Bandwagon Aggression can take many forms, and it doesn't always have to involve aggressive behavior because anything that is abusive still qualifies. An example of this is explained in the article, “Harambe memes prompt Cincinnati Zoo to delete Twitter accounts” written by David Williams. In this article, Williams states “Harambe was killed in May after a 3-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. The 450-pound gorilla dragged the boy around the enclosure before a zoo worker shot the animal” This is the event that lead to the massive Bandwagon Aggression experienced by the Cincinnati Zoo. Although Harambe was killed in order to save the life of a child who had fallen in, people reacted negatively to the zoo keepers actions. The zoo’s Twitter account were bombarded by Twitter messages about Harambe. As demonstrated by Williams, Some of the messages that the zoo noticed on their Twitter account were, “if you're sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as Harambe,” and “doctor: We have bad news man who came out of 5 yr coma: I don't mind as long as I still get to visit my favorite gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo.” And once the Zoo decided to remove their Twitter account, a user tweeted,“The Cincinnati Zoo Harambe its Twitter account. There is no limit to what they might Harambe.” The tweets that were posted about Harambe were comical and got many laughs. The problem in this case was not the fact that people reacted aggressively to Harambe being killed, but instead was the fact that they were abusive. After a certain point, The Cincinnati Zoo tried to move on but couldn’t because they were getting non stop Harambe messages and this impacted how they now operate the Zoo. The Zoo could no longer give information to the public without being harassed about their decisions to save the young child's life. In this case, the Bandwagon Aggression resulted in Harambee being remembered, and the Cincinnati Zoo paying for a controversial decision they were forced to make. Bandwagon Aggression has become a big problem because it forces its influence on individuals and institutions. Since Bandwagon Aggression is a problem that resulted from the interaction of society in the internet, people need to think whether it’s morally and ethically correct to assert opinions on individuals and institutions that end up damaging or severely influencing how they live the rest of their lives.
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