The Badger Harold won the award for "Best Unsanctioned UW Social Media Account" for The Daily Cardinal's 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. So we asked him some questions, via social media.
Daily Cardinal: How was the Badger Harold conceived?
Badger Harold: To be honest, I don’t remember, exactly. One Sunday night I was sitting around my apartment with my roommates diligently not doing our homework and just kind of began writing headlines for a fake paper. The name, logo and about eight titles came within the first few minutes. It’s been all downhill ever since.
DC: Love the name. Is it a reference to something?
BH: In 2008 there was a movie called “Harold.” This is the synopsis on IMDB: “A teenager with an early onset of male-pattern baldness befriends his high school’s janitor.” That pretty much speaks for itself. The movie poster itself is worth checking out, FYI. That movie is completely unrelated but is the first thing that came up when I typed “Harold” into Google just now. My lawyer advises me to wrap this question up.
DC: Are you willing to reveal your true identity?
BH: Sure. It’s not much of a secret. The anonymity of it has been more due to the lack of pressure than anything, so I never have gone public as I feel like that would make it more complicated, more about me and less fun. It also seems to come easier knowing that a joke can flop and it doesn’t matter at all. It’s kind of nice to just be able to walk away from it at anytime. I really come up with headlines on the fly and irregularly, so I would hate to be a conformist media pig with a schedule on my back as I slave away to meet the demands of the public. Plus, how could I keep the babes at bay? I would have to worry about that full time, probably hire a staff just for babe-patrol. Here’s the other thing about anonymity, specifically Batman’s, while I’m thinking about it. Bruce Wayne is pretty much the only person in Gotham that can afford anything mildly close to a bullet-proof suit/car, and also happens to be a weapons contractor. You’re telling me no one in Gotham City had the analytical thinking skills to sit down and figure that one out? No wonder they had so many problems.
DC: How about social security number?
BH: 879-29-12393. I prefer to think of identity theft as “identity improvement.”
DC: What was the process for coming up with that logo? It’s quite easy on the eyes...
BH: Well I took out a pencil and wrote the letters for The Badger Harold on the nearest piece of paper. Then I took a picture and uploaded it to the Internet where it lives on in infamy. Absolutely am accepting submissions for a new one.
DC: What is your greatest inspiration?
BH: When I was younger my parents always hoped I would grow up to run a mildly interesting and relatively trivial social media account, so I mostly do it for them. I also received a letter in the mail at age six that said I had won a sweepstakes. But because I was six, it was an error and they revoked my winnings. I have spent my whole life overcoming that loss and training to one day take back what is mine in hand-to-hand combat.
DC: What is your favorite Twitter hashtag?
BH: #godisdead #nothingisreal
DC: What are your hobbies?
BH: Chicks, postmodern and existential literature, booze cruises, epistemic crises, texting chicks, not couponing, giving to charity, watching my roommates watch AMC’s The Walking Dead (sponsored), expressing my innermost emotions, drywall and spackling, tutoring in math, poundin’ brews, the usual stuff. Oh and I’m great with kids.
DC: Favorite food?
BH: My body is a temple, so donuts, queso, fried (anything). My body is a temple to poor decisions.
DC: What’s your greatest pet peeve?
BH: Anonymous Internet accounts. No accountability in this generation, we’ll never amount to anything.
DC: What’s better—Facebook or Twitter?
BH: I’m more of a Google Plus kinda guy when I’m not using Myspace.
DC: Any plans to expand operations to other social medias? Instagram? Tinder?
BH: I do not have a plan for the rest of the day, for myself, so such scheming would be unprecedented. I kind of just made the account and let it play on its own, but I wouldn’t be opposed to getting [Harold] a Tinder and letting it flirt with other social media accounts. Actually, the big plan is to create Haroldspace ™ coming May 2014, a social media platform that deletes everything you put into it. It’s like snapchat for Facebook. Gonna be big.
DC: Favorite social media device?
BH: Haroldspace ™ coming May 2014.
