A few months ago (later than most), I watched a viral video clip of Dr. Phil titled ‘Catch Me Outside’. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but my husband’s friend had sent it to him so we watched it together. We both laughed from shock, confusion, and intrigue at the 13-year-old girl (Danielle Brigoli) who sat straight-backed and stone-faced in front of Dr. Phil and called out audience members many times her age to fight her outside, as I’m sure millions of others did who watched it.
And since watching it, the video has become somewhat of a phenomenon in society through memes and the signature catch phrase, even launching Danielle Brigoli into the spotlight and landing her a multi-million dollar recording contract with Atlantic Records as ‘Bhad Bahbie’. In our house, we still use the catch phrase sometimes in moments we don’t feel like listening to the ‘authority’ or the degrading opinions of others.
I don’t generally try to think about the ‘why’ behind why certain things go viral in our culture, but the ‘Catch Me Outside’ video has stuck with me for reasons I wasn’t exactly sure of, at first.
The truth is, I think one of the reasons that video has become a sensation is because we all have a little bit of that inside of us.
I’m not here to defend outrageous or abusive behavior towards other people, or illegal and entitled behavior, but I do think that something about her reflects a bit of what our society is going through right now. The upending of a culture where someone like Dr. Phil can try and condescendingly stare down his nose at you and ‘fix’ you or tell you to change, quiet down, talk right (with a Texas drawl) and become something ‘respectable’ or even try and bend toward the ways of society.
As the crowd full of adults, a man over four times her age, and her mother all glared at her as the jury there to tell her she was bad or wrong, she stared each one of them back in the face and said, I’ll fight for my point of view and what I have to do to be here (albeit misguided and ultimately nuts).
Maybe it’s just me, but I felt a little bit of the warrior inside come alive when I saw her not care that she was on national television or that she was sitting next to the holy family drama counselor/creator Dr. Phil, she wasn’t going to back down in defense of herself.
Again, I’m not here to defend blind self-righteousness or egotism, or to ignore the clear issues with her behavior. But I do know that there is a part of that kind of rebelliousness inside of me that rooted for her standing up to all these people despite her age, her size, and her abilities. I think even Dr. Phil was taken aback and maybe even endeared by her self-confidence.
In the current climate of our country and our world, I think it would benefit us all to embrace a little ‘Catch Me Outside’ attitude for the right reasons — in defense of our audacious dreams, our right to be in rooms others think we shouldn’t be in, and our own personal power. Who knows where that rebel inside could take us.