Its A Role Given To Me By The Internet People

2019Reaction image / quote memesemi-active

Also known as: Waking Up as a Meme Hero · Internet People Quote

It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a 2019 reaction-image quote meme from Andras Arato's TEDx Talk, justifying one's role as an internet personality.

"It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a quote from Andras Arato, the man behind the Hide the Pain Harold meme, taken from his June 2019 TEDx Talk titled "Waking up as a meme-hero." The line became its own standalone meme format, typically used as a reaction image when someone wants to justify their role as a shitposter, memelord, or general internet weirdo. It hit especially hard because it was the stock photo guy himself, fully embracing his accidental internet fame on a literal TED stage.

TL;DR

"It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a quote from Andras Arato, the man behind the Hide the Pain Harold meme, taken from his June 2019 TEDx Talk titled "Waking up as a meme-hero." The line became its own standalone meme format, typically used as a reaction image when someone wants to justify their role as a shitposter, memelord, or general internet weirdo.

Overview

The meme uses a screenshot of Andras Arato mid-presentation at TEDx Kyiv, specifically the moment he delivers the line "It's a role given to me by the internet people." In the image, Arato stands at the podium looking characteristically deadpan, with the quote displayed as a subtitle or caption. The format works because Arato isn't just any speaker. He's Hide the Pain Harold, one of the most recognizable meme faces on the internet, and here he is at a TEDx event sincerely discussing what it's like to be turned into a meme without your permission1.

People use the screenshot as a reaction image to explain away their own online behavior. The humor comes from borrowing the gravitas of a TED Talk to justify something as trivial as posting memes all day.

On June 25, 2019, the TEDx Talks YouTube channel uploaded a presentation called "Waking up as a meme-hero" featuring Andras Arato1. In the talk, the Hungarian electrical engineer described how his stock photo images were turned into the Hide the Pain Harold meme without his knowledge, and how he eventually came to accept and even embrace it. During the presentation, Arato used the phrase "It's a role given to me by the internet people" to describe his relationship with his meme identity. The video picked up over 5.1 million views within its first year on YouTube1.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (TEDx Talks channel), Reddit / Twitter (meme format spread)
Creator
Andras Arato
Date
2019
Year
2019

On June 25, 2019, the TEDx Talks YouTube channel uploaded a presentation called "Waking up as a meme-hero" featuring Andras Arato. In the talk, the Hungarian electrical engineer described how his stock photo images were turned into the Hide the Pain Harold meme without his knowledge, and how he eventually came to accept and even embrace it. During the presentation, Arato used the phrase "It's a role given to me by the internet people" to describe his relationship with his meme identity. The video picked up over 5.1 million views within its first year on YouTube.

How It Spread

The quote took on a life of its own when people started screenshotting the specific moment and using it as a reaction image. Twitter user @markdalgleish posted the image with the caption "When people ask me why I post so many memes," picking up over 420 likes. The following day, Reddit user asssmasteur69 shared a screenshot of the line with the caption "When my parents ask me what is a memelord," which earned more than 19,000 upvotes at 98% upvote ratio.

A later variation posted on December 7th recontextualized the image with the caption "And why do you believe you deserve to be meme of the decade?" framing it as a job interview for the title of best meme. That post pulled in over 49,000 upvotes and 150 comments. The format kept spreading across Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram as a go-to reaction for anyone defending their internet habits.

How to Use This Meme

The format is simple. Take the screenshot of Arato delivering the line at TEDx, then pair it with a setup that asks why you do something extremely online. Common patterns include:

- A friend or family member questioning your meme obsession, followed by the Arato screenshot as your dignified response - A job interview or formal scenario where your "qualification" is being internet-brained - Any situation where you need to explain your posting habits with unearned gravitas

The humor works best when there's a gap between the seriousness of the TEDx setting and the triviality of whatever meme behavior you're defending. You typically add your own caption above the image as the setup question, with Arato's quote serving as the punchline.

Cultural Impact

The quote captures something specific about the late 2010s internet: meme subjects becoming self-aware and going public. Arato didn't fight his meme status or try to scrub it from the internet. He showed up at a TEDx event and talked about it with genuine reflection. That sincerity made the quote feel earned rather than cringe, which is why it worked as a meme in its own right.

The TEDx Talk itself became one of the more-watched meme-related presentations on YouTube, drawing millions of views from people who recognized the Harold face and wanted to hear the man behind it speak. It showed that meme fame could be redirected into something more meaningful, even as people immediately turned the most quotable moment right back into another meme.

Fun Facts

Andras Arato is a retired Hungarian electrical engineer who had no idea his stock photos had become memes until years after they went viral.

The TEDx Talk has over 5.1 million views, making it one of the more popular meme-adjacent TEDx presentations.

The Reddit post captioned "And why do you believe you deserve to be meme of the decade?" hit a 97% upvote ratio, an unusually high approval rate even for meme subreddits.

Arato's delivery of the line is completely sincere, which is exactly what makes it funny when repurposed as a reaction image.

Derivatives & Variations

"Meme of the Decade" interview format

A popular variation framing the quote as Arato's answer in a fictional interview for the title of meme of the decade, posted during the wave of "meme of the decade" debates in late 2019[2].

"Why do you post so many memes" format

The initial spread version where the quote answers the question of why someone posts excessively online[2].

