{"id":700,"date":"2025-04-03T18:17:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T18:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/the-month-of-march-recapped\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T18:17:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T18:17:48","slug":"the-month-of-march-recapped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/the-month-of-march-recapped\/","title":{"rendered":"The month of March recapped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Do you remember all that went down in the virtual realm over the last fortnight?<\/em> <em>Did you add anything to your Steam library this week? Have you gone down any rabbit holes in the last seven days? No? Would you like to? Do you have a minute?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This week, we have a lot of confusingly political online moments in a confusing, ever-increasing political online landscape, from the catharsis of Julius Caesar to really strange Pok\u00e9mon design choices to the heralded \u201ccolonization\u201d of Youtube Shorts. Sixty seconds on the clock \u2014 on your marks, get set, read!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Holly Tsch, Senior Arts Editor and Campbell Johns, Digital Culture Beat Editor<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Beware the ides of March<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>For those of us who are Roman history buffs and\/or Tumblr users, the monotony of the months between spring break and the end of the semester is broken up by our yearly celebration of the assassination of Julius Caesar. A decorated general, ambitious politician and author to every introductory Latin student\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.02.0002\">source of pain<\/a>, Caesar is a notable figure in history, to put it lightly. Above all else though, he\u2019s known for being so hated by Roman senators that he was stabbed 23 times on the floor of the senate on March 15, hence the ides.<\/p>\n<p>Those outside of my sphere of Rome enthusiasts and those dedicated to the camp of it all may be wondering why Tumblr has turned it into one of our biggest site-wide holidays. First answer: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/sweet-child-of-night\/745016471631118336?source=share\">It\u2019s funny<\/a>. Imagine you\u2019ve freshly taken control of Rome; it was a bit unlawful, but everyone in the city loves you so it\u2019s fine. However, it turns out that not everyone loves you. In fact, 60 of your coworkers hate you so much that they all conspire to literally stab you in the back. Then, only 23 of them succeed because the rest of them are cowards. Congrats everyone, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/seananmcguire\/641236374856646656\/goldhornsandblackwool-congrats-lil-buddy-thats?source=share\">that\u2019s the worst anyone\u2019s ever done it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond that, there\u2019s something to be said about the appeal of, for a lack of better words, such direct action in a time of authoritarian takeover in our country and many others. Many are looking to their elected officials to stand in the way of these takeovers, but are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/invisibletripwire\/777740968878292992\/i-want-the-15th-of-march-to-be-an-actual-holiday?source=share\">dissatisfied<\/a> currently with the lack of action taken. Tumblr specifically has always been a platform for minority groups away from more hostile platforms like X or TikTok, so it makes sense that we would celebrate this event. I\u2019m not advocating for political assassination, to be clear \u2014 for one, Caesar\u2019s death majorly backfired and led to the rise of the empire and his own rise to deity status. However, it really shouldn\u2019t be surprising that so many are keen to celebrate action against tyranny in this day and age. For me, I take the story of Caesar as a cautionary tale, both in the actions of the senators and Caesar himself. Beware the ides of March, indeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Lin Yang can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/digital-culture\/digital-cultures-week-in-a-minute-unintentional-politics-and-over-intentional-memes\/mailto:yanglinj@umich.edu\"><em>yanglinj@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lumiose City Anti-Homeless Bench<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>People love to pretend that video games are completely divorced from the \u201creal world\u201d \u2014 unfeeling and untouched by the undulating landscapes of our shitty, capitalistic lives. I mean, have you seen the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/ph-cutie\/771592788050591744\/more-magical-negative-steam-review-excerpts-that?source=share\">Steam reviews<\/a> for Disco Elysium?<\/p>\n<p>Conjuring elaborate lore explanations, dismissing it as an oversight or insisting that it\u2019s just a coincidence \u2014 anything to avoid confronting the reality staring them in the face. But sometimes, things are exactly what they look like, and what this looks like is a scathing, unintentional indictment of the real world.