Society-
especially these days- finds humor in its wrongdoings. This humor, called
satire, is a big part of Generation Z’s “brand”. Everything from World War 3
threats to the Corona Virus has turned into a meme- and for an interesting reason.
According to NBC News, “Gen Z uses memes to cope with the idea of [tragic or disastrous
events]”. So basically, the various memes we use are satirical, making fun of
the fact that we can’t take things seriously. "Anything
bad happens, we just make a meme of it," said Scarlett Acosta, who helps
run the satirical Twitter account "UrFavIsDrafted".
This satire
is very popular as well. According to NBC News, the hashtags “WWIII” and “WW3”
have been viewed “more than 1.6 billion times” on the popular video app TikTok-
whose main users are all teenagers ranging from the age of twelve to twenty. As
weird as it seems, satire is a part of our daily lives- even if we don’t
realize it. More recently, even, are the memes about the Corona Virus (COVID-19).
In addition to making us all have a laugh, they can be highly satirical- such
as when Snopes posted a meme stating that Mike Pence would be instating a “Corona
Virus Conversion Therapy Camp” (which satirizes his anti LGBTQ+ views and mirrors
the memes over claims that if he were president he would possibly make LGBTQ+
conversion camps). So, next time you look at a meme, which will probably be
within five minutes of reading this blog post, just remember that it will most
likely be satirical.
