Unwitting subject of cruel meme speaks out

One day a broke writer came up with a clever idea: he decided to start busking by bringing a typewriter to the High Line and offering to write super-short stories for money. Someone snapped his picture, and eventually it ended up on Reddit. Where, stripped of context, it became the target of wrath, turned into an anti-hipster online meme, and generally made the poor guy's life a living hell. 

Now he speaks out about his experience in this great article at The Awl. It's a great reminder that every time we mock or criticize something we see online, there is an actual human being behind it, as well as backstory and context that you may be missing.

Image courtesy Flickr/Donald Clark