We're sorry to keep on reporting about Oregon and the glorious Twitter response to come out of it. But someone needs to acknowledge the genius of #YallQaeda and its subsequent spawn, #YeeHawd.
It's only been a few hours since social media users began using the hashtags to describe the militiamen occupying a federal building in Oregon, and the Internet is losing its mind over the irony. And rightly so.
Some 150 gun-toting protesters began occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Sunday in what they say is support of two local ranchers' ongoing legal dispute. Social media users have wondered why this isn't being called a terror incident and musing about how much different it would be if the perpetrators were black or Muslim.
Of course, this also very serious discussion about rhetoric in the media—one that has raised legitimate questions of why most mainstream media organizations and law enforcement are reinforcing such obvious double standards. That's exactly what makes #Yeehawd such a great finisher.
As the hashtag picked up, people began to wonder who was the mastermind behind it all.
they called them angry dudes in oregon #YallQaeda waging #YeeHawd, and i almost died.
— atmosphere (@atmosphere) January 3, 2016
Oh, waitaminute!!!! We have #YallQaeda AND #YeeHawdists?!?!?! Y'all tew much, Twitter...y'all TEW MUCH!!!!
— #FinnAwakens (@pfunk1130) January 3, 2016
Whoever came up with #YallQaeda, high-five https://t.co/REjurnMP7o
— Rob Spillman (@robspillman) January 3, 2016
Also seriously, whoever came up with the #YallQaeda / #YeeHawd hashtags deserves all the high fives.
— Griffin Boyce (@abditum) January 3, 2016
Finally, the Internet arrived at the answer:
Earliest reference to #YallQaeda Seems to go all the way back to 2011. https://t.co/W8ekVQWf6z
— Steve Tsuida (@stevetsuida) January 3, 2016
The man behind the phrase appears to behind sports radio producer Jason Marks, who says he first used the hashtag in 2011 to refer to "fringe fans" of the Southeastern Conference, or SEC, a college athletic conference with members hailing mostly from the American South. Here's the tweet.
Mike Slive wants to make the bump rule history...sorry #YALLQaeda, you'll have to get Saban on something else
— Jason Marks (@OnTheMarksRadio) July 20, 2011
Back then it didn't gain much speed. But in the last few hours its taken on a new, arguably better serving, life of its own as the sharlpy satiric answer to a pretty pitiful media and law enforcement response to the Oregon siege. And while that occupation is still alive and kicking, at least we have #YallQaeda, and its story of origin.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Jason Marks' profession. He works in radio, not TV.
