The Winnebago Man

Often times, viral videos show people at their worst. They capture an embarrassing or shameful moment in a persons life and are put on display to the masses. These videos are passed like wildfire from person to person until countless millions have viewed them. This was the case with Jack Rebney. Now referred to as the Winnebago Man, Jack had previously been employed as a Winnebago sales representative until his profanity strewn outtake tape was uploaded onto the internet in 1988. Since then, the video has amassed over half a billion views, a documentary titled "The Winnebago Man" has been made about Jack. But because of the attention, Rebney has also had to live the life of a recluse in order to hide himself from the shame that the video has brought.

1. Before watching the documentary, myself and everyone else found "The Winnebago Man" video hilarious and entertaining. We weren't concerned for Jack and we put little thought into what consequences he faced because of it. However, after watching the documentary, my opinion on the video has changed significantly. I think because I understand what Jack had gone through as a result of the video, I no longer see Rebney as an angry and vile mouthed RV salesman, and more as a regular person. 

2. Most people expected Jack to act exactly as he did during the videos because that is the only time we are given to see him. If we are only able to see Rebney as "The Winnebago Man" we automatically assume that that is how he will act on a daily basis. This also goes with the majority of the celebrities and how media only shows one side of them when in reality, they could be a completely different person.

 3. After Jack's appearance at the festival, his opinion about his fans is swayed significantly. This is because he had been under the impression for so long that the people watching the video were only out to mock and ridicule him when they were actually his biggest fans. 

4. With so much content being put onto the internet today, someone would have no trouble finding an infinite number of weird and eccentric things online. This is why the analogy that "the internet is like the modern day freakshow," does the internet such justice.

5. Before the "The Winnebago Man" documentary, nobody cared or expected Jack Rebney to have such an interesting story, but with the emergence of more and more internet celebrities, they are starting to become more like todays traditional figures. This has been an increasingly common trend with popular internet icons on both YouTube, Vine and Twitter. I personally believe that these internet celebrities are just as, if not more interesting than the more mainstream celebrities of today partly to due with the connectivity that internet celebrities share with the public. They are easily able to share their stories to a large amount of people in a way that mainstream celebrities cannot.