Twitter eulogizes Richard Dawkins — who is still alive — with bizarre, hilarious new meme [UPDATED]

Did we mention he isn't dead?

Published March 10, 2015 8:05PM (EDT)

Richard Dawkins                   (Comedy Central)
Richard Dawkins (Comedy Central)

Updated (4:04 p.m. EST): In an email to Salon, @famoushorse confirmed that he and Jeb Lund started the meme, but declined to identify him/herself for "fear of the Internet."

"There seems to be a misconception that this was done as a political statement of some sort," @famoushorse wrote. "This is, of course, not the case. Sure, [Dawkins is] one of the most impressive old racist men but this was pure boredom with the hope of eliciting a public freak out from Dawkins. I mean, there's still hope for that. The day is young."

He added: "My question for you Dawkians is: if God isn't real, who made Richard?"

Earlier: Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist, misogynist and biologist, is not dead. But Weird Twitter, a dark, secret, absurd pocket of the Internet is having a great time saying he is. Mediaite's Tina Nguyen speculates that the hashtag began around midnight last night with this bizarre tweet:

[embedtweet id="575146459655462912"]

Which then sparked a flurry of pile-on responses, largely egged on by Jeb Lund, a columnist at The Guardian:

[embedtweet id="575157435331125248"]

[embedtweet id="575157962014113792"]

[embedtweet id="575159775975075840"]

[embedtweet id="575164697705648128"]

[embedtweet id="575163201320517632"]

[embedtweet id="575161620780855296"]

[embedtweet id="575161283344883712"]

[embedtweet id="575157498086342656"]

[embedtweet id="575168417516421120"]

[embedtweet id="575336101021380609"]

Which then sparked a bees subplot, inspired by a particularly odd Dawkins tweet:

[embedtweet id="575356477386416129"]

[embedtweet id="575173986318864384"]

[embedtweet id="575210619563020288"]

[embedtweet id="575147795008634880"]

[embedtweet id="575352229059817472"]

 

Perhaps Lund sent off the famous (living) atheist most poignantly:

[embedtweet id="575167354709151744"]


By Joanna Rothkopf

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Hashtag Internet Meme Richard Dawkins Weird Twitter