I just don't know anymore

At dinner last night, I was informed that the Cartoon Network rickrolled their own float at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Footage is below:



Personally, I'm horrified that this is the world we live in. I still think that The Simpsons really nailed the zeitgeist of our generation something like twelve years ago in the "Homerpalooza" episode. To re-apply the dialog to the topic at hand:

"Great. Cartoon Network rickrolled their own float at the Macy's Parade. That's cool."
"Dude, are you being sarcastic?"
"I don't even know anymore."

I'm not entirely sure why it bothers me. Maybe it's that I'm tired of the rickrolling internet meme, or just sick of basically all internet memes in general. What's especially strange is watching them grow into bizarre Frankensteins. Does the world really need the book I Can Has Cheezburger? A LOLcat Colleckshun? But do I even have any right to bitch about this, being that I'm guilty of buying Stuff White People Like? I feel like the problem perhaps is with originality, or lack therof. According to Wikipedia, rickrolling began in early 2007, when someone gave a link that was purported to be to the trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV, but instead, haha, led the the Rick Astley video. And yes, that's pretty funny. But why -- oh, for fuck sake's why -- was there the copycat instinct to repeat said idea over and over again. Is it our culture's equivalent to retelling a joke we've heard? Perhaps, it's just that innocuous.

Recently, I was searching for a screenshot of Demetri Martin's graph of his "Ability To Draw Mountains Over Time." YouTube had taken down the clip from the special and no one seemed to have a screenshot of it. The very first Google result leads to a copycat version, and for reasons I can't explain I got sucked into reading the comments section on that page. Many people pointed out that the graph was stolen from Demetri Martin, but there was a strange defense from a number of people about the theft. One comment that was just fascinating to me was:

"haha Demetri Martin. I love him. And this. Even if it is a rip-off of his Comedy Central special I don't care. Because no matter who says it or posts it... it's hilarious."

Well, yes, the imitations are sort of funny, especially if you haven't seen the original, but ultimately it's just a dick move not to credit the source. Perhaps I'm overreacting. That's likely be the opinion held by the person who posted this:

"boy, all you people need to relax maybe the guy messed up. but you don't have to hang him. like you never made a mistake. take a fricking chill pill people if that is all it takes to send you on a spastic fit you will probably die at a very young age or you need to get a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I just don't know anymore.