The 'feral hog' meme encapsulates Twitter's response to tragedy

If you’ve opened Twitter today, you’ll likely have been inundated with a single theme: feral hogs.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.Hard Fork?After a bit of digging, I found the tweet that started it all:Legit question for rural Americans – How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019Now, anyone who spends any sort of time online knows memes aren’t newsworthy by themselves. I mean, as of October 2018, 61 percent of Americans wanted stricter gun control.But everything stays the same.The feral hog meme isn’t just about making fun of someone who believes they need a machine gun to protect their children from a swarm of swine — although that is definitely part of the joy. It’s a dreadful, crushing feeling, but humour gives people an escape, a way of finding some connection and humanity in a monstrous situation.The feral hog meme is a mass in-joke, a reversion of order, a serious point swaddled in mirth. So, please, sit back, and enjoy some of my favorite feral hog memes:stages of Feral Hog Twitter my 30-50 feral hog attack— Dan Douglas (@dandouglas) August 5, 2019bröther may i run into the yärd pic.twitter.com/T0ygzrE91m— david hasselhogg (@jamesak9182) August 5, 2019ME, SEEING 29 FERAL HOGS RUNNING INTO MY YARD: Careful now, kids.ME, SEEING EXACTLY ONE ADDITIONAL HOG RUNNING INTO MY YARD: pic.twitter.com/6MTXSDK8qb— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) August 5, 2019In ~72 hours this will be completely incomprehensible pic.twitter.com/QljE5XSWHM— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) August 5, 2019I am a:⚪️ male