I <3 *cryptocurrency

*this one meme about

i saw this meme this week and it really sent me over the edge. i laughed out loud on the train platform, and kept laughing about it as i got on the train, and laughed again as a few people also found it funny. i erupted in laughter as i tried to tell my friends about it, built it up way too much. you had to be there.

i find the facial expression so relatable, so expressive of the indignity of our human predicament. i like how the words express obscene failure subtly. they tell it without saying it, a kind of conceptual slapstick. this is the gymnastics of humor to me, the ice skating, this lands the jump.

it reminds me of how as a kid i used to really love anti-jokes. many of the ones i loved are actually just ableist so do not hold up, but i think i was drawn to the turn in them, the way that they fuck with traditional joke structure, break expectations.

as we all know, explaining humor often completely extinguishes it, but i will make that sacrifice for you, dear readers. what’s resonant to me about this meme is the beauty of how even though cryptocurrency is so difficult—even though it feels impossible, people still keep trying again. by cryptocurrency i mean life, of course.

there’s a difference between laughing at others’ failure/suffering, and laughing with them at the shared sense of failure/suffering. the former is cruel, the latter provides immense relief. the latter sends air rushing to the lungs.