WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 How are you feeling today, Taylor? Are you feeling 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.339 good, bad? Pretty sure this is bad. Are you feeling 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:09.810 uncertain, like an update? I'm feeling good. 00:00:09.910 --> 00:00:12.669 You're feeling good, hey? Yeah. Okay. This isn't 00:00:12.669 --> 00:00:15.369 feeling good. I'm not sure why it's in feeling 00:00:15.369 --> 00:00:17.629 good. Maybe you were feeling good at the time 00:00:17.629 --> 00:00:20.710 of reading. It may again call into question my 00:00:20.710 --> 00:00:23.129 filing system, but I'm just going to read it 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:25.510 under the assumption this will actually be feeling 00:00:25.510 --> 00:00:28.690 good. This is from the Rolling Stone of all places 00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:32.250 titled How 9 -11 Became One of the Internet's 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:35.729 Most Popular Memes by David Mack, September 9th, 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:40.280 2024. This is old. A 21 year old college student 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.799 was sitting in an English class at her Minnesota 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.780 school last week when her professor began talking 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:48.219 about the challenges in writing about traumatic 00:00:48.219 --> 00:00:51.359 events. But when he used 9 -11 as an example 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.560 and described to the class how hectic things 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.200 seemed that day, she realized just how she felt 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:59.119 or rather didn't feel about the attacks. Being 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:02.679 terminally online is wild because someone mentioned 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:05.799 9 -11 in my class today and I genuinely forgot 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:09.099 that not everyone thinks it's funny now. She 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:12.879 subsequently wrote in a post on X formerly to 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:16.359 favorited more than 10 ,000 times, quote, I had 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:19.159 this moment of realization within myself that 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:21.900 this should be having an impact on me and it 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:25.060 weirdly isn't end quote. Olivia recalled to Rolling 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:27.900 Stone asking that her last name not be used due 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:30.900 to the sensitivities around 9 11. She has since 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:33.480 taken down the tweet, quote, I think it's been 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.819 watered down a lot for our generation. moment 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:40.500 of levity, this very heavy moment. For our generation, 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.359 it's very almost casual." Olivia is not alone. 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:47.900 To be on social media in 2024 is to be swimming 00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:51.140 in jokes and memes about 9 -11. Things that might 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.260 once have been whispered among friends are now 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.819 shared by meme accounts with hundreds of thousands 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:59.200 of followers. On TikTok, videos contrasting the 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.659 year 2024 with 2001, often ending with someone 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:05.299 reacting to the plane's hitting towers, frequently 00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:08.689 went viral. Well on X, a famous photo of President 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:11.810 George W Bush being informed by his chief of 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:15.009 staff that the US was under attack is now frequently 00:02:15.009 --> 00:02:18.610 used to mock everything from Ozempic to JD Vance 00:02:18.610 --> 00:02:21.469 to the Drake Kendrick Lamar beef. Want to be 00:02:21.469 --> 00:02:23.990 overly dramatic about a minor event in your life? 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:27.229 Why not use a video or gif of Caitlyn Jenner 00:02:27.229 --> 00:02:30.270 standing in a sea of American flags solemnly 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:33.449 saying 9 -11? or you could keep things simple 00:02:33.449 --> 00:02:37.349 and just say this was my 9 -11." As the world 00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:40.430 marks 23 years since the attacks, the ways in 00:02:40.430 --> 00:02:42.750 which people talk and joke about the tragedy 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:45.250 have evolved dramatically, especially on the 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:47.370 internet. For some people, the passage of time 00:02:47.370 --> 00:02:49.949 has reduced the trauma associated with it and 00:02:49.949 --> 00:02:52.330 allowed them to feel more comfortable using humor 00:02:52.330 --> 00:02:54.849 to process the past two decades in a different 00:02:54.849 --> 00:02:57.810 light. For other younger Gen Z internet users, 00:02:58.129 --> 00:03:01.050 black comedy is a tool they use to discuss something 00:03:00.969 --> 00:03:03.750 they've only ever read about in history books. 