to demonize them. 

It Could Happen To You, 2012

Another major video that went Viral this past week is of a woman who is arguably mentally ill. If she is not then she just might be the most hateful person on this planet. In this video this woman (Jane I believe. It is hard for me to hear her name without lip reading it.) spends her entire time in front of the Lincoln Nebraska City Counsel to argue against the rights of the LGBT community. The video was put up by

 http://www.youtube.com/user/cacamaymie and later ripped from that used and posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/aksarbent?feature=watch. According to the description section of the video this was also picked up by Towleroad, Gawker, Queerty, Huffington Post, and JoeMyGod. This helped it get to well over half a million views on YouTube. This video like Rebecca Black’s Video, “Friday,” also has a majority of dislikes on YouTube. This is because people are watching it and seeing that it’s full of hate. Whether this woman is mentally ill, or just a hater, this kind of speech is being spread all over the nation.

Lincoln Nebraska proposed LGBT protection ordinance: Best In Show!, 2012

The video was put up, like “It Could Happen to You,” as a cautionary tale. To show that while we are moving forward there are still tons of people out there who feel this way. And they’re trying to slow us down. The second reason is because people wanted to bring this video out for the rest of the country and world to see to write in letters and emails to the City Counsel of Lincoln Nebraska to show that they support the LGBT community and they don’t share this woman’s views of hate and fear. Viral videos are becoming more and more political I’ve noticed as of late. Yes we’re in an election year. And it is also a very big one. This election is presidential and could help shape the nation for years to come. I wonder if we will see a drop off in political Viral Videos once the election is over or if it will become a new source of news for people to find out what is going on.

Another huge political viral video that received a staggering number of dislikes is Rick Perry’s “Strong” video. It is a campaign ad for him to be the GOP candidate for president. In the video he boldly states that he is a proud Christian and ashamed that we allow LGBT people to serve in out military. The video went viral almost as soon as it was posted because the LGBT community has not declared war on the Christian faith, as Rick Perry and people like him would have one believe. In fact it is the other way around. Now I have many friends who are religious and wonderfully open, but I’ve found that the most anti-gay people have often had the “word-of-god” behind them.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA <---The Link to the video. It cannot be uploaded to the blog because it was hated so much... But if you go to the YouTube page it'll play.

The video went on to help create a few spoof videos which also went viral. 

Rick Perry - "Jacket" ("Strong" Parody), 2011

 This one is all about how anti-gay he is and how its ironic that Rick is wearing the same jacket that Heath Ledger wore in the Gay-Themed movie “Broke Back Mountain.” 

Bad Lip Reading: Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad, 2011

This one is one of the “Bad Lip-Reading” series. Basically they go for a funny version of what everyone says, but in this case it seems to me that they showed how nonsensical the original one was by changing up the words.

The final political video that I would like to show is one the one I saw quite a few years ago. This video is all about a mother who has just learned that her son is gay. The mom is played by a man John Roberts, who plays it in drag. It starts with her feeling upset that her son is gay. Then slowly throughout the video it shows that she is coming to terms with it. By the end of the video she is in full support of her son. It also ends with the words, “No one understands you like mom. Happy Mothers Day.” This is a really great viral video because it might be just enough to help some young kids, or even adults, come out of the closet to their families. It also uses humor to help parents who are seeing this realize that the who thing is really not that big of a deal. If you’re going to be a parent then you’re going to love your kid no matter what.

My Son is Gay?, 2007

Now not all of the videos as of late have been completely political or funny. Some of them are all about talent I am pleased to say that I went to school with this young woman Anna.

 "F*ck You" Sign language performance, 2010

In this video we can see her signing Cee Lo Green’s song, “F*ck You,” in ASL. This version of her song is her final for ASL1. I got to watch it evolve with a few word and sign changes to make it just that much stronger, but the song is amazing as is. The reason that this video went viral is because while it is amazing to watch her signing and performing wonderfully, it is also being done to a song that people know well. This makes it a perfect video to go viral. People think, “Holy COW! I don’t know ASL and I love this song! She’s amazing and I need to show my friends!” And they do and then it spreads like fire.

