Disclaimer: I am from the US so this is a very American-centric thread due to my own observations but anyone living in other countries can chime in, I'm sure the feeling is not exclusive.
I remember I was on spring break when I first turned to my friend and said how uncomfortable it made me that we were so willing to joke about quarantine to the point where it became something that we frequently saw in joke posts or people trying to capitalize on it like it was a hot new trend. I remember him just saying "yeah" and we just went about our business. Today I realized why it made me uncomfortable. Memes are such fleeting things. Give it a month and it's all over. And that's exactly how we treated this situation (I live in Georgia if anyone needs to know my exact perspective). Quarantine was the hot fad to be capitalized on and after a while we just all got tired of it. It became an internet meme.
Now, obviously, there are plenty of issues with how this was handled beyond how the general populous handled it. Obviously the issue hasn't reared it's ugly head again because of how this was handled on the internet of all things (looking at you GOP). It just makes me so disillusioned. I get that an easy way to cope with things is to make jokes about them, to laugh at the terrible situation at hand. But I can't shake the feeling that we have joked about it so much that we have over-normalized it, if such a thing is even possible. idk, I guess I'm just so used to tragedy+time=comedy but this is all happening now, it never stopped. I haven't seen my 80+ grandmother since Christmas and this year will be the first time she's missed my birthday in 23 years because I work at a grocery store and can't confidently see her without knowing I won't infect her.
All I know is that I hate the way this was treated, by almost all angles. I didn't even talk about brands using this like some sort of sick advertising stunt. What a world we live in. Well, whatever Era. I hope you all are doing well.
I remember I was on spring break when I first turned to my friend and said how uncomfortable it made me that we were so willing to joke about quarantine to the point where it became something that we frequently saw in joke posts or people trying to capitalize on it like it was a hot new trend. I remember him just saying "yeah" and we just went about our business. Today I realized why it made me uncomfortable. Memes are such fleeting things. Give it a month and it's all over. And that's exactly how we treated this situation (I live in Georgia if anyone needs to know my exact perspective). Quarantine was the hot fad to be capitalized on and after a while we just all got tired of it. It became an internet meme.
Now, obviously, there are plenty of issues with how this was handled beyond how the general populous handled it. Obviously the issue hasn't reared it's ugly head again because of how this was handled on the internet of all things (looking at you GOP). It just makes me so disillusioned. I get that an easy way to cope with things is to make jokes about them, to laugh at the terrible situation at hand. But I can't shake the feeling that we have joked about it so much that we have over-normalized it, if such a thing is even possible. idk, I guess I'm just so used to tragedy+time=comedy but this is all happening now, it never stopped. I haven't seen my 80+ grandmother since Christmas and this year will be the first time she's missed my birthday in 23 years because I work at a grocery store and can't confidently see her without knowing I won't infect her.
All I know is that I hate the way this was treated, by almost all angles. I didn't even talk about brands using this like some sort of sick advertising stunt. What a world we live in. Well, whatever Era. I hope you all are doing well.