“Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us.”
The viral meme that started as a Facebook page is set to happen on a national level Friday.
Matty Roberts, the creator of the viral Facebook page created it as a joke after watching Area 51 conspiracy theories, according to the ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,’ Wikipedia page.
Knowing this, the University of Idaho Young Democrats held their own Area 51 raid style event on Wednesday night.
“We are holding this event to bring some outdoor fun to our campus and engage people who may not have heard of our club,” Young Democrats Event Coordinator Ellie Carney said. “We also plan to have some fun ourselves.”
Valerie Blackburn | Argonaut
Carney, a second-year UI political science major, like many people enjoyed the viral meme and wanted to use it to get people on UI’s campus involved with each other and raise awareness about what the Young Democrats do on campus.
“We love this meme because of its absurdity, and how it can bring young people together,” Carney said. “Sub textually, we believe this meme attracts people because of the sense of camaraderie in the face of an oppressive system much bigger than one’s self, which synergizes with our mission to fight for the rights of people when an oppressive system would try to take them away.”
Although the Young Democrats planned for many to show up, especially with promoting their event on the meme page UIdaho Memes for Scott’s Tots — the same page where similar meme-inspired events have originated from. But only around 15 people showed up for the event, those who did still proceeded to have a good time.
“The event was good for what it was. It was a rainy day, and everyone was tuckered out from protesting,” Young Democrats President Zack Bishop said.
The event happened to be hours after a controversial Pro-Life group was on campus. Bishop noted that many of the members of the Young Democrats were involved in the counter-protest and were tired. So he understood why not that many students showed up.
During the actual event, participants were separated into guards and those who are storming the base. The guards had 12 aliens that the raiders were supposed to find. To “kill” each other, participants shot nerf guns at each other.
Although the event was more geared toward students at the university, alumnus Mogely Samter showed up to take part in this meme event.
“I like shooting people with nerf guns,” Samter said.
When Samter was an undergraduate student he was a founder of the Humans versus Zombies club on campus that has slowly dwindled out over the years.
Since the turnout wasn’t what the group wanted, the Young Democrats plan to either make this a social event for the club or have it monthly.
The Young Democrats meet every week 6 p.m. Thursday, in the Library inside Room 133.
Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HindbergNicole