It’s Monday morning, or, as philosophers call it, “Garfield’s hour”—a time many people reassemble their respectable clothes, shake off the freedom of the weekend, and return to their various labors. Moving slowly, perhaps begrudgingly, is par for the course, especially if you feel that the world is rapidly descending into barbarism and chaos. Also maybe if you’re a Steelers fan? It’s a rough morning.
So take a moment and watch the many, many ways that people on the internet have remixed vest-wearing, alt-right shithead Richard Spencer getting sucker-punched in the face on Friday. You may not necessarily be an advocate for violence! But you can still enjoy the enjoyment of others, the vast musical re-imaginings of the moment when Spencer’s snide explanation of Pepe The Frog was interrupted by a soaring right-handed Superman punch. There are a lot.
If you need more, there is a whole Twitter account dedicated to the moment. There was something almost cosmic about its beauty.
Spencer’s ideology rapidly subsumes such moments; he owns every L as further proof that it’s Pepe versus the world. But after a full weekend of the world delighting at the image of him being ferociously punched in the face, even he seemed a bit cowed, telling The New York Times, “I’m afraid this is going to become the meme to end all memes. That I’m going to hate watching this.”
The world loved it—particularly because of the image of him whimpering softly in the aftermath of the attack. This was brought to the fore when he attempted to reassert his power the way real men do—that is, by trolling celebrities on Twitter. After Aziz Ansari’s SNL monologue attacked the alt-right as the “lower-case KKK,” Spencer, presumably able to tweet while holding an ice pack to his head, countered with the de-facto insult of the alt-right:
After which almost every sentient person with a Twitter account responded:
It’s going to be a fun four years.