Increasingly, I feel like I'm living inside of the "This is Fine Meme," and now, thanks to a tweet from Juan Alvarado Valdivia from last week, I can reflect this feeling when I'm on Zoom calls. Valdivia tweeted an image based on the meme, that you can download and use as your background:
I recently started using this for my Zoom background at work. I work at a conservation organization. I think I got too real with this aesthetic choice. It's uncomfortable for me to have this background, but that was the point. I'm tired of the hopium. Any thoughts?
He also tweeted an animated version—you can find it here—which is now my background.
The original 6-panel webcomic—titled "On Fire"—that the meme is based on was created in 2013 by artist KC Green, was posted on Reddit Imgur in 2014, and then quickly became a wildly popular meme. The Verge describes the comic:
In the six panels, a dog wearing a hat sits at a kitchen table. The room is engulfed in flame, but the dog smiles and says, "This is fine." The dog calmly lifts a coffee mug to its lips. "I'm okay with the events that are unfolding currently," says the dog, taking a gulp from the mug. Its arm incinerates into red gore. "That's okay," says the dog. "Things are going to be okay." And then the dog's face melts like one of the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
You can see the full 6-panel strip and read an interview with the creator here.
