Hooray for Ames! (Is that Danny Pudi?)
The Internet is truly a terrible place that is full of terrible people.
You already knew that but occasionally, it’s good to be reminded that the Internet actually is a hundred times worse than the real world. Case in point: The sad story of Hooray for Ames.
In the real world, Hooray For Ames is a cute little song that was written to promote the town of Ames, Iowa. The video that was made to go with it is deliberately cheesy and certainly silly but, at the same time, it’s undeniably sincere and it’s hard not to be charmed by the fact that the people who made it appear to truly love living in the city of Ames.
On the Internet, both the song and the video were quickly declared to be the most terrible thing on the planet. Hateful comments were left on YouTube. Snarky articles appeared on Gawker. Across twitter, trolls on both the left and the right encouraged other trolls to spread the word that Hooray for Ames was the greatest crime against humanity ever. Left-wing moonbats complained about the fact that, with the exception of one black woman who has a prominent role in the video, almost everyone in Ames appears to be white and middle class. Right-wing nut jobs attacked the video for highlighting the fact that one of the men in the video was also a member of the Des Moines Gay Men’s Choir. A few idiots speculated that Hooray for Ames would actually harm the recruiting efforts of the Iowa State athletic department.
In short, the Internet reacted the way that the Internet always reacts and, as a result, Hooray for Ames was taken down from YouTube.
And that’s a shame because there was nothing wrong or offensive about Hooray for Ames. It was a heartfelt and cheerfully silly video that was probably mostly meant to amuse the friends and family of the people who made it. As opposed to something like Rebecca Black’s Friday, Hooray for Ames was the complete opposite of cynicism.
It was exactly the sort of thing that deserves to be, if not celebrated, at least left in peace.
But that’s not the way the Internet works, is it? The Internet — and this is especially true of YouTube — is a world where, far too often, a minority of trolls and hipster douchebags get to control the conversation. They saw Hooray for Ames and they decided to club it into submission and drag it back to the troll cave.
Well, you know what? I say Hooray for Hooray for Ames! And if anyone who was involved with the song or the video is currently reading this, I say don’t feed the trolls and don’t listen to the haters. Just be proud of what you’ve done.
Now, a few other YouTubers have posted the Hooray for Ames video. Who knows how long these videos will stay up before YouTube yanks them down? But until then, enjoy the most sincere video ever posted on YouTube.
(By the way, I think the guitar player looks like he could pass for Community‘s Danny Pudi but my friends Evelyn and Amy think I’m crazy. What do you think?)
Through the Shattered Lens 