SATIRE

Remember When Going Viral Was a Bad Thing?

Now it’s all the hype

People love attention, especially me.

It’s incredible to feel important and loved for something you do or say.

That’s why all the Tik Tok kids make endless content, hoping for the day they go viral.

Some authors write waiting for the day their story finally goes viral.

Pause!!!

Don’t you remember when viral was a bad thing?

Influenza was a gruesome flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people in 1918.

Since its emergence in the 1980s, HIV has infected 60 million people and caused an estimated 30 million deaths.

It’s shocking how these fatal diseases were attached to “viral” having a negative connotation.

But now everyone wants to be just that, viral and all over the place.

I’m not mad, I just find it funny how the v-word can signify being both deadly and famous.

2020 has been a strange year and this thought popped into my head at a very weird time.

Hopefully my writing goes viral and spreads peace, love, and positivity — not a fatal disease of headassery.