Memes

Have you heard “mid?” The very-online no longer call something “bad” or “dumb” or “crap” or “a shit-festooned barnacle attached to the culture.” They call it “mid.” As in “middling.” In one of the nontroversies that regularly grip Twitter, TMZ reported that someone had said “Jennifer Connelly (in the Nineties) was way more attractive than Zendaya is today — and she was considered pretty mid on the hotness scale.” Legions rose to defend the obviously defensible Nineties hotness of Ms. Connelly: A stupid person is no longer a nitwit, but a “midwit”; the undiscerning eye says Jennifer Connelly’s looks are “mid.” Unlike traditional English slang, which comes from letters to Winston Churchill (“OMG!

Who’s on the roster of speakers for the Republican National Convention is just as revealing as who’s not. Nowhere in sight are former GOP standard-bearers like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. Included, on the other hand, are several anonymous civilians turned into internet celebrities by viral videos. Among them is Nick Sandmann, the teenager at the center of the Covington Catholic confrontation captured on film at the National Mall last year. Also featured will be Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the couple whose armed confrontation with protesters outside their St Louis home in June also circulated widely online. Their inclusion clearly signals that the party is leaning into the meme warfare strategy that helped propel Trump to victory in 2016.

An unexpected pleasure of lockdown so far has been the increased frequency with which I have received funny video clips, sent by friends via Whatsapp. Almost uniformly they are in appalling taste. Some are related to the crisis, but not all. I find I cannot get enough of them. Enthusiastically, I watch and pass them on in the spirit they are sent: the gift of laughter during what is otherwise quite a dull time. The standout star of these videos — indeed, he features in several thanks to what Boris Johnson refers to as the 'wizardry of modern technology' — is a nude bodybuilder who nonchalantly displays a todger that, flaccid, is about the size of a wine bottle. It’s a magnificent, unforgettable sight.

‘What the fuck is that on your head?’ a repulsive white man called out to me from a shop doorway as I crossed the street towards him. He was standing with a couple of other men. All white. All of them in their thirties at least. Wishing to remain civil, I graciously replied, ‘It’s a top-knot, or semi man-bun. First implemented as a popular hairstyle in Japan during the Edo period.’ The uncultured wretches all scoffed visibly at this enlightening nugget of education I had gifted to them with no request for recompense. ‘Haha this hipster prick thinks he’s the fucking Karate Kid!’ retorted one of them as the rest mocked and jeered. I winced inwardly at his foolish statement.

Yesterday on Twitter, media critic Joanna Schroeder (@iproposethis) posted an eloquent and inspirational thread, examining the radicalization process of white teenage boys, which understandably went viral. https://twitter.com/iproposethis/status/1161130456286289920?s=20 'I've been watching my boys' online behavior & noticed that social media and vloggers are actively laying groundwork in white teens to turn them into alt-right/white supremacists,' wrote Joanna. She then went on at some length to explain how jokes and memes can corrupt teenage boys’ minds. 'Here's an early red flag: if your kid says "triggered" as a joke referring to people being sensitive, he's already being exposed & on his way' she continued, describing the warning signs to look out for.

The internet is making us all madder. A Facebook event created last month encouraging people to 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us' has accrued over two million attendees. Now, following the deeply convenient suicide of Jeffrey Epstein Saturday, a successor is hot on its tails. A newly-formed page is inviting internet crazies to 'Storm The Clinton Estates’ with the motivational message: ‘They Cant Suicide All Of Us' [sic]. The date is set for the same weekend as the Area 51 storming (so don't double-book). The joke event alludes to a conspiracy theory popular in the MAGAsphere: that Bill and Hillary Clinton are somehow responsible for the deaths of various people who have been in their circle at some point.