If you’re not active on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+, you may be missing out on the joy of Internet memes. A meme (rhymes with cream) is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” An Internet meme can be as short as a catch-phrase or as complex as a video clip. A lot of memes are simple graphics which are altered to suit different topics. When a meme is hot, you can be sure there will be variants related to birds or birding.
Der Untergang (US: Downfall) is a 2004 German film about the last days of Adolf Hitler’s life. The success of the film reached meme proportions in August 2006 with the release of the first parody “Hitler Reacts” clip. Since then, one particularly heated scene from De Untergang has been used countless times to parody Hitler reacting to everything from the U.S. mortgage crisis to Usain Bolt breaking the 100 meter dash world record. And now, Hitler Reacts to Missing Hoary Repoll in Colorado:
Hoary Redpolls are typically found much further north; the recent Colorado sighting is the state’s first.
UPDATE September 18, 2013
Here is a brilliant version of the meme uploaded in September, 2013: Hitler gets 700.
UPDATE January 25, 2014
Wren ID problems make the Führer angry in Hitler Reacts to a Stub-tailed Wren in Boulder:
