By Siddarth Tumu ‘18

You’ve heard his name. You’ve seen the memes. You’ve either embraced the movement or rejected it as completely ludicrous. Harambe was a western lowland gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo who, on May 28, 2016, was shot to death after a three-year old boy climbed into the gorilla enclosure. Fearing for the child’s life, zoo officials made the decision to kill Harambe. Debate, at first limited to whether zoo officials could’ve handled the situation in a different way, was quickly overshadowed by the plethora of memes appearing on various social media mediums. Harambe memes have now gained worldwide recognition, developing a cult-like following, especially amongst the youth. To put Harambe’s death into context, two lions were shot to death a week earlier on May 21 at the Santiago Zoo after a man climbed into their enclosure, without much recognition at all. So how did Harambe gain such popularity?

While people initially looked for someone to blame, whether it be the parent of the child or zoo officials, it soon became clear that there was no culpable party. Meanwhile, Harambe memes started to take over the internet to the point of creating a frantic reaction if one were to comment ‘Harambe’ in an online group chat. The self-perpetuating nature of Harambe memes appears to be found in the utter meaningless of them. In my experience, my friends and I joke about Harambe and show each other memes but cannot cite a reason as to why we find them funny in the first place. This repetitive cycle led to Harambe becoming the perfect meme, even four months after the incident.  

Unsurprisingly, the Harambe meme has found its way into the NA community, becoming a topic of conversation outside the classroom and even with teachers. While the meme has its fair share of supporters, there certainly exists a faction that want nothing to do with Harambe. Aman Patil ’17 says, “In all seriousness, he’s just fun and good to joke about. Especially when everyone is so polarized with the election season, this is a good mediator and just a nice way to have a laugh.” On the other side of the issue stands Amogh Anakru ‘17, who uses an analogy to explain his dislike of the meme: “I think the whole Harambe thing has been going on for too long. Much like a steak cooked for too long, it lost its taste.” While the NA community might soon move on from the Harambe meme, it’s safe to say that it will continue to permeate conversation for at least the immediate future.

In a broader context, it is extraordinary how a seemingly insignificant incident became one of the most viral memes in recent history. The self-perpetuating nature of the meme and the cult-like following it has developed, culminating in a ‘Harambe Tribute Song’ on Youtube with over five million views, illustrates the power of the worldwide web and ordinary people to spread an idea or message. While in this instance, the message is essentially meaningless, the situation shows the potential for a positive idea to take the internet by storm, maybe even influencing change. Whether or not the Harambe meme continues to be popular in the future, the circumstances of the situation create food for thought about potential ways the internet can be used to spread messages and ideas in the modern day.