Memes!

I was listening to a podcast from NPR, in particular the episode talked about those wonderful things called "Internet Memes". The guest was Kenyatta Cheese of the excellent site "Know Your Meme". One that caught my interest was the one dealing with StarWars Kid. While it may be debated on what this was like, there was a fair bit of fallout from the posting of the video. While it inspired a lot of people to have fun with it, making things with it. The result of it was a lot of lawsuits.

Honestly, you look at it and realize its just some kid having a bit of fun with a video camera and pretending to be a character from StarWars. Like everyone who has done that since the release of the first movie. I realize this is the mid 21st century and obviously the parents wanted to protect their little boy from the humiliation of being made fun of by this thing called "Internet".

Let's move ahead a few years, perhaps instead of calling for lawyers, the parents should have called for a few agents. Give them the duty of turning this little bit of video into a money making opportunity. Get him a few minutes on Oprah, or Ellen. The money would have rolled in. Yeah, it's amazing how a few years would have turned something like a little embarrassment into a major source of tee shirts.

So parents of StarWars Kid, I hope you enjoyed the few dollars you made on the settlement, just meditate on the income you lost over the years.

Respect the Meme.