About
On May 25th, 2011 YouTube user “pekaga” uploaded the video “ΑΓΑΝΑΚΤΙΣΜΕΝΟΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΣ ΜΑΡΚΟΣ” to YouTube; a video of an old man from the city of Rethymnon, Crete that trolled a fellow senile citizen during an interview in which the topic of discussion was the Greek uprisings of late May and early June of 2011.
English Translation:
Interviewee: There are millions of reasons, not just one (he is mad at the Greek government’s policy).
Markos: (creeping from behind) Meow!
Interviewee: Thanassis (Greek name, he is refering to the average Greek civilian) is not waking up neither is he going to wake up.
Markos: Arf! Arf! Meow! Meow!
Interviewee: The Greeks are sleeping with their shoes on.
Markos: Oink! Oink! Oink! (quieter as leaving) --shame on us.
Interviewee: They are masochists! The more they vote, they more they get tortured.
Spread
Within the first few days of the uploading and a post on the Greek trolling forum tro-mpa-ktiko, the video became viral, gaining thousands of views, while remixes started popping up, especially after a mention from Ray William Johnson and a reupload from YouTube user “GrabbbDotCom”. Facebook groups such as Ιερωνυμάκης Μάρκος – Ieronimakis Markos and Gandalf on acid.
The Troll’s Identity
The troll has been identified as Markos Ieronymakis; infamous in Rethymnon for his real life trolling. He is the founder and president of the political party Μ.Α.Π.Α., which gathered 51 votes during the Greek legislative election of 2007. After that, Markos decided to change the party’s name to Doctoral Social Opposition Revolution (Διδακτορική Επανάσταση Κοινωνικής Αντίστασης – Δ.Ε.Κ.Α.), and started gaining fame for his interventions during riots throughout Greece.
The Appeal
The video is notable for the way Markos trolls the interviewee; he slowly creeps up behind him, waiting for him to stop talking, aknowledge his presence, pause for a second and then interrupts him with his infamous “meow”. The interviewee goes on, careful not to feed the troll, despite Markos’ “arfs” and “oinks”. It is an act of trolling combined with videobombing; an act that can be safely traced in examples like that before its Internet widespread use.