For The Memes

One of my closest friends and collaborators, Corey Croft over at Fly Pelican Press, has posted some of my words as part of his Quarantine Diaries series. Click here to check out my entry (as well as those of other talented writers), or keep reading for an excerpt below.

Much love & stay safe and sane, everyone!

Image by the talented Alex Parmar.

~

First things first, let’s state the obvious. This virus sucks.

Forget the “New global emergency new me,” Facebook posts, the “You guys, let’s take this time to focus on ourselves!” motivational speeches and the half-assed “Well, it could be worse…” reminders. People are getting sick, people are dying, people are losing their jobs, people who still have jobs are unsafe and stressed in their workplaces, parents are going crazy trying to homeschool their children, people are anxious about their loved ones, the global economy is getting turned upside down and will soon be plunged into a recession… It sucks. It absolutely sucks for everyone, except for the idiots that for some reason feel like they should still go to the beach to hang out with friends because they’re somehow above the virus. It sucks, and we can’t even meet our friends for a solidarity drink at the end of the day.

Yes, I know we can meet for Zoom drinks with our friends, don’t at me.

Apart from those hard truths, I’ve had lots of mental ups and downs throughout my last few weeks of mandatory quarantine. However, one major thought has been running through my mind consistently…

How many goddamn MEMES is this virus going to produce?

Isn’t that ridiculous? But seriously, think about it. COVID-19 is an unprecedented, catastrophic global event unlike anything that we’ve seen during the internet age. Sure, there have been pandemics, wars and other major catastrophes, but nothing that has been so ubiquitous and universally discussed all around the world.

Virus.

COVID-19.

Coronavirus.

Social-distancing.

Self-isolation.

Quarantine.

These are the words coming out of damn-near everyone’s mouths right now! Or, at least a translation of them in one’s own language! This makes perfect sense as at the time of writing, COVID-19 has reached 199 countries… and the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

As a result of this, the fact that we’re living in the hard center of the internet age and that pretty much everyone is bored out of their minds at home, the number of memes being created as a result of COVID-19 is absolutely INSANE! Every morning (or afternoon, let’s be honest, I have no reason to get up early anymore) I’m barraged by a storm of international news combined with NEW MEMES about the coronavirus.

That’s all well and good. Some memes are better than others, but most importantly they are often funny and we’re all in dire need of a laugh.

The main reason I’ve been thinking about ALL THE MEMES is how ridiculous they might look in the future. If COVID-19 continues to do unprecedented damage to the world in a variety of ways, are we going to look like idiots for documenting the whole process with memes? Will memes be in the history books? Will future generations think that we’d completely lost our minds? Or will they admire our comedic resilience in the face of a global pandemic?

Many historic events that by-and-large shaped the modern world happened throughout the 20th century. Imagine what would have happened if people in the 20th century had had 21st century technology and internet access. Would the Cold War have been documented (democratically! By the people! The everyman!) with memes? The Second World War? The Great Depression? The First World War? The Spanish Flu?

Honestly, they probably would have been. Regardless of the severity of the situation they’re living, human beings have a fundamental need to express themselves. For better or for worse, sharing our thoughts (even via meme) is cathartic and makes us feel better.

So, let’s keep expressing ourselves. Just some food for thought.