Topic: WEB - on December 20, 2011 at 1:38:00 PM CET
Afghanistan to Hollywood: Best Newsy Viral Videos of 2011
Compiling this year's list of the best viral videos proved a slightly more difficult task than just finding cute kittehs and epic fails. In 2011, it seemed, viral videos weren't just watched as a fun distraction from the more somber daily news — they were the news.
From uprisings in Egypt to the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," online video did about as much to inform us about what was happening outside our cubicles as anything.
For example, anyone could read any of a dozen news stories about Occupy protests popping up around the country (and around the world), but do those reports spark the same reaction as watching Lt. John Pike pepper-spray students on the campus of the University of California at Davis? Did anything symbolize the relief of LGBT servicemen and women at the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" more completely than Air Force airman Randy Phillips finally showing his face on YouTube? Most likely not.
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