Posted by The Flat Earthers in Patricia Lockwood’s: No One is Talking about This
No One is Talking about This is a piece by Patricia Lockwood that explores what the internet is. Lockwood uses a narrator to tell the story in two parts. The first being a series of statements with some connection to pop cultural references and memes. The narrator tells the reader of a phrase she uses when something seems to go well. “SHOOT IT IN MY VEINS, we said, whenever the headline was too perfect, the juxtaposition too good to be true. SHOOT IT IN MY VEINS, we said, when the Flat Earth Society announced it had members all over the globe.” (Lockwood, 2021).
Lockwood, here, is referencing a popular meme from a few years ago. The Flat Earth society is a group of people who believe that the Earth is flat, despite the vast scientific evidence that the Earth is round. Their Facebook page posted “The Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe.”, to which another user replied, “say that again, but slower”. This user pointed out the irony within their choice of words “around the globe” which seems to imply that the Earth is round. This image has been screenshotted and been used as a meme for years. Most people that post this seem to then have a go at the Flat Earth Society in the post’s caption. The narrator in Lockwood’s story clearly seems to get quite amused and happy at the tweet. The phrase “shoot it in my veins” or “inject it in my veins” (or sometimes, simply just, “inject it”) has been used when something goes to your liking. The narrator uses this phrase when she says, “the headline was too perfect, the juxtaposition too good to be true.” (Lockwood, 2021). These two things are satisfying to her just as the Flat Earth Society’s post was. The fact that they had seemingly disproven themselves, the narrator found to be extremely satisfying. It seems likely that the narrator does not believe in the theory of the flat earth, and possibly finds it annoying like how much of society does. Lockwood’s inclusion of this meme could be a reference to the vast amount of information and different ideals the portal contains.
Works Cited and Image Reference:
- Lockwood, Patricia. No One Is Talking about This. Penguin USA, 2022.
- “Flat Earth Society Has Members All around the Globe.” The Flat Earth Wiki. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://wiki.tfes.org/Flat_Earth_Society_Has_Members_All_Around_The_Globe.