Her song is not the first ASL song to go viral however. There have already been quite a few. I mention in my previous post during the Rebecca Black section of my prior post that there are only a handful of viral videos that are ASL compared to mainstream ones, but the deaf and hard-of-hearing community who like to watch songs in ASL really like it. This provides a strong base for a video to go small scale viral with a few mega videos such as “F*ck You” and these:

Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA - ASL song, 2009

"Fireflies" in ASL (LIVE!), 2010

and

 Ke$ha-- We r Who We R (Sign Language), 2011

There are plenty more videos that are made for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community to include them in music appreciation. Part of what makes these videos so much more exciting to watch is that the people who are doing them are really charismatic and also sign really cleanly. There are also plenty of ASL videos where the signer is in fact deaf or hard-of-hearing themselves.

ASL-Walk Away, Kelly Clarkson-Sign Language 

While this video is yet to reach real viral standards we can see that it is a well viewed video for its genre and also really impressive.

Viral videos are becoming a really useful tool to help spread political messages and also to spread talent around. People are being discovered like my friend Anna, and also are being shown for what they really are in the case of the Woman from Nebraska. Also as seen in my previous blog post with Rebecca Black and this post with Rick Perry there are a ton of videos that help create parodies of them. Viral videos started out being something for people to use to have a good laugh, but they are quickly evolving to become a thing of power for people to see what is really going on out there in the world and for people to show their stories and be discovered. What are your favorite viral videos?

Jason T Gaffney

Everyday Sheroes and Heroes found through Social Networking

So there are many people who have come into my life through just living. Being in shows and meeting people, but as of late I've been finding Sheroes and Heroes online via Facebook. Two of my favorite are a Blogger for the Huffington Post names Amelia, and a second you may already know of, Actor and Online Activist George Takei. Both of these people came into my life via the internet by accident.

I often will find myself scrolling through the newsfeed to find fun things to read, things to make me laugh, or important news stories. (I get about 75% of my news from Facebook.) I found my friends a few years ago checking out this guy. George Takei. Now I had seen him on Star Trek and I had also seen him on the TV show Heroes. But I didn't really know him. He wasn't as relevant to me as to my parents. But then I started to notice something. Almost every funny post or 'Meme' (I believe this is the correct spelling!) was being re-posted by George Takei. So finally I went over to his Facebook page to check him out.

http://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei

On his page I noticed Meme's such as:

And

Of course he also had tons of really funny photos too but he was being an activist in the best possible way. Everyone loves him for the humor he brings and therefore also listens to him when he has something political to say. 

He to me has taken the best possible route for a celebrity to take on the path to activism. He has found a way to not alienate his fans and to bring enlightenment and knowledge about issues of all kinds to the table.

Another great place to read powerful blogs from him and see what he is up to is on: George's Website

Another great person whom I've actually become quite close with is a Blogger for The Huffington Post. Her name is Amelia. She goes by just that so that she can keep her family and her son's identity safe. Here is her HuffPost Page. In her description you can see, 

"Amelia is a mother, wife, partner and breadwinner. When not at the office she's spending as much time as possible with her three young sons, husband and best friend. In her copious free time she knits, obsesses about science fiction and cult television, and reads way too many books. She considers her most superhero worthy act finding a couple free hours now and then to read trashy novels.

Note: "Amelia" is a pseudonym chosen to keep her family's identity anonymous."

She is one of the most "Everyday Hero" that there is.

Why? You might ask. Well, because what she is doing is helping those deal with kids coming out. She has a 7 year old son who watches GLEE and has decided that he is gay like Kurt and Blaine. (He has a crush on Blaine.) We learn this in her first post, which was not on the Huffington Post, but on another Blog. First Blog That Went Viral!

This post went all over Facebook. People were talking about it left and right. I also found that it was affecting me. It was making me feel good all over. Why was it doing this to me? After all this wasn't the first time I'd seen a parent tell their gay son that everything was ok and that they loved them. My parents had done that with me too. In addition to that I had seen that other blogger/mom who let her son dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween. http://nerdyapple.com/my-son-is-gay/ What was moving me was the fact that more and more mothers out there were allowing their kids to be kids and figure out for themselves who they are.

There are plenty of news stories with religiously bigoted a$$holes such as: Sean Harris can be heard at this link. He is a preacher trying to convince people that if your kids start to act the "opposite gender" that you need to "squash it out of them like a cockroach." 

So I guess what I'm getting at is that it makes me feel good to see people like Amelia come onto the scene and start to show people like Sean that being gay or lesbian or bi or straight or whatever is not a big deal. As long as your kid is happy and not hurting anyone then what does it matter?

Jason T Gaffney