Snarky Backlash

A brilliant line from The Horse and His Boy is a model for how to live and treat others: they walked with a swing and let their arms and shoulders go free, and chatted and laughed. One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly, and didn't give a fig for anyone who wasn't.

Today, people who are happy, who express joy, are likely to be both ridiculed and embraced, but I like to believe that the battle against snarkiness is being won. For example, it is easy to make fun of this; it is harder to deny that Numa Numa has been watched 700 million times and homaged dozens of times. I hope it is impossible to deny that you cannot help but feel some sense of exultation at the 00:16 mark. It is infectious.

Why do I think we're winning? Because the only more viewed viral video is the Star Wars kid, another example of impromptu, unpolished jubilance. Because the notoriously snarky McSweeney's published the following review: It’s a movie of someone who is having the time of his life, wants to share his joy with everyone, and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.