Gallery: Afghanistan to Hollywood: Best Newsy Viral Videos of 2011
01Asmaa-Mahfouz
Compiling this year's list of the [best viral videos](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2011/12/best-viral-videos-2011/) proved a slightly more difficult task than just finding cute kittehs and epic fails. In 2011, it seemed, viral videos weren't just watched as a fun distraction from the more somber daily news — they were the news. From uprisings in Egypt to the end of "[Don't Ask, Don't Tell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell)," online video did about as much to inform us about what was happening outside our cubicles as anything. For example, anyone could read any of a dozen news stories about Occupy protests popping up around the country (and around the world), but do those reports spark the same reaction as watching Lt. John Pike pepper-spray students on the campus of the University of California at Davis? Did anything symbolize the relief of LGBT servicemen and women at the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" more completely than Air Force airman Randy Phillips finally showing his face on YouTube? Most likely not. That's not to say all of this year's newsy viral videos were quite so heavy. This was also the year that Marines started asking out movie stars on YouTube. To honor the less-quirky-but-very-relevant viral videos of 2011, Wired.com put together a shortlist of some of the best. Check them out in the gallery above and let us know your favorites (and which ones we missed) in the comments below. __Above:__ Asmaa Mahfouz's Revolutionary Vlog ---------------------------------- Youth revolutionaries had been [creating a stir in Egypt](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-11/ff_facebookegypt) for quite some time before Asmaa Mahfouz posted a vlog to her Facebook calling for the citizens of her country to demand their rights and [protest the regime of Hosni Mubarak](http://boingboing.net/2011/02/02/egypt-the-viral-vlog.html). But something about what she said caught fire, and now she's credited with having sparked the protests that erupted in Cairo in January of this year. "If you have honor and dignity as a man, come and protect me, and other girls in the protest," she said in the video. "If you stay home, you deserve what's being done to you, and you will be guilty before your nation and your people. Go down to the street, send SMSes, post it on the internet, make people aware." Already a member of the [April 6 Youth Movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_6_Youth_Movement), Mahfouz was just one person in front of a camera, but her call was heard around the world.
02Marine---Mila-Kunis
'Marine in Afghanistan asks Mila Kunis to the 3/2 Marine Corps Ball' -------------------------------------------------------------------- Stationed in Afghanistan, Sgt. Scott Moore knew exactly who he wanted to take to the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, North Carolina — so he made a YouTube video to ask her out. Funny thing was, he wanted to ask starlet Mila Kunis. It seemed like a longshot, but after the video went viral, she accepted. Then she [kept her word](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/11/mila-kunis-marine-corps-ball-scott-moore-north-carolina.html). The video led to another Marine [asking out](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/11/justin-timberlake-marine-corps-ball-kelsey-de-santis.html) Kunis' *Friends With Benefits* co-star Justin Timberlake. The singer/actor, not one to be outdone, also graciously accepted his invitation, and called his date, Cpl. Kelsey De Santis, "[my hero](http://justintimberlake.com/news/my_night_at_the_marine_corps_ball)."
03Pepper-Spray-Cop
'Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis' ----------------------------------------------------------- Countless videos have gone viral since Occupy Wall Street began, but few have risen to such internet infamy as the clip of Lt. John Pike pepper-spraying protesters on the campus of the University of California at Davis. The video has more than 2 million views and Pike has become [an internet meme](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/casually-pepper-spray-everything-cop), with his pepper-spraying image getting Photoshopped into major works of art and [everything else under the sun](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2011/11/pepper-spray-cop-meme/).
04Randy-'AreYouSuprised'-Phillips-
'Telling my dad that I am gay — LIVE' ------------------------------------- In the weeks leading up to the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, Air Force airman Randy Phillips posted a series of videos to YouTube under the moniker "[AreYouSuprised](http://www.youtube.com/user/AreYouSuprised)." But he [never showed his face](http://abcnews.go.com/US/youtubes-gay-soldier-thought-comfortable/story?id=14569434#.Tu-wBSPLyf8), promising to reveal himself when it was safe for him to do so. In September, when the policy that prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military [was lifted](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/dont-ask-dont-tell-ends-troops-mark-the-day-in-different-ways/2011/09/20/gIQAsw1KiK_blog.html), he showed his face. Then he called home and said, "Dad, I'm gay." The video got picked up by tons of news outlets and has since been seen more than 5 million times. It was an "it gets better" video without being an [It Gets Better](http://www.itgetsbetter.org/) video.
05Libya
Moammar Gadhafi Death Videos (Warning: Graphic Content) -------------------------------------------------------- Protests and political unrest (to say the least) rocked Libya for almost all of 2011. Then, in October, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was [captured and killed](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gaddafis-home-town-overrun-conflicting-reports-on-his-fate/2011/10/20/gIQAMwTB0L_story.html) by revolutionaries. Videos of the incident surfaced all over the internet, many of which found their way onto television news. The clips were grainy and confusing, but also fascinating. Who would've thought 20 years ago that the death of a dictator would be captured on (presumably) a cellphone and broadcast on YouTube?
