It can seem callous but humor is the great American defense mechanism. There’s probably some complicated psychological explanation but a lot of people cope with stress and fear by laughing at what they’re afraid of. Clearly Ebola is on people’s minds. In the age of social media, the reaction plays out with memes and pop culture references.
https://twitter.com/DreamVillainous/status/517756078042677249
https://twitter.com/blvckpapii/status/517727429402845184
https://twitter.com/yruhayden/status/517540181315158016
When you the only person in the culdesac without ebola pic.twitter.com/VtW5KJRoLa
— YA BOY GERALD (@AyGeraldJay) October 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/Dory/status/517769500062920704
My new grocery store outfit #ebola pic.twitter.com/N79gg3qEeC
— ✟ Right Scoop ✟ (@trscoop) September 30, 2014
https://twitter.com/SaltyVince/status/517752881735147520
https://twitter.com/WorkaholicBlake/status/517751656914911232
https://twitter.com/CartelDelAfrica/status/517713902030041088
https://twitter.com/_ConorLynn/status/517661051199172608
https://twitter.com/EbolaFashion/status/517775176667496449
me whenever Ebola comes to my city pic.twitter.com/NgSKMsS7C9
— Typing… (@ParkerKitHill) October 2, 2014
when ebola is spreading but you still gotta look fly pic.twitter.com/hS2zMtHEn9
— Ebola (@EboIaTheVirus) October 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/EbolaFashion/status/517733610221080576
https://twitter.com/Maccoul_/status/517760532750041088
https://twitter.com/Maccoul_/status/517759105424195584
Editor’s note: This post was updated to include additional tweets.
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