She’s 13, howbow dah?
In case you weren’t aware, the Cash Me Outside girl is 13 years old. Danielle visited the Dr. Phil show because her mother was concerned with her out of control behaviour, which included stealing cars and framing her mother for a crime. Her virality started with a clip from the Dr. Phil show, where she gets frustrated with the audience laughing at her and calls them out by saying, “cash me ousside, howbow dah?”. This blew up, as people found it hilarious and interpreted it into different jokes such as:
But, just to remind you, she’s 13 years old. She is a child. We are mocking a child for the way she speaks and acts because we may think it’s funny or crazy. This isn’t the first time we’ve mocked children. We’ve turned them into jokes several times because of the way they speak, the way they look or dress, the way they act, and more. We are bullying these kids for our own pleasure, and it needs to stop. Our actions are impacting the lives of these kids.
Kids like Terio, Honey Boo Boo, Crack Kid, and even Barron Trump have been made into memes. But where do we draw the line with memes?
It’s all fun and games, but when it’s at the expense of others, it becomes a grey area where some people find it offensive and others don’t see the harm in it. We make jokes out of mental illnesses and racism without thinking about how this may affect those who suffer from similar mocking or even the memes themselves.
Danielle’s behaviour isn’t a joke. She is not okay. She needs help with everything she seems to be going through. It is unfair to make jokes out of people who are sincerely struggling because it glorifies their behaviour then won’t be willing to change.
But the “cash me ousside” meme is problematic because of the racist context of the joke. We make fun of the way Danielle is speaking and acting, which some recognize as thug and gangster speak, directly appropriating what is normally recognized as black culture. Judging Danielle for not speaking “proper English” is discriminating others who speak that way.
Our jokes are screwing up these kids’ lives. It’s unbelievable that we continue to let people mock people for their faults. This negative use of memes is not an effective mode of communication, as we distort the understanding and perceptions of what the subject is going through. Please remember that although a joke may be funny at first, try to understand the context of the joke before sharing it. #StayWokeAgain