Frequently Asked Questions

Its A Role Given To Me By The Internet People

2019Reaction image / quote memesemi-active

Also known as: Waking Up as a Meme Hero · Internet People Quote

It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a 2019 reaction-image quote meme from Andras Arato's TEDx Talk, justifying one's role as an internet personality.

"It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a quote from Andras Arato, the man behind the Hide the Pain Harold meme, taken from his June 2019 TEDx Talk titled "Waking up as a meme-hero." The line became its own standalone meme format, typically used as a reaction image when someone wants to justify their role as a shitposter, memelord, or general internet weirdo. It hit especially hard because it was the stock photo guy himself, fully embracing his accidental internet fame on a literal TED stage.

TL;DR

"It's a Role Given to Me by the Internet People" is a quote from Andras Arato, the man behind the Hide the Pain Harold meme, taken from his June 2019 TEDx Talk titled "Waking up as a meme-hero." The line became its own standalone meme format, typically used as a reaction image when someone wants to justify their role as a shitposter, memelord, or general internet weirdo.

Overview

The meme uses a screenshot of Andras Arato mid-presentation at TEDx Kyiv, specifically the moment he delivers the line "It's a role given to me by the internet people." In the image, Arato stands at the podium looking characteristically deadpan, with the quote displayed as a subtitle or caption. The format works because Arato isn't just any speaker. He's Hide the Pain Harold, one of the most recognizable meme faces on the internet, and here he is at a TEDx event sincerely discussing what it's like to be turned into a meme without your permission.

People use the screenshot as a reaction image to explain away their own online behavior. The humor comes from borrowing the gravitas of a TED Talk to justify something as trivial as posting memes all day.

On June 25, 2019, the TEDx Talks YouTube channel uploaded a presentation called "Waking up as a meme-hero" featuring Andras Arato. In the talk, the Hungarian electrical engineer described how his stock photo images were turned into the Hide the Pain Harold meme without his knowledge, and how he eventually came to accept and even embrace it. During the presentation, Arato used the phrase "It's a role given to me by the internet people" to describe his relationship with his meme identity. The video picked up over 5.1 million views within its first year on YouTube.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (TEDx Talks channel), Reddit / Twitter (meme format spread)
Creator
Andras Arato
Date
2019
Year
2019

On June 25, 2019, the TEDx Talks YouTube channel uploaded a presentation called "Waking up as a meme-hero" featuring Andras Arato. In the talk, the Hungarian electrical engineer described how his stock photo images were turned into the Hide the Pain Harold meme without his knowledge, and how he eventually came to accept and even embrace it. During the presentation, Arato used the phrase "It's a role given to me by the internet people" to describe his relationship with his meme identity. The video picked up over 5.1 million views within its first year on YouTube.

How It Spread

The quote took on a life of its own when people started screenshotting the specific moment and using it as a reaction image. Twitter user @markdalgleish posted the image with the caption "When people ask me why I post so many memes," picking up over 420 likes. The following day, Reddit user asssmasteur69 shared a screenshot of the line with the caption "When my parents ask me what is a memelord," which earned more than 19,000 upvotes at 98% upvote ratio.

A later variation posted on December 7th recontextualized the image with the caption "And why do you believe you deserve to be meme of the decade?" framing it as a job interview for the title of best meme. That post pulled in over 49,000 upvotes and 150 comments. The format kept spreading across Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram as a go-to reaction for anyone defending their internet habits.

How to Use This Meme

The format is simple. Take the screenshot of Arato delivering the line at TEDx, then pair it with a setup that asks why you do something extremely online. Common patterns include:

- A friend or family member questioning your meme obsession, followed by the Arato screenshot as your dignified response - A job interview or formal scenario where your "qualification" is being internet-brained - Any situation where you need to explain your posting habits with unearned gravitas

The humor works best when there's a gap between the seriousness of the TEDx setting and the triviality of whatever meme behavior you're defending. You typically add your own caption above the image as the setup question, with Arato's quote serving as the punchline.

Cultural Impact

The quote captures something specific about the late 2010s internet: meme subjects becoming self-aware and going public. Arato didn't fight his meme status or try to scrub it from the internet. He showed up at a TEDx event and talked about it with genuine reflection. That sincerity made the quote feel earned rather than cringe, which is why it worked as a meme in its own right.

The TEDx Talk itself became one of the more-watched meme-related presentations on YouTube, drawing millions of views from people who recognized the Harold face and wanted to hear the man behind it speak. It showed that meme fame could be redirected into something more meaningful, even as people immediately turned the most quotable moment right back into another meme.

Fun Facts

Andras Arato is a retired Hungarian electrical engineer who had no idea his stock photos had become memes until years after they went viral.

The TEDx Talk has over 5.1 million views, making it one of the more popular meme-adjacent TEDx presentations.

The Reddit post captioned "And why do you believe you deserve to be meme of the decade?" hit a 97% upvote ratio, an unusually high approval rate even for meme subreddits.

Arato's delivery of the line is completely sincere, which is exactly what makes it funny when repurposed as a reaction image.

Derivatives & Variations

"Meme of the Decade" interview format

A popular variation framing the quote as Arato's answer in a fictional interview for the title of meme of the decade, posted during the wave of "meme of the decade" debates in late 2019[2].

"Why do you post so many memes" format

The initial spread version where the quote answers the question of why someone posts excessively online[2].

Frequently Asked Questions