Pussifictation of hats, Reminiscence
1980s:
Are you on the side that don't like life
Are you on the side of racial strife
Are you on the side that beats your wife
Which side are you on?
Are you on the side who loves to hunt?
Are you on the side of the National Front?
Are you on the side who calls me cunt?
Which side are you on?
-- Zeynep Tufekci, an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, is the author of the forthcoming "Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest."
Social media era:
It's easier now to remember what the march left wanting than the awe of the crowd, the buzz of potential, the pleasure of reading the signs, in person and online, which were funnier than I anticipated:
I'D CALL YOU A CUNT, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY DEPTH OR WARMTH;
URINE OVER YOUR HEAD;
I DIDN'T COME FROM YOUR RIB. YOU CAME FROM MY VAGINA;
3 DOORS DOWN: LOL;
THIS IS NOT HOW I LIKE TO BE FUCKED.
In another part of the crowd, Coco, 11, sees a sign she doesn't understand:
AMERICA DRUNKENLY SWIPED RIGHT.
Her sister Eloise, 14, explains it to her.
He Will Nut Inside Us, he will not divide us.
Eloise sees a sign she disagrees with:
A REAL FEMINIST IS PRO-LIFE.
It was like seeing part of the internet in the flesh. Here were all the avatars, bearing messages they had optimized for the meme: short, clever copy (Twitter), elaborate displays of craftsmanship yearning to be photographed (Instagram).