Experience: My face became a meme [as told by Harold himself]

theguardian.com

130 points·ptbello··7 comments

Interesting story, not knowing about Hide the Pain Harold I was surprised when it was revealed that the guy is actually 74.

"I’m 74 now. I spent 40 years as an engineer. I did a bit of public speaking then, at conferences and lectures, but that was very different from appearing on television talkshows and YouTube videos. As an engineer, it was really me. Now, it’s role play: I’m Hide the Pain Harold. But I’m not actually a sad guy – I think I’m rather a happy one."

For those not familiar with that meme, like myself, here are some examples: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hide-the-pain-harold

That was heart warming. I remember Overly Attached Girlfriend doing the same thing. She used her fame for a good cause.

Overly Attached Girlfriend started with a youtube video that went viral though. A bit different from a stock photo going viral like Harold or Distracted Boyfriend..

I'm glad those people embraced it and got something out of it. It's really unfair that some public photo of you can become a meme without your input at all. Techno Viking did not like being in that situation at all and sued the person who filmed him https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/24/techno... but there's no way back really.

His TEDx talk [0] about the same subject.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FScfGU7rQaM

Which is linked to in the article.

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