I’d intended for the post below to be the final one here, but then this just happened at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service—not exactly a funeral, to be fair, but I’ll just go ahead and take credit for the whole thing. Thank you, world, and good night!
P.S. You can read my fuller explanation in The Guardian, and the story behind the photo by the photographer.
“Selfies at Funerals! A page on Tumblr has been creating quite an uproar," says a man on Good Morning America while reading a script, clearly not uproar’d himself. But this scary man seems quite upset indeed:
Terrifying, right? Perhaps you have some questions.
Why is all this text here in blue?
It’s the Tumblr template and I don’t know how to change it. I hate it too.
Why did you—
Sorry to I interrupt but I see where you’re going. Please check out the press page, and in particular, listen to the interviews on "Q” and “The List,” which should provide plenty of context.
Will you keep updating this Tumblr?
Probably not. I like to think of it as a standing statement: Everyone who’s ever visited will have seen the exact same thing (except for this post, which came a few weeks after launch.) But if someone wants to offer me a lot of money to keep it going—or to do anything else, I suppose—you have my full attention.
So what now?
Follow me on Twitter. Or, take a selfie at a funeral and be mocked globally. Those are your only two options.
