Pandemic essentials: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Andy Beshear memes
Folks, welcome to the Andy Beshear dank meme stash
Are you properly social distancing yourself from others? Are you doing your part to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)? Are you a bingo hall in Pike County that is still operating?
If you answered yes to those first two questions then you’re making Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear proud, and an increasingly growing volume of internet memes on the subject indicates you’re making others proud too.
(If you answered yes to the last question then may God have mercy on your soul.)
Gov. Andy Beshear, a man who I am increasingly worried is going to one day do a press briefing without a shirt given his current wardrobe trajectory, has been guiding the people of Kentucky through a global pandemic.
Every day at 5 p.m., for what now seems like a year, Beshear can be found live streaming a daily briefing about the status of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth, and people have been tuning in and taking notice.
In fact, people are taking so much notice that Andy Beshear has become a household meme, that’s right the man got memed. Enter: andy beshear memes for social distancing teens.
In these horrific times where we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, our daily lives have drastically altered. In Kentucky, schools are closed, you can’t dine in at restaurants or bars, movie theaters and hair salons are closed and even the Kentucky Derby is postponed. What’s a person left to do but make memes? (and also social distance, cough into your elbow, wash your hands, etc.)
I talked to my friend Jeremy McFarland, the founder of the meme group, about the sudden boom of andy beshear memes for social distancing teens and what these memes say, if anything, about the state of our current world (or maybe people just like a good laugh).
Jeremy started the group Friday and it already has over 8,000 members and counting. That’s a lot of people! (then after talking to Jeremy, I took a nap for longer than I expected and the group jumped to over 13,000!) (edit: I goofed around some more and now it’s over 25,000!)(edit again: it’s over like 35,000!)
Jeremy said he made the group on a whim after asking some friends on Facebook to share Andy Beshear memes with him. He decided to make a group to encourage people to make their own memes, while also having the group act as a repository for the memes; a Library of Congress of only Andy Beshear memes, if you will.
What he only expected a couple of people to join quickly blew up, he said a thousand members had joined in just six hours.
“People started posting and making their own memes immediately. I've been so excited to see people making up their own posts, especially all of the people who said they were making their first memes. I made my first meme for the group! Also, I love the attention people are paying to the other folks involved with the daily briefings. It's been really cool to see that start to happen, all on its own. I'm excited to see what direction people will take their memes in next!”
Are these memes the result of nihilistic people laughing in the face of impending doom, cosigned to let the winds of fate take them? Or are they just some good ol dank memes? Or is there even a difference between the two?
It’s often said that laughter is the best medicine, which is good because there’s currently no vaccine for COVID-19. andy beshear memes for social distancing teens aims to give people that dose of laughter, it’s right there in the group description, “let's stay positive and enjoy some wholesomeness by making and sharing memes about Andy!”
And I have to report that the memes are, in fact, pretty damn wholesome.
I have to admit my favorite ones have to do with the Pike County bingo hall. That one above here about the bingo hall made me totally lose it.
andy beshear memes for social distancing teens should be seen as Facebook at its best. The social media giant hasn’t had a great last couple of years, but perhaps the only saving grace of it are meme groups, and hyper specific meme groups at that.
Most everyone on the internet at this point knows what a meme is, but the short version of an internet meme is that it’s a unit (typically a visual image) that conveys an idea, a symbol, belief, practice, culture etc. to other people. Memes are kind of like the currency of the internet, in that like regular currency it’s made-up and exchanged with others vigorously but unlike actual currency doesn’t stress you out.
In the same vein as the currency comparison, internet memes are the vital transactions that make up internet subcultures and groups, especially on social media. Without memes, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter would be a barren wasteland. Memes are the Rosetta Stone of our social media landscape and the Andy Beshear group is just one group in a long line of carvings on our digital granodiorite stele slap of culture.
For example, the name “andy beshear memes for social distancing teens” can find its roots in other internet subcultures that have come before it like “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens” or “New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens.” The Harvard meme group got 10 students booted from Harvard, but the transit group is full speed ahead on the wholesome train. These kinds of groups fall into the category of what New York Magazine refers to as “Weird Facebook,” a collective of oddly specific meme groups that includes furniture-themed memes and 1999’s biggest Latin rock hit featuring a member of Matchbox 20.
What makes groups like andy beshear memes for social distancing teens successful and part of the ever-growing Weird Facebook collective is the niche topic it churns out memes on. I mean, after all, who else out there is making Andy Beshear memes?
The things people tend to find universally funny (a classic gag of someone slipping on a banana peel) always tend to pale in comparison with hyper specific humor like Andy Beshear kicking down the doors of a Pike County bingo hall, telling attendees he’s not mad just disappointed, and then telling them to all wash their hands, go home, and look at the St. Louis versus Philadelphia graph for the next two hours.
