
These Tweets Make You Imagine Trying to Explain the Craziness of 2020 to People Living in 2019
By Robin ZlotnickSep. 14 2020, Published 2:16 p.m. ET
"2020 has been quite a year" is the understatement of the century. Between global pandemics and climate crises and all the bread people are baking, it's safe to say that 2020 is not going how any of us thought it would. Back in 2019, we couldn't conceive of a world in which we argued about wearing a face mask constantly and only interacted with our loved ones via a video chat app called Zoom.
A new meme highlights just how bonkers 2020 is by asking us to imagine explaining things from this year to people in 2019 or the distant past. It quickly proves to be an absurd idea.
Imagine showing this tweet to yourself a year ago and explaining "oh no, the masks aren't because the sky is orange, that's for a different thing." https://t.co/nnqoOBk3uM
— Meredith Haggerty (@manymanywords) September 9, 2020
The entire West Coast of the United States in on fire, basically, but imagine trying to explain to someone last year that that is not the reason everyone is going around wearing masks. Sure, we were aware of the wild fire catastrophe last year, but the virus? Well, that's brand new!
Imagine waking up from a coma & reading this headline. https://t.co/lPHvbNf41K
— Roxi Horror 💀🌸 (@roxiqt) May 15, 2020
Not only would you be confused because you were just in a coma, but you would also think the world has gone mental. And you'd think that because it has.
Imagine showing this to someone in 2019 https://t.co/osQUO8G4t8
— Ramp Capital (@RampCapitalLLC) June 23, 2020
In 2019, it would have been thought of as absurd for an opera house to open with a performance to thousands of plants and thousands of plants alone. In 2020, we call that a Monday.
Imagine going back in time one year and showing people this picture of a stadium full of cardboard fans and a sky of orange. pic.twitter.com/8SU5qhfAxf
— Mike Elgan (@MikeElgan) September 11, 2020
The cardboard cutout thing is truly one of the most bizarre developments to come out of the pandemic. I don't understand the appeal. To me, it's a creepy trek into the uncanny valley from which we'll never be able to return fully. And the orange sky is just an apocalyptic cherry on top of this disaster sundae.
Imagine trying to explain to a time traveler from the 90’s what is happening in this picture pic.twitter.com/rWL0Yxtjee
— influencersinthewild (@influencersitw) August 4, 2020
What? It's just a woman wearing a face mask taking a photo of an ice cream cone with her phone to post to the internet, which is also on her phone, so she can get likes and feel temporarily better about herself before she continues to doom scroll and lose all hope for humanity. I don't see what's so hard to understand.
imagine explaining this tweet to someone from last year https://t.co/GISIV1yGPx
— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) April 25, 2020
Did I imagine that one day Tom Hanks would save us all? Sure. Did I think it would happen so soon? Definitely not.
imagine explaining this tweet to someone 6 months ago. https://t.co/RInpu1DTw8
— Zach Cramer (@zacramer) May 16, 2020
In 2020, it was surprisingly not weird to see a priest with a water gun, trying to squirt people driving by with holy water. I never thought I would write that sentence in my entire life, but here we are.
imagine reading this tweet out of context in February https://t.co/HIHM1yA31b
— Michelle Ghoussoub (@MichelleGhsoub) September 11, 2020
No, Canada is not all of a sudden the tiny town from Footloose, trying to end fun for everyone. It's just that 2020 is full of terrible hazards and karaoke might not be the safest of activities right now.
Imagine explaining this tweet to someone in February https://t.co/fQSS31NDTC
— Zach Buchta (@zachbuchta) July 1, 2020
Even in February, we had no idea how weird and nuanced the world of Zoom calls would be. They truly are a strange and otherworldly experience.
imagine explaining this tweet to someone back in like December https://t.co/kycJR8jsxz
— emily (@eminoobers) September 2, 2020
OK, yes, this would have been weird to read in December, but the point is that it's not December! And pulling down your mask to drink something in public should be illegal! Wait until you get home you thirsty monster!