Social media exaggerates incident of slain gorilla

A Cincinnati zoo gorilla named Harambe, who was shot dead due to a little boy who entered his enclosure, is currently living a second life, but on the internet. The male silverback gorilla had just turned 17 years old days prior to his death.

The gorilla was born in Brownsville, Texas and was brought to Cincinnati in September of 2014. He was brought to mate with other female gorillas, but he was shot before he was sexually mature.

The Cincinnati zoo director said, “The child was being dragged around. His head was banging on concrete. This was not a gentle thing. The child was at risk…So when it was determined that the child was being injured…we had to make a decision.”

Soon after Harambe was dead, the internet blew up voicing different reactions. Some people felt sorry for Harambe because the zoo just lost a member of the “family,” while other people supported shooting the 17-year-old gorilla. Then, of course, there were the people that chose to act sorry for Harambe, but more as a “joke” or for “fun.”

The Hashtag #JusticeForHarambe soon started trending on social media. Then, came the internet memes. Millions of internet memes of Harambe were being posted on countless social media accounts to show people’s “sympathy” for him. People acted as if the authorities shooting Harambe to protect the safety of a child was wrong.

The build-up of this publicity did not stop. After a week of Harambe’s death, it seemed like everyone knew about the silverback gorilla. That shows that once something gets posted on social media, it just gets shared and shared throughout the entire social media platform.

The internet meme soon translated into real life. There was a man dressed up in a gorilla suit mockingly dragging around a kid to people shouting, “Dicks out for Harambe!” “Dicks out for Harambe” was another hashtag and “movement” begun after he died. There has also been artists like Young Thug who has even titled one of his songs “Harambe,” and another group named Dumbfounded also named a song after the now famous gorilla.

Social media is one of the biggest ways that subjects can spread. It’s also one of the main sources for trends. Trends like “Damn Daniel” and videos of people dancing to the song “Juju on that Beat” have sprouted from social media. Social media can be a fun place to socialize, but there’s also many ways social media can be bad.

Social media can spread gossip and hate towards someone if someone says something public about the situation on social media. Everything today usually doesn’t go unnoticed due to people always recording videos on their cellphones. Almost every event is probably recorded by someone and posted by someone.

It’s an ongoing cycle, so everyone that uses it should watch what they post because they can be soon regret it later. Incidents such as the killing of Harambe can be blown up into being a huge deal, when in reality, it’s not.