ILLEGAL OPERATION performed by RAVEN.EXE
VIRUS DETECTED! The bird is too rich to remove.
CARNEGIE_CROW.DLL not found. He is a raven, not a crow.
REBOOT NOW! Diamond talons detected.
ILLEGAL OPERATION: too much drip in memory.
VIRUS DETECTED! process $RICH has crashed.
Since 1997 this bird has judged your budget. Insufficient funds.
VIRUS DETECTED. Feathers spreading rapidly.
1997: photographer Timothy Blackmore posts a plain Common Raven on a branch to zenzero.com. No wealth. No context. Absolute legend behavior.
2008: someone photoshops the raven into old money — top hat, cane, bottle of liquor in one claw. A persona is born: obscenely rich, permanently unbothered.
The bit never changes: either he mocks something aspirational as beneath him, or reveals his everyday object is uselessly luxurious. Silverware made of gold.
He also picks up a second name — Carnegie Crow — riding Andrew Carnegie’s robber-baron rep. Never mind that he’s a raven, not a crow. When you’re this rich, accuracy is optional.
2010: a Tumblr blog, Fuck Yeah Rich Raven, swells to 22 pages. From there he colonizes 4chan, Meme Generator, Memebase, quickmeme — the whole image-macro economy.
And now he’s here. Forever perched, forever wealthy, forever judging your budget. You know the one.
Source: Know Your Meme — original photo by Timothy Blackmore, 1997.
RICH RAVEN
"You think that's expensive? I have one just like it in solid gold."