Sometimes no soothing words or actions will help soothe the pain caused by our absurd and Sisyphean existences. The only thing that will lift our spirits out of the dumps or brighten our days in moments like this are - you guessed it - memes.
Turns out there's a Facebook page that’s just like that - cheery as a graveyard in the midst of summer, dubbed Cheerful Nihilism, where the most painfully relatable funnies are posted daily.
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Helping people find a reason to smile since October 6, 2016, Cheerful Nihilism has collected about 1.5 million followers, which is especially impressive, as according to the creator almost all of the posts are organic. Speaking of whom, Bored Panda reached out to the mentioned creator of the page to find out more about the origins of the page, their inspirations, and community. Read on to find out more!
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Looking at a meme page, your first thought may not be about who created it or how they got the inspiration to do so, but Cheerful Nihilism’s creator’s story may make you start wondering about things like this.
They were pursuing a PhD in Health Education when their “advisor” presented their dissertation as their own research at the American Public Health Association National Conference in Denver in 2016.
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The department backed the tenured professor, while they lost their funding. “I reported her to higher-ups but they also took her side. I left academia in disgust.”
They mention this made them lose the meaning and purpose in their life, after their life-long goal of being a researcher was taken away from them. This led to them starting the page as an outlet for frustration at the absurdity permeating life.
“Turns out a lot of people resonated with that idea that it's liberating to see life as meaningless, because then you can make whatever meaning you see fit to make.”
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The page owner is inspired by the feeling of community. “I'm generally a pretty asocial person, I am neurodivergent and I dislike being around lots of people, so parasocial relationships meet my social needs.”
Furthermore, they feel a kind of obligation to the audience, because when they needed it most, they had all of their support and mutual aid.
They also mention watermarking memes in the beginning, but stopped as they didn’t want to have ownership over them, feeling that they belong to everyone, not only the page owner.
As for the creation of the funnies, they sometimes hop on a trend, but usually it’s random inspiration. “I also get sent memes by followers a lot and whatever strikes my fancy and makes me laugh quietly to myself gets shared.”
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Speaking about the community they’ve created, the page owner adores them. Of course, they’ve got rules to make the comments less toxic than on other pages.
A big reason why they’ve continued running the page for all these years is because of the community and the message they get. It seems as if they’ve helped people get a sense of connection and community.
“In a world where it's easy to feel disconnected, being able to chuckle at your phone screen in the wee hours of the morning when you're not able to sleep and knowing other people 'get it' can make a huge difference.”
And this final bit is just too good not to quote:
“Funny story, my husband actually followed my page and he friend-requested me impulsively in 2018. We met up in person in 2019 and got married during lockdown in 2020.”
Bet that you’ve never thought about the person running a meme page, their story, and how it’s shaped their lives! Hopefully this will inspire you to do so.
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