Things are getting weird.
It’s been roughly a month and a half since widespread lockdowns were enacted to combat the current crisis and, while people are coping with the changes admirably, strange obsessions are cropping up more and more. I’m not talking about Tiger King or Animal Crossing, but something much stranger.
In the face of this strange, new world a Facebook group has grown in popularity where people, well, pretend to be ants.
In the straightforward style of ants the group is simply called “A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony.” It’s a private group but you can pledge yourself to the queen and apply to join.
Quarantine Day 31: I joined a Facebook group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony pic.twitter.com/FjIO9vtonl
— Millennial Mangkukulam (@agasramirez) April 15, 2020
Apparently not content with Zoom dance parties or online RPG sessions these special individuals spend their days responding to pictures of dirty lollipops with simple commands like “LIFT!”
The group now has a staggering 1.7 million members on Facebook and its insectoid overlords apparently take it very seriously. When Buzzfeed attempted to interview the founders of the group they simply responded “NO INTERVIEW. ONLY WORK FOR QUEEN.”
In addition to helping each other carry stuff back to the colony, the group’s members also enjoy creating and sharing wholesome ant-specific memes.
And they always make sure to keep their colony’s tunnels in working order.
So what’s the appeal? Is it the sense of simple togetherness and cooperation (that ants exemplify so well that people find soothing in this scary time? Is it relaxing to forget about all your various complex problems and focus solely on serving the queen? Or do they simply have a burning desire to collect sugar crumbs and dead fly wings?
