Get Involved, Internet: Help this man’s turtle hat become the next viral Kickstarter

Back in 2014, a guy named Zack “Danger” Brown rocked the crowdfunding world when he launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money so he could make potato salad. Not a ton of potato salad and not an especially good potato salad, just some potato salad. He only asked for $10, but he eventually raised $55,492 after the whole thing went viral, giving him enough money to throw a huge potato party in Ohio—though he actually donated most of the money to charity.

The people who got a chance to donate to the potato salad Kickstarter before it really blew up get to wear that like a badge of internet honor. They saw the meme coming and were able to put their name on a list of people who “got it” first. Everybody else, like those who donated long after it hit $10,000 or a $20,000, are just sheep. Now, though, the sheep may have a chance to redeem themselves, because there’s another viral-friendly Kickstarter going around that just might be the next potato salad.

Sadly, it’s not quite as straight-up stupid as that one, so it’s a little less funny, but it is quite a bit more heartfelt at least. The project comes form a guy named Lynn Johnson who wants to fund some recreations of his favorite turtle hat—as in, a hat that looks like a turtle. Johnson has had the hat for decades, and he wears it to force himself not to take things too seriously. Unfortunately, the company that made the hat went out of business a long time ago, so he wants to fund a new batch of stupid hats that will help other people embrace his whole “you can not be rude when wearing a turtle” philosophy. Johnson is looking to make $5,000 before September 25, and he’s already at almost $4,000.

Vice has written about the turtle hat, and so has The Daily Dot, and while we can’t guarantee that you’ll be a cool internet hipster if you back it, it probably won’t hurt. At the very least, wearing one of them will make you turtle-y enough for the turtle club.