If you have looked at Twitter at any point since yesterday afternoon, you have almost certainly come across the phrase "feral hogs," which spent a good chunk of the past 24 hours trending. "Feral hogs" became one of those running pile-on memes where everyone had to get their jokes off even if they didn't know what everyone else was talking about. But as it turns out, the whole "feral hogs" saga is a strange but good example of the way the internet turns trauma into comedy. And it all started out with a Jason Isbell tweet.
As one of many people who spent the past few days reeling from the news of recent gun massacres in El Paso and Dayton, Isbell tweeted on Sunday about assault weapons: "If you’re on here arguing the definition of 'assault weapon' today you are part of the problem. You know what an assault weapon is, and you know you don’t need one."
Telling people "I don't have kids"
— Oliver Sachgau (@sachgau) August 6, 2019
- invites too many questions
- people feel entitled to tell you about why you should
- vague
Telling people "30-50 feral hogs ate my kids"
- specific
- no follow-up questions needed
- people stop talking to you
Bae: Come over. 30-50Feral Hogs: I can’t. Bae: There’s been small children playing in my yard for 3-5 minutes. 30-50 #FeralHogs : pic.twitter.com/vSanferLun
— Mel. (@ChimneyChangas) August 6, 2019
stages of Feral Hog Twitter
1. confusion seeing everyone tweet “30 to 50 feral hogs”
2. find the tweet & assume it’s satire
3. read the tweet again & realize it’s for real
4. like and RT only feral hog tweets for 12 hrs straight
5. become 30 to 50 feral hogs— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) August 6, 2019
There are so many tweets like those; check Know Your Meme for more.
For his part, Arkansas Twitter user William McNabb has spent the past day insisting that yes, feral hogs are a problem, one that he's dealt with multiple times, he's not kidding, etc.
Even though people have threatened my kids, taken pics of my home, driven by my house, my job and threatened me - I’m still a fan of your music.
And I never said my situation was applicable to the entire country.
It’s real. https://t.co/Gp2PUGVn3H
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 5, 2019
It’s not a hypothetical. It happened more than once.
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
In subsequent replies I answered this - it’s happened 4 times.
I do not own an assault rifle - never said I did. Some of my neighbors do and from personal experience - I can see how it helped them.
I simply posed a real question from my own experiences.
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
Never said I was being charged. Said they all came in my yard with 3-5 mins while my small children were outside playing.
Scared them. Scared me. I shot them. All I said.
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
It has happened more than once but doesn’t happen regularly. It does happen in rural areas in the South. People can use these weapons for this reason.
I was serious but the fact most people don’t think I am or it is a joke - Baffles me. It’s a simple Google search.
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
So really, the best part of this entire story is this exchange:
No sir - I am.
— William McNabb (@WillieMcNabb) August 4, 2019
He's serious.
