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If you\u2019ve opened Twitter today, you\u2019ll likely have been inundated with a single theme: feral hogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yep, when I stirred, and flipped open my phone this morning, my feed was filled with memes about garden-roaming, kid-attacking wild swine. I was utterly confuddled.<\/p>\n After a bit of digging, I found the tweet that started it all:<\/p>\n Legit question for rural Americans \u2013 How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?<\/p>\n \u2014 William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Now, anyone who spends any sort of time online knows memes aren\u2019t newsworthy by themselves. Yes, they\u2019re an integral and longstanding part of internet culture, but are generally fast moving and light by nature.<\/p>\n But the feral hog meme is different. It stood\u00a0out in a way that\u2019s representative of a very online<\/em> way of dealing with tragedy.<\/p>\n Of course, things on the internet spread quickly, but the feral hog appeared faster than most. When I went to sleep, it was nowhere. When I woke up, it was unavoidable. This graph from Jason Baumgartner highlights its sheer scale:<\/p>\n How a #meme<\/a> gets born and raised on Twitter. Number of tweets mentioning \u201cferal hogs\u201d (five minute windows).#feralhogs<\/a> #dataviz<\/a> #datascience<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pc6x1SYaVU<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jason Baumgartner (@jasonbaumgartne) August 6, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But the real meat of the meme is its context.\u00a0You don\u2019t need reminding about the two horrendous mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton over the weekend.<\/p>\n The origin of the meme (the aforementioned tweet) is a ridiculous response to a post\u00a0condemning the ownership of \u201cassault weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n Whenever a mass shooting occurs, the issue of gun\u00a0regulation rears its head, yet nothing ever changes. Hell, I don\u2019t even live in the US and I find the discussion\u00a0demoralizing and exhausting. No other country in the developed world has the same lack of gun regulation and the same sort of murders. I mean, as of\u00a0October 2018, 61 percent of Americans wanted stricter gun control.<\/p>\n But everything stays the same.<\/p>\n The feral hog meme isn\u2019t just about making fun of someone who believes they need a machine gun to protect their children from a swarm of swine \u2014 although that is definitely part of the joy. No, it\u2019s something more than that. It\u2019s a way of taking control of the uncontrollable.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a powerlessness in watching the same awful, preventable thing happen time and time again, and no one in power lifting a finger. It\u2019s a dreadful, crushing feeling, but humour gives people an escape, a way of finding some connection and humanity in a monstrous situation.<\/p>\n The feral hog meme is a mass in-joke, a reversion of order, a serious point swaddled in mirth. In other words, it\u2019s seriously\u00a0online.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s the way we make sense of tragedy today. It encapsulates the best side of the internet.<\/p>\n In my mind, there\u2019s only one way to conclude this. So, please, sit back, and enjoy some of my\u00a0favorite feral hog memes:<\/p>\n stages of Feral Hog Twitter \u2014 Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) August 6, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n my neck \u2014 Dan Douglas (@dandouglas) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n br\u00f6ther may i run into the y\u00e4rd pic.twitter.com\/T0ygzrE91m<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 david hasselhogg (@jamesak9182) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n ME, SEEING 29 FERAL HOGS RUNNING INTO MY YARD: Careful now, kids.<\/p>\n ME, SEEING EXACTLY ONE ADDITIONAL HOG RUNNING INTO MY YARD: pic.twitter.com\/6MTXSDK8qb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In ~72 hours this will be completely incomprehensible pic.twitter.com\/QljE5XSWHM<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I am a:<\/p>\n \u26aa\ufe0f male Seeking:<\/p>\n \u26aa\ufe0f male \u2014 AshPop (@BarbiturateCat) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n take me down to the paradise city \u2014 fuck the sun #jft96 (@thedanstringer) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n AITA: Me and 29-49 of my friends rush this guy\u2019s garden every morning trying to eat his kids<\/p>\n \u2014 Edcrab (@Edcrab_) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 30-50 feral hogs? At this time of year? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your yard? pic.twitter.com\/h1qtP2IFbq<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Lil\u2019 Kim Jong-un (@James__Nesbitt) August 5, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This is Just to Say<\/p>\n I have eaten Who you Forgive me \u2014 Leigh \u201cBirch\u201d Harlen? (@LeighHarlen) August 6, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \n Read next:<\/b>\n
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1. confusion seeing everyone tweet \u201c30 to 50 feral hogs\u201d
2. find the tweet & assume it\u2019s satire
3. read the tweet again & realize it\u2019s for real
4. like and RT only feral hog tweets for 12 hrs straight
5. become 30 to 50 feral hogs<\/p>\n\n
my back
my 30-50 feral hog attack<\/p>\n\n
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\u26aa\ufe0f female
? 30-50 feral hogs<\/p>\n
\u26aa\ufe0f female
? a yard with unsupervised small children to run in to within 3-5 minutes<\/p>\n\n
where the hogs are feral and there\u2019s 30-50<\/p>\n\n
\n
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the kids
that were in
the backyard<\/p>\n
probably left for
three to
five minutes<\/p>\n
I am thirty to
fifty
feral hogs<\/p>\n
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\n Meet the YouTube Mortician teaching people not to fear death <\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n