Posted on Aug 21, 2016 Updated on Aug 14, 2020, 5:31 pm CDT
Philosophers through the ages have debated what defines a human life. Is it belief? Action? Economic productivity? One Facebook page has a bold proposition: What if it’s rats? What if rats are life? That page is called … Rats Are Life.
The very sincere, 4,500-strong community is dedicated to upbeat memes about how rat ownership, like life itself, is full of joy and pain. But not rabies. Don’t you ever mention rabies around someone who’s raising sweet rodent babies.
Mainly, Rats Are Life is about positivity (and rats). Most of its posts fit right in with the recent trend of wholesome and supportive memes, devoid of irony. Irony is not life. Rats are life.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the rat community is without drama. Back in March, the page owners had to ask fellow rat enthusiasts to stop cyberbullying one another. Cyberbullying is not life, you guys, and you would know that if you’d bothered to read the page title.
Jay Hathaway is a former senior writer who specialized in internet memes and weird online culture. He previously served as the Daily Dot’s news editor, was a staff writer at Gawker, and edited the classic websites Urlesque and Download Squad. His work has also appeared on nymag.com, suicidegirls.com, and the Morning News.
