Over the last few months the Internet has been obsessively buzzing about bacon and cats. I have noticed a massive amount of pictures, posts, videos, TV skits, and articles all revolving around bacon and cats. I swear that I have seen more Digg items about cats or bacon than any other subject. And I've had an eye full of blogs that have tackled the subject with at least one featured post about cats or bacon, even if they have little to do with the focus of the blog. So the million-dollar question is, what is so interesting about cats, bacon, and why does the the Internet adore them?
On the Internet, they are bigger than Megan Fox, Jessica Alba, and other comic book-turned-movie hotties combined. They are a full blown pop-culture craze. Followed on Twitter, their photos and videos are clicked, and emailed thousands upon thousands times a day. They have already become part of our daily lives and just like favorite tv show, they are our go-to for entertainment. Americans spend an estimated $43 billion a year on the pet mega-industry, so we are obviously interested in them. But what the hell is it about cats?
And why more than dogs? This phenomena sweeping the Internet isn’t just about animals in general, more often than not, it seems it's about cats. As if they were sent from the Internet gods as the purrfect specimen to record, (Insert crazed voice) cats breed obsession within us like hot Petri dishes dying for more furballs. Okay, yes we like to watch animals doing smart things and we are very impressed because the more they act like us, the more we can relate to them. And consequentially, cats have the reputation of being one the brightest (coincidence or master plan?) animals out there. On the other hand, we are made a little uncomfortable if they are too much like us (see: my dislike for monkeys, especially because of their hands). Kitties (Kittehs, to LOLcat-ers) are not only mildly human-like, but they are even better than people because they are more like really cute, furry babies. And cute, furry babies always win over furry adults.
Just a few years ago, our society went through a major shift. From being overly heath conscious to indulging oneself a bit more. From idolizing the heroin chic, waif-thin, to wanting a bit more ‘junk in the trunk’. So now we are more open to things that have more calories than a shot of wheatgrass, in fact, we have come to fully embrace this guilty pleasure. Fast food restaurants like Wendy (Baconator), Burger King (BK Quad Stacker), McDonald (Bacon Angus Burger) have caught on to the pork craze and the public's new way to eat: Bacontarianism.
It’s fatty and flavorful. Yes, they go hand in hand. And that’s why bacon has flavor to spare; its fat and grease are enlisted by many, many other foods to enhance their flavor even more. Kind of like a natural MSG minus the headaches. Because of this, it has been a large part of a movement for taste and flavor. But bacon, the breakfast meat, it seems has been around for forever. Why then, has it become a cultural sensation on the Internet, something relatively new?
Both fans are extremists, to say the least. They want take their love to the next level, to the point of using them in their proposal or getting bacon tattooed on their forearm. The crazier the more alluring it is for them. Think about the actual subjects they feign for: no matter what cats do, its almost always guaranteed to be found interesting (then of course, viral) and the flavorful-and-fatty-to-the-umpteenth-degree bacon is so bad, its gooooood.
Each are absolutely ridiculous (in the best way possible). At this point, bacon has become a parody of itself. By just including it in something, whether it is a martini or the flavor of your floss, it makes it funnier and makes it a sure fire novelty.
Similarly, cats are ridiculous because they do the weirdest things, and by weird, I mean similar to human things. In this way they have also become a parody of themselves. Funny (or very angry) expressions and acting like us, has made them more hilarious and unbelievable than ever.
Simple is better. Well maybe ‘simple’ is giving it too much credit, its more like uber low-tech. And low-tech is almost harder to replicate authentically but does dole out the street cred. The more DIY the better, the more it showcases its perfect raw state, the more quality it is. The thing that makes bacon and cat obsessees begin to salivate is to know that what they are seeing is real, to know it actually happens and it actually exists. Undoctured videos and pictures, virgin and untouched by Photoshop- make it real for them and even makes you believe its possible for your cat to eat with chopsticks or for your friends to whip up the Bacon Explosion on Sunday. These people love nothing more than to think that cats mutter to themselves about eating pizza and that they'll one day meet a girl who wears the bacon bra under clothes.
It’s a guilty pleasure. Those things that make our lives a little better, something to look forward to, as well as the things that you aren’t supposed to like, and you're especially not supposed talk about openly. Yes, it’s a little embarrassing, but that’s the things with these two Internet favorites, is that we are celebrating our obsessions of these two everyday, common things you'd find in my house or your house, in the very most open way possible!
People who own cats may live a more sedentary, perhaps may I go so far to say ‘indoor’ lives than Dog People. Cats have earned themselves the title of the ‘lazy’ pet, and thankfully so, because that makes them easy to take pictures of, record, and/or manipulate doing fantastic things. Cats are fine without a whole lot of stimulation, they don’t run around and play fetch, and in fact they don’t need to go outside at all, which means, neither do their owners. It is the stigma that Crazy Cat Women are old, they knit, and they are shut-ins, which (don't be offended :) )is vaguely similar to the Internetties who would much sit indoors and scourer the ends of the Internet world than run outside with a dog. Coincidence? Maybe. All this points in the direction that Cat People are more often than not, Internetties. On top of that, people who eat extra fatty foods have also had the stigma of living a less active lifestyle as well, are these people Internet People too? (I know when I eat a pound of bacon, the last thing I want to do is 45 min. of resistance training.)
Voyeurism and a need for sharing too much with others is certainly something that is often part of Internet Culture, but is it ever TMI on the internet or is it always just enough to shock and entertain us? No matter what the ‘guilty pleasure’ is or what embarrassing thing you have to share, the Internet is somewhere people can celebrate quirks, fetishes, and all experiences. Some people may say that being a Crazy Cat Person is a bad thing, it is something that might make you un-dateble or even psychotic, but on the Internet people are praised for coming up with the most obsessive video or taking the best so-cute-I-could-puke picture. Similar is the case with the Bacon-crazed. It would seem to be that with our image conscious society, we should frown upon the over indulgence of foods. Luckily, we don't.
We congratulate and make virally known the daring amounts of bacon one food dish can hold and the awesome new spin on Mayonnaise, the clothes they can print it on, and the numerous coffee table books they can print. These people are proud to show off their cat and bacon obsessions. They rejoice in connecting with other like-minded crazy cat people and bacon junkies. These obsessions are so bizarre that even people who have no actual personal investment in the taste, the extreme recipes of bacon or even the pictures of cats doing kung fu moves, still find themselves unable to look away.
To Internetties and Computer Junkies in general, humor is king. They look for entertainment, which usually means they are looking for a laugh, something they can relate to. And breakfast meat and domestic pets seem to be pee-in-your-pants entertaining. There is no doubt that cats do funny things and what you can do with bacon is funny, but it seems as if there is a recipe for 'Internet funny' and all you have to do add cats or bacon, or even better, both and you have an instant viral hit that will be emailed into oblivion.
