Going Viral

Just the other day, I met another PCV in the coffee shop where we do all of our internet dealings on Saturdays. We sat side by side for a half an hour or so, and becoming bored with my to do list, my eyes wandered to her screen where I saw she was watching something on You Tube while talking to a friend on skype. I was curious, and avoiding my work, asked her if there's any good You Tube stuff that I've been missing, since I've been out of 'the know' for some time now. She said not really, but one video had become quite popular over the past 6 months in the states, and that I should download it and watch. The You Tube sensation was one that I'm sure everyone has heard of by now, 'Double Rainbow' a filming of a double rainbow in Yosemite National Park after a cloudburst. For 3 minutes, the guy goes on and on about the double rainbow, its magnificence, how he's never seen one so complete and 'awesome.' She watched the video with me, telling how popular it had become, we laughed at how over-the-top the video was, and then went back to what we had been doing.

I thought the video funny for the length of time that the man went on, and the level of emotion he had about this seemingly benign natural occurrence, but couldn't wrap my head around why, out of all the videos on YouTube, all the freaks and bloopers and misfits out there, this video of YosemiteBear had made it so far. Well, this week, as with most every week here, I have had ample time to hash it out. So here goes:

It may be precocious of me to suggest, especially for those who have spent much longer away from the US than I, but I feel like I have been away from the states and 'our' communities long enough to have gotten a pretty objective view on our culture. Every day, I see people acting in a way that's radically different than how I would imagine people at home acting. There's good things and bad things; for example, people here tend to be misleading and indirect so as not to offend, people at home are direct and to-the-point so as to avoid miscommunication and unintended mistakes. These cultures are equally offensive, it just so happens that one culture's attributes lead towards a social culture of interwoven relationships and families, but little progress, while the other culture's attributes leads towards a much more efficient, progressive culture with a dwindling social element. Six of one, one half dozen of the other, as my brother would say.

So what does this all have to do with the quack in Yosemite? Well in the Philippines, I don't think that video would have ever gone viral. I think a lot of the Filipinos here would, in the video, see a man who may have a chemical imbalance, but they would not find his passion about the rainbow absurd, as I'm sure many of the States' YouTube watchers probably did. Television programs here routinely are very dramatic, almost sickening to my American sensibilities.

On a website with everything from T & A dances from Beyonce, to the inebriated ramblings of a little boy returning from a dentist appointment, what made this particular clip get so much attention? I posit YosemiteBear is an old, white man, which, whether deserved or not, is a very attractive demographic in our society to ridicule. Might be a little hard to swallow, but who, other than an aging caucasian male, could garner such widespread disparagement in the U.S.? Secondly, and most importantly, our society is so pragmatic, so removed from 'primitive' emotions and appreciation for simplicity, that the extreme passion that this man recorded for the world was unsettling for the American public. Instead of arousing wonder, amazement at the emotions of this old wanderer, the video incited ridicule, pity for such a lost soul.

YosemiteBear probably needs help, and he should learn not to set up his tent on a hill, but he may be tapping into a profound love for nature and an understanding of the basics that our myopic culture has lost.