Obama and the Internet Part I

YouTube: John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd.

This particular video has caused a mini-sensation on YouTube, but it's well-edited and made-up prank on Senator John McCain is not unique.

In fact, it actually follows a sort of Internet tradition, or meme.

From The Daily Meme, a website that's dedicated itself to collecting the Internet's ever-growing list of memes, here's a plain and simple breakdown:

A meme is an idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.

From this simple definition, it almost seems self-evident that the vastly adaptable Internet is capable of creating things as strange but intensely popular as the Rick Roll, which is what that video is so successfully making a parody of.

A successful Rick Roll only requires these steps:

1. Locate Rick Astley's 1987 music video, "Never Gonna Give You Up."
2. Send the link to a friend or complete stranger via facebook, MySpace, IM, etc.
   
3. If the link is clicked and video watched for any amount of time, the Rick Roll is complete.

To those unfamiliar with this meme or the Internet's sense of humor in general, these kinds of questions always pop up.

Q: Why the Rick Roll?
Simply because it's nonsensical and funny. There might be other reasons, but no one seems to agree.

Q: How long has the Rick Roll been around?
Since 2007.

Where did it originate from?
This is a difficult question to answer, given the fast speed that information is published and shared on the Internet. But most seem to agree that the original video prank concept came from a place called 4chan.

It should be noted that since Rickrolling began, 80s pop star Rick Astley has enjoyed some degree of new popularity, to the point that he went along with the joke last Thanksgiving.

This particular meme is so intensely popular that a YouGotRickRolled.com was created by one Internet-goer specifically dedicated spreading the Rickroll to others.

Moreover, a nice-and-simple layman's version of How to Rick Roll Somebody can now be found on YouTube.

And finally, the most popular Rickroll YouTube video has a whopping 17, 149, 897 views when this blog post was published.

In other words, Rickrolling is something big.

So to see this Internet joke weaved into something like politics should perhaps come to no surprise. If anything, the sheer skill that must have gone into piecing the Barackroll'd video together can only be imagined. User hmatkin and his video skills should be applauded.

But still. While Senator McCain was put at the butt of the Rickroll joke like many other pranked Internet users, then-Senator Obama was elevated to not only be the joke instigator, but also the performer. What does this say about him and the Internet?

It's uncertain. As it currently stands, the original Barackroll variation has 6,233,048 video views, and the Republican Convention prank on McCain shown earlier holds about half that number.

Judging only by the YouTube commentators, the Barackroll and its various uses is hilarious and popular. Perhaps being elevated to the same level as an Internet celebrity has its positives.

Regardless, seeing Obama weaved into such a popular Internet tradition seems to say something about this seemingly charmed life he leads among the most technological-savvy supporters.

Or, at least, it says something about the supporters that enjoy Rickrolling others in their spare time.

To which I'll note: if you read this blog post and clicked on certain links, you've been Rickrolled.