<\/p>\n<p>Enter the infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/pokemon\/comments\/1izjtjg\/future_kalos_has_antihomeless_benches\/?rdt=45823\">Lumiose City anti-homeless benches<\/a>. A design choice so jarringly out of place in the bright, sanitized, family-friendly world of Pok\u00e9mon that it sticks out like a sore thumb. Whether intentional or not, a designer \u2014 somewhere, somehow \u2014 put in benches that mirror the exact kind of <a href=\"https:\/\/ndc-md.org\/news-and-stories\/understanding-hostile-architecture-the-cause-and-effect-of-restricting\">hostile architecture<\/a> used in real life to keep homeless people from resting. It\u2019s the kind of juxtaposition that stops you in your tracks: a game where humans live in harmony with nature, but apparently not with each other.<\/p>\n<p>Now, does this mean Game Freak is making some grand political statement about urban development and the ethics of public space? Probably not. But that\u2019s what makes it worse. The fact that these benches exist without fanfare, without irony, suggests something far more unsettling: this kind of cruelty is so normal, so ingrained, that it made its way into a fantasy world by accident. Maybe the designer has seen so many of these benches in real life that they didn\u2019t even think about it. Maybe they did think about it and wanted to make a point. Maybe Pok\u00e9mon Legends: Z-A is secretly about gentrification. Maybe we\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n<p>But what will remain burned into the internet\u2019s collective memory is the phrase \u201cLumiose City anti-homeless benches,\u201d and all of its dizzying implications. Banksy couldn\u2019t eat her shit.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Contributor Estlin Salah can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/digital-culture\/digital-cultures-week-in-a-minute-unintentional-politics-and-over-intentional-memes\/mailto:essalah@umich.edu\"><em>essalah@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>TikTok \u201ccolonizes\u201d YouTube Shorts\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>TikTok brain rot has reached a new low. According to a few TikTok users, we are in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@zachlath\/video\/7481104458684943647?lang=en&amp;q=meme%20drought&amp;t=1742520010147\">meme drought<\/a> \u2014 the days of <a href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/editorials\/guides\/what-does-ts-pmo-icl-mean-lets-explain-the-meaning-of-tiktoks-latest-slang-overload-trend\">\u201cts pmo\u201d and \u201cicl\u201d<\/a> are over, but there has been no new meme to replace it. Therefore, as a way to stimulate the \u201cmeme economy,\u201d TikTok users decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@randomkidontiktokk7\/video\/7483148262254611714?lang=en&amp;q=colonize%20yt%20shorts&amp;t=1742520043228\">\u201ccolonize\u201d YouTube Shorts<\/a> \u2014 YouTube\u2019s short-form video platform \u2014 March 25 by flooding the platform\u2019s algorithm with TikTok memes. TikTokers chose YouTube Shorts because it\u2019s notorious for being \u201cbehind\u201d on new memes. While planning for this war, TikTokers in the comments are comparing themselves to the British (\u201cWe have to put a British Flag in the comments to recognize each other\u201d) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@sigma.rizzy07\/video\/7482777837448072479?lang=en&amp;q=tiktok%20colonizes%20yt%20shorts%20army%20needs%20you&amp;t=1743443247801\">reiterating<\/a> World War II propaganda posters (\u201cThe TikTok Army needs YOU\u201d).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The decision to \u201ccolonize\u201d YouTube Shorts could be accredited to the way in which a meme\u2019s shelf life has rapidly decreased. It only takes a week for memes to become \u201ccringe,\u201d and TikTok\u2019s platform has contributed to this: because the algorithm is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/small-business\/article\/tiktok-algorithm-and-small-business\/\">fantastic<\/a> at boosting smaller creators, new content can blow up on For You Pages easier. Thus, TikTok users are consistently exposed to new content. The decision to participate in this \u201ccolonization\u201d is entirely your prerogative, but maybe we should use this as a moment to reflect on our meme consumption and hesitate on calling memes \u201ccringe\u201d before taking over another app.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Contributor Liv Frey can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/digital-culture\/digital-cultures-week-in-a-minute-unintentional-politics-and-over-intentional-memes\/mailto:livfrey@umich.edu\"><em>livfrey@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you remember all that went down in the virtual realm over the last fortnight? Did you add anything to your Steam library this week? Have you gone down any rabbit holes in the last seven days? No? Would you like to? Do you have a minute? This week, we have a lot of confusingly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[232,627,715],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-march","tag-month","tag-recapped"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}