We live in a society. A society that is always connected through social media, one that is more likely to share funny pictures on the internet than to spread awareness of important issues. These pictures are often referred to as “memes.” Memes are humorous images, videos, or pieces of text that are copied, altered, and spread rapidly around the internet. If you’ve ever been on a social media platform, chances are you’ve already been made aware of this piece of internet culture. 

Some of the most recent memes to reach mainstream media are those of the “Area 51 raid.” Area 51 is a highly classified United States Air Force facility located within Nevada. Area 51 has become a focus of modern conspiracy theories due to its secretive nature and connection to classified aircraft research. Some people believe Area 51 could hold secrets of uncovered alien technology. The Area 51 meme began as a Facebook event and quickly gained popularity with millions of shares on most major social media platforms and coverage on most news channels. This caused people to carry out the “raid” and participate in a gathering outside of the Air Force facility. This raises the question that if we were able to pull together a community of people throughout the entire world to participate in an event that started as a joke, what could we accomplish if we used this power to make a difference in the world? 

Our planet is in a dire position: people are suffering from poverty and disease, ecosystems and habitats are completely dying off, and we have done little to prevent it. Awareness is being raised at a criminally sluggish pace. In place of sharing memes about storming Area 51, we could be putting our focus toward spreading awareness of our negligence and our terrible treatment of the planet we inhabit. So why aren’t we?

Memes may be the distraction our society needs in order to cope with all the awful things that happen, but by consuming memes, the severity of these tragic events is stripped away and played for laughs, causing us not to take things as seriously as we should. We live in a society that is not only destructive to the planet we inhabit but also psychologically and emotionally destructive to ourselves.