Connections are formed when people share and create these kinds of niche memes, forming a social bond within a group that has a shared, collective experience. We’re tuning in to watch Andy Beshear talk about coronavirus and watching as Virginia Moore, his ASL interpreter, signs along and ever so often Andy Beshear will shout for Kenneth to go to the next slide and I’d be lying if I said I don’t crack up every time that happens.
Look at this! Try and explain the inherent humor of this meme to someone outside of Kentucky! I can barely explain it myself because I’m overcome with laughter every time I look at it.
Moreover, the group is also a byproduct of the specific time we find ourselves in. If we weren’t in the midst of a global pandemic then Beshear wouldn’t be taking these steps, holding daily briefings, and people wouldn’t feel the urge to tune in if it wasn’t something that had to do specifically with public health. Let’s be honest, Andy Beshear is not the first person, politician included, that I would think “man, this guy would make a grade A meme.”
I’ve once referred to Andy Beshear as a man in the background of a prescription drug commercial; I did this not out of malice but he’s just kinda a regular looking guy ya know? But with everything going on he’s been transformed into peak meme status. (also I regret to report that some people are getting downright horny for Andy Beshear, quarantine really does something to us)
But the group doesn’t stop at memes either. Since its inception, Jeremy has been sharing information to the group about what steps the state government is taking and even hosting Facebook watch parties of Beshear’s daily briefings. So not only is the group promoting wholesome, funny memes but it’s also sharing information with a really large group of people.
I asked Jeremy if he thought the meme group was an outlet people were using to cope with the anxiety surrounding the coronavirus, or maybe even a natural byproduct of people spending an increased amount of time at home.
Jeremy, always one to point out he’s speaking for himself and not others (that’s a truly good quality in a person), told me he’s experienced a lot of anxiety and panic over the last couple months because of the coronavirus. He said he has friends in China and in Wuhan, the capital city of China’s Hubei province recognized as the origin of COVID-19, specifically, so he’s been following developments with the virus since January.
Jeremy said watching how the federal government has ignored and mismanaged the situation has caused him an even great amount of stress, so watching Beshear “step up to the plate” was reassuring for him.
“He has been making a lot of incredibly challenging decisions that a lot of people aren't going to like. But they are decisions that absolutely have to be made to protect the people here and to keep our healthcare system from being overwhelmed. I think it's incredibly admirable, especially considering other legislators around the country have shirked this responsibility. So, when I see the memes I think of those things and feel a little reassured.”
Beshear also stands in contrast to other governors around the country, and I don’t just mean in the prolificness of memes but also actions being taken.
Kentucky hasn’t been the epicenter of COVID-19 by any measure, we’re on the low end right now in terms of confirmed cases. However, Beshear has taken many steps at the onset to keep that delectable curve flattened in the Commonwealth.
Jeremy pointed out to me how Kentucky and Washington (the state) closed restaurants on the same day just earlier this week. The big difference being Washington was nearing 1,000 confirmed cases at that time while Kentucky had 21. The caveat I would put on this when comparing numbers is it’s virtually a given that a lot more people have COVID-19 than we currently know because testing ability is limited. (Jeremy mentioned the same thing)
Regardless, the sentiment remains true that despite Kentucky’s low number of confirmed cases Beshear has taken a multitude of steps to reduce coronavirus spread.
“Our governor wants to minimize the massive harm of this pandemic as much as possible and that means being proactive. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of examples of that kind of leadership right now so I think people are especially grateful when they see it.”
Based off social media posts and Facebook comments during the governor’s live daily briefings, it seems Jeremy isn’t the only person who has been reassured by Beshear’s handling of the situation either.
I’m not one to inflate the ego of any politician (because that goes against my belief we should heckle them more on principle), but it’s difficult to deny the leadership Beshear has displayed in his encouragement of empathy, togetherness, and calm during an unprecedented time. If the folks of Kentucky are comforted by it, and are making memes of it, then that’s good by me. (I’ll contain my cynicism for this one)
I said earlier that andy beshear memes for social distancing teens should be seen as Facebook at its best, but I think it’s more Kentucky at its best.
Look these are scary times, there’s a lot of unknowns about the coronavirus and the things we have learned about the virus aren’t exactly comforting either. Disruptions to people’s regular, daily lives can also create anxiety and measures that cause people to self-isolate can feel, well, isolating. Whenever humanity faces times of uncertainty the right thing to do is band together and face our challenges together, and by God that includes making some good ol’ fashioned memes.
Information about COVID-19 can be found on the CDC’s website, or on the WHO's website. Kentucky specific information can be found at https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/pages/covid19.aspx.