This may come as a surprise, but the Internet is full of meanies. Twitter, in particular, is a rich repository of social detritus. Its streamlined creative format lends itself well to pithy humor, instantaneous news and concise distillations of writing one might not otherwise dive into. It also gives voice to millions of people too lazy or unimaginative to articulate a thought in a space larger than a text message.
One tiresome phenomenon endemic to Twitter is the parody account. More often than not they’re formulaic, doltish and harmlessly attention-seeking enterprises. But it’s at the intersection of parody accounts and hateful assholes that one comes face to face with inexorable, profound ignorance. So it’s with some reluctance that I highlight one such example.
For the uninitiated, the auteur behind @NotJerryTipton apparently set out to lampoon the stoical Lexington Herald-Leader beat writer, and actually boasts more than three times as many followers as the genuine article. With his finger on the pulse of the Lexington zeitgeist, Not Jerry quickly graduated to more thought-provoking intellectual discourse on topics ranging from Duke to Louisville fans to Rick Pitino to, well, that’s it. Included below are a few of my personal favorites, accompanied by a little play-by-play and divided by genre. Continue reading
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