Don’t be fooled, “Gingers
Do Have Souls!”
Prior to
2005, if one were to ask if little orphan Annie were “soulless”, they would be
greeted with bewilderment and most likely, some passing judgment. However, ask
today if this same redheaded girl has a soul and it is guaranteed that the
answer will be split between the highly amused negative and the personally
offended affirmative. “Do gingers have souls?” has become a commonly asked, and
mocked, question. How has such a ridiculous (yet hilarious) ideology come to
be? The Internet.
On January
14, 2010, an 18 year old red-headed boy under the YouTube username CopperCab
uploaded a soon to be viral YouTube video, titled “Gingers Do Have Souls!” The
video features CopperCab, otherwise known as Michael, on an emotional rant in
defense of his “ginger” people. He is tired of the discrimination, his
“feelings are hurt” and he wants it to be clear that “he is a Christian,” who
has a soul. Why is it fair, he asks, that “black people, Mexicans, everyone,”
gets respect, but gingers are subjected to ridicule and criticism? Finally, he
affirms the fact that he is proud to be a ginger, red hair, freckles and all!
CopperCab’s
video was received with sudden attention, obtaining 3.1 million views and over
600 responses within just a month. Within approximately 6 months, its
popularity had waned (see graph below), but “Gingers Do Have Souls,” remains a
humorous and popular video to this day, with 32,607,499 views, as of February
19, 2013.
The video’s
origin lies in a November 9, 2005 South Park episode, titled “Ginger Kids.” The
episode opens with the South Park crew’s ringleader, Eric Cartman, giving a
presentation in class on the danger of ginger kids, who, according to Cartman,
are all diseased with “gingervitis.” The episode continues to focus on ginger
discrimination, with cult like and Nazi-esque innuendos throughout. The episode
began a frenzy, causing ginger jokes to gain immense popularity and setting the
scene for the emergence of CopperCab’s YouTube video.
The success
of the “Gingers Do Have Souls!” video spurred the creation of various remixes
and parodies. YouTube and television sensation Tosh.0 featured CopperCab on his
show just this year and gingers throughout the world combatted with support for
their fellow ginger and the presence of his soul. In addition, South Park even
featured a CopperCab character on their show, as well as their own parody, by
Eric Cartman himself.
I believe
the ability of this video to become a YouTube sensation stems from the concept
of humor and schema that Professor King lectured on in class. This video falls
on the line between socially appropriate and inappropriate. Its roots lie in racist
ideology, but associating this racism with hair color, rather than skin color,
make it more socially acceptable. Therefore, this obsession with gingers and
the presence of their souls allow society to mockingly engage in racist
thought, while still remaining within a socially acceptable schema. Its
popularity marks a human fixation with finding comedy in the forbidden.
Below I
have presented related videos and pictures, so you may decide for yourself, do
gingers have souls?
Google Insight Graph:
Photos:
Related Videos:
Origin:
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