The bravery of speaking out in an industry where people are punished for reporting instances of abuse is commendable, but those who said something may eventually face disappointment because it’s unclear whether a milkshake duck moment, no matter how public, has many meaningful consequences. This was the case with the women who spoke out about Karp, with one after the other revealing terrible things about him as the voices of other people made it safer to do so. Sometimes awful revelations come up, creating the possibility for victims to come forward with less of a hostile reception than they’d likely have faced before. But here’s the concern: Behind every “I knew it was too good to be true” is an actual person who experienced harm. This treats negative revelations as a form of entertainment they’re gossip, amplified, winging out across the entire internet instead of just around the water cooler or through whisper networks. It brings the narrative to a logical completion, terminating the story that drew attention in the first place and allowing participants to quickly move on to the next thing. This phenomenon was aptly described in 2016 by Twitter user (the handle of cartoonist Ben Ward), “The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you the duck is racist.” The thirst for entertainment explains why things go viral in the first place, but it also feeds the expectation and desire that there will be a milkshake duck moment. Inevitably, many tweets that seem wholesome and fun, or at least leave the reader on the same side as the subject, also fall into a secondary phase: the discovery that the person behind the tweet is not very nice, something usually uncovered with minimal digging or some gentle nudging from those in the know. Whether it’s enjoying escaped llamas or uniting against a common foe, the internet loves these kinds of small, simple, fast-breaking stories that create a giddy sense of being on the inside of a fun joke or moving through collective outrage. These tweets launch a thousand dunk tweets or laughs, resulting in a hefty ratio and typically attracting attention-seeking coattail riders who attempt to leverage the tweet’s popularity for their own purposes. The goal is to never be it.” The pithy tweet went viral for obvious reasons: Nearly every day, someone on Twitter does something that lights up the entire platform, whether it’s an airline romance, a really ill-conceived idea, or abusing your child because she can’t open a can of beans. The phrase “Twitter main character,” a relatively recent development in meme history, can be traced to a 2019 tweet, “Each day on Twitter there is one main character. The arc of any Twitter virality is predictable and deeply rooted in our desire for rapidly delivered entertainment, but it would be a mistake to think the inevitable downfall has lasting consequences. That means the dastardly revelation is less vindictive, more depressing, and simply part of the ecosystem of the internet. A former girlfriend then accused Karp of being “ manipulative gaslighting” and another woman said he threatened her career after a “ surprise threesome.” Within hours, the story had come full circle: Karp became a villain, joining the ranks of many felled viral stars before him. First, Twitter discovered that Karp’s married to actor Danielle Fishel of Boy Meets World, causing Topanga-the name of the character she portrayed-to trend on Twitter and drawing her into the discourse. Last week’s Twitter sensation was Cinnamon Toast Shrimp Guy, a comedian named Jensen Karp who claimed to find shrimp tails in his morning bowl of cereal. His unpleasant photo documentation went viral, quickly flooding Twitter with puns…and leaving it on tenterhooks for the inevitable next beat of the story, which users rapidly delivered. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.Jensen Karp holding shrimp tails he allegedly found in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Photo credit: Twitter/Jensen Karp) Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Standard & Poor’s and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account
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