OPINION: Feel the ‘Bern-ing’ love
By David J. Garcia
Bridge Staff Intern
Published Saturday, March 13, 2021
Memes are usually a product of their time. They can represent current events or ideas (or just a dumb joke that was running around) that were popular or ridiculed.
Memes are almost always surface-level in meaning. On rare occasions, they can evoke something major.
The meme world today is also ever-changing. Keeping up with this world is a fast-paced effort; one minute, Damn Daniel was the thing—now, I’d rather get beat with a bat than see that meme one more time.
Heck, as I write this, the Bernie meme probably isn’t even all that “relevant” anymore. Despite so, certain memes do withstand the test of time (see: classic Spongebob memes).
Among the many other places the Bernie meme has made a home, here it finds itself sitting next to Texas A&M International University icon J.O. Walker. Bridge Director of Photography Jessica Rodriguez combined her own image, taken Feb. 10, of Walker’s statue located near the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts on campus with the classic image of Bernie in this digitally altered image.
Bernie’s meme has a different take; it isn’t supposed to age well or be an eternal, meaningless meme. It’s supposed to be something we remember with a quiver of fondness in the dark world of the pandemic, the insurrection and countless dead lives.
It was even a beacon of lighthearted fun in a day that was seen as terrifying on both sides of the political sphere. Finally, it reminded us that even if we disagree and suffer, we as a country can take a good laugh once in a while.
I believe when we look back later in the years and see Bernie all frozen up and adorable, we’ll remember that although it was a dark time in America, we always knew how to laugh through it.
I guess in a deeply accurate to definition way, it is an inside joke; a real warm and cheesy one.
Like a pizza. I want pizza now…