00:03:04.009 --> 00:03:05.990 Social media, which didn't exist at the time 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:08.689 of the attacks, has also given rise to a digital 00:03:08.689 --> 00:03:11.110 space for these jokes that is steeped in irony, 00:03:11.330 --> 00:03:14.289 rewards outrageous humour, and encourages others 00:03:14.289 --> 00:03:17.270 to join the trend. The few 9 -11 memes in the 00:03:17.270 --> 00:03:20.330 past decade mostly involved mocking conspiracy 00:03:20.330 --> 00:03:23.669 theorists such as Jetfuel, Camp Meltz, Beats… 00:03:23.669 --> 00:03:26.310 damn it, that was a really important quote when 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:29.430 I fucked it up. Quote, jet fuel can't melt steel 00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:32.810 beams and quote or Bush did 9 11, both of which 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:36.349 surged in usage around 2015. These gags drew 00:03:36.349 --> 00:03:39.710 their shock value humor by juxtaposing something 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:42.270 innocent with something extreme, like when the 00:03:42.270 --> 00:03:45.189 words were frosted onto a cake or said by a cartoon 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:47.590 pony. That's one of my favorite cartoon pony 00:03:47.590 --> 00:03:51.039 things. Jet fuel can't melt steel beams. I do 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:54.020 like that one. It goes on and on and on. Obviously 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:56.180 you get the idea of what it's talking about. 00:03:56.300 --> 00:04:00.099 I just thought it was kind of interesting and 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:03.699 it kind of comments on the place we are culturally. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.699 It's an interesting space. Does it talk about 00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:11.120 where we are as X users culturally? Because that's 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.979 that's where it draws back to as opposed on X. 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:17.439 it does and x from what i hear about what goes 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:19.879 on there is not a place that i want to be a part 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:23.439 of so it could very much be that it could also 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:25.759 be i don't know why the media still treat it 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:28.439 as like a real place that has real things going 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:32.319 on it has hit a shithole that needs to just like 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:35.269 We need to stop treating it like that's where 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:37.649 everybody is because it's just where the racist 00:04:37.649 --> 00:04:40.649 people are for the most part Oh, it's so true. 00:04:40.810 --> 00:04:43.490 And I don't also know if it's what are these 00:04:43.490 --> 00:04:46.790 gen z's? Uh, those would be gen z's. Yeah zoomers. 00:04:46.790 --> 00:04:50.180 I don't know. Maybe they're you know Twitter 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:53.420 users to do things like this. I don't know could 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:55.879 be a lot of things that the commentary is on 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:57.800 but to be fair I don't think you can connect 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.279 to the George Bush meme of him being informed 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:02.860 or reading like a kid's storybook Directly to 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:06.240 like this weird joke about 9 -eleven that meme 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.420 speaks for itself. It's great No, I don't think 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:10.759 it would be the same thing as like meme of like 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.060 the plane flying into the building. Yeah, but 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:18.060 I mean, you look at things that happen. No, I 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.120 mean, there's some things I probably wouldn't 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:22.579 do a meme about, but some things I might have 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:25.379 happened long enough ago, depending on what it 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.439 was. Yeah. I mean, like, yeah, the death of 3000 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:31.959 people is a hard one to meme about even today. 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:34.079 And you know what I think about that. And I'm 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.980 like trying to come up with an example. And all 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:37.939 of a sudden I forgotten everything I know about 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:40.860 history. There's not a lot of mass killings that 00:05:40.860 --> 00:05:43.560 seem meme worthy later on. Yeah. No, it really 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:45.699 doesn't. than even though I can't think of any 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:48.220 right now. I will thoroughly stand by George 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:51.240 Bush reacting to being told about it is meme 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:53.720 -worthy, not the thing itself. Oh yeah, totally 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:55.560 different situation, I would say. Those are different 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:57.759 things. I should use that more, definitely. Maybe 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.420 I will. It is great, yeah. Maybe I'll forget 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:01.660 about it, hard to say. It's Wednesday. Anyhow, 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.139 you guys got 48 hours, forget about it. And maybe, 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:06.000 I don't know, make a good George Bush meme. Those 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.480 are coming in like hotcakes now. Oh yeah, yeah, 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.199 send them to us, thanks. Okay, bye. Make our 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:12.139 Wednesday better, bye.