In this, the age of the smart phones with video capabilities, we are surrounded by visual and audio proof of goats who think they people.
Or more specifically, goats who yell like human beings. Since the emergence of ‘screaming goats’ youtube uploads there has always been the detractors, that guy who calls fake, and accusations of The Boy Who Cried Goats Who Scream.
But as we chart the resurgence of goat popularity on the www, from imploring goats to get out of trees, to ‘feels good man‘, to that one jerk goat, we see that goats and their meme capabilities have long captured the imagination of internet fans the world over.
UPDATE: As this, now beloved, gamer found when he came across an in-game goat reaching above its traditional physical limitations.
Thanks for the facebook reminder Tim Sharp.
This latest branch of the goat hilarity comes from humble beginnings, with a poor quality shot of a ‘Man Goat’ back in 2007:
As the description reads “Justin Mclennan came across this goat while hiking in Peru. He couldn’t figure out who was yelling until he came across this little guy 🙂”
No doubt, Justin Mclennan had little idea of what he began on that fateful day in 2007 and now, as we look to recent times, the ‘Goat Remix‘ is arguably hitting its peak amongst the collective conscience with a bout of goat injected pop songs circa February 2013:
The video source for which is, in actual fact, an Oxford sheep (also known as Oxford Down):
At time of writing the original video was sitting at over 7 million views.
Following the rise and fall of the “goat” remix we can see that for the most part globally people persist in ignorance regarding the goat vs sheep issue:
However, enjoyment of the phenomenon does not appear to be dampened with mere technicalities:
Here in Australia we find that, despite an overall low awareness of the meme, there is a definite spike in recognition of specific goat remixes:
Throughout all of this there has been the modest proposal by youtuber (username: followthefoot) that the “goat scream” replace the Wilhelm Scream in motion pictures. The Wilhelm scream: a film and television stock sound effect that has been used in more than 200 movies, since its creation in 1953 by Sheb Wooley in the film The Charge at Feather River. It was kept in the Warner Bros. stock library and became popular once more when it was used by George Lucas in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series’.
Whether the screaming sheep/”goat” lives on through the film industry or not, as with all memes the ‘goat remix’ life expectancy is short. So, should you wish to get your fill while it lasts:
Or, should you like your soul to be forever haunted by The Silence of the Goats:
In summary: What the actual fuck is wrong with these goats/sheep? Does this signal an evolutionary splintering which will result in livestock capable of human speech? Has science gone too far?
