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Have you seen Keyboard Cat?
The creator of this video has taken Rickrolling to a new extreme. Here’s the concept: Someone goofs on tape, and the footage of that goof immediately cuts to a cat playing a keyboard.
For instance, a guest on the Glenn Beck show passes out on screen and then suddenly we see the ivory-slapping cat.
It’s silly.
But have you seen the original video that launched this latest craze? A man in a wheel chair falls down an escalator.
I was horrified.
And that emotion was strange, because I’m among the top 75 or 100 most desensitized Web users. I spent my college years eagerly stealing music on Napster and waiting 30-minutes for a video to download (a lifetime today, a mere instant then) so we could watch two people—well, you can probably imagine (but you probably don’t want to).
The result: Show me something gross, disturbing, insulting—whatever—and I’ll greet it with a “meh.” So it was strange when I saw Keyboard Cat and felt—shocked.
But who cares? Why write about it? Just don’t pay attention to Keyboard Cat—or blog about it. That’s true, and I did dismiss the video when I first saw it. And then on Friday, I caught an AP story on the New York Times Web site about the video.
Here’s how the AP described it:
A clip is played of a pratfall or some unfortunate, self-inflicted accident. This is immediately followed by (always the same) old clip of a cat playing an upbeat tune on a keyboard.
The keyboard cat is, in a way, the smiling face of fate, perpetually making light of silly human failures. It's not stupid pet tricks, it's stupid people tricks. Like the old vaudeville hook, the keyboard cat will play you off the stage.
A pratfall? Really? A pratfall is Dick Van Dyke stumbling over an ottoman or Inspector Clouseau being Inspector Clouseau. But a man in a wheelchair falling down an escalator, a pratfall?
We’re only a few steps away from watching an execution and then seeing a clip of dramatic lemur.
And what does this mean for communicators creating Web videos? Anything goes apparently. How about a food maker shows someone choking on their beef jerky and then—Keyboard Cat. An automaker shows a family in a fiery car crash and then—you guessed it—Keyboard Cat.
This is ending badly for all of us.
Or maybe I just need to lighten up. College Michael would be very disappointed in adult Michael's take on this video. Plus, Stephen Colbert’s use of it was pretty funny.
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Good list, tho a bit US-centric. The world is full of unmitigated PR gaffes; Renault's F1 race fixing; UK PM Gordon Brow...
Comments (6)
There actually is a procedure for using an escalator in a (manual) wheelchair. It's not the recommended way to go, but if you have to, it can be done safely, as the woman in the video demonstrates. If the elevator is out, this may be the only way down.
To assume that the user who fell is stupid, or that this was "self inflicted" just shows a lack of understanding about wheelchair users, and the things that must be learned to get by in this world.
Also, Para -- Not all wheelchair users are "useless from the waist down" -- trust me.
Posted by gbastian | October 5, 2009 12:25 PM
Posted on October 5, 2009 12:25
Keyboard cat's fall song is just the best video evar, fucking moralfag
Posted by Para | October 1, 2009 2:25 PM
Posted on October 1, 2009 14:25
I wonder what he did to end up in a wheelchair? Could be a birth-related issue, or maybe he tap-danced on the roof of a moving bus? It is unfortunate that he has to deal with more difficult mobility issues than most of us, but it's no excuse for making such a careless decision to "ride" the escalator while seated in a wheelchair. Maybe he felt emasculated because a woman did it before he did (with grace). He might be useless from the waist down, but he still has the mentality of a man.
Posted by Man Man | May 28, 2009 12:26 PM
Posted on May 28, 2009 12:26
Riding an escalator in a wheelchair is a pretty stupid thing to do. Wheels and stairs do not go well together. Just because the guy who fell was already crippled does not excuse him from being stupid, Darwin Awards stupid, in trying to ride an escalator in a wheelchair. While the thunking of the chair makes you gasp in horror, and he is lucky he didn't kill himself, I am not surprised if some people laugh at the stupidity of the man and the juxtaposition of the cat. The man is stupid, the cat is funny. Watch some South Park maybe?
Posted by Anna | May 26, 2009 11:12 AM
Posted on May 26, 2009 11:12
I like you're piece, and understand setting up the punchline, so to speak, for your story. But, for the record, the AP quote did say,"or some unfortunate, self-inflicted accident," which would cover the wheelchair incident. If you reread your story -- still a good one -- you'll see how you misused the AP quote to suit your purposes.
Posted by Allen Shadow | May 26, 2009 10:41 AM
Posted on May 26, 2009 10:41
Michael, although YouTube is a medium for many excellent (and so-so) advertising videos, it is also full of a great deal of amateurish, tasteless junk. Do not confuse the two. Just step away from the computer, take a deep breath and go get reacquainted with friends and family. It's spring. Go for a walk. Have a picnic. Take a bocci set. Do not put the highlights of the game on YouTube. Feel better now? Good.
Posted by maryannej | May 26, 2009 9:20 AM
Posted on May 26, 2009 09:20