Ever look at a daunting list of things you had to do, get overwhelmed, and just binge watch Netflix instead? Yeah, we’ve all been there. And in a way, our generation is “there” in a larger sense, too.

We’ve been handed a long list of issues to resolve from our predecessors, Gen X. And it’s kind of daunting. And we’re  overwhelmed. So instead of dealing with pressing social issues, we tend to focus on other things…like Harambe, for example.

In case you don’t know who I’m talking about, Harambe was a 440 lb, seemingly unimportant gorilla, who was killed one day after his 17^th birthday when a 3 year-old boy climbed into his cage. Cincinnati Zoo officials shot him in order to rescue the child. Subsequently, the Internet exploded.

The Harambe craze started out as a legitimate rally for increased animal rights. Activist groups labeled zoos as inhumane, calling what happened a consequence of infringing on animals’ rights. But then things got kind of weird.

We started seeing memes like this:

And this:

 

….and many more:

Harambe memes were all the rage this summer. (Click here for Thought Catalog’s list of the 50 Greatest Harambe Memes.) In fact, even as we begin the school semester, I’ve seen some Harambe t-shirts around campus, such as this one:

So the question is: why?

Why are millennials obsessing over one unimportant gorilla, when there are serious issues plaguing college-aged youth today? Affordable housing is scarce. Jobs are ridiculously low-paying compared to the cost of living. Student debt is hanging over most of our heads. And to top it all off, our presidential candidates are both nightmares for the struggling millennial generation.

Yet, here we are. Engulfed in our own “meme culture” instead of fighting for significant change.

We are living in an increasingly digitalized world. We have instant access to everything. And sometimes, it sucks.

In general, meme culture is a distraction (or coping mechanism) that millennials use. We live in an incredibly problematic country, laced with incredibly real threats to our sanity, to our wallets, and to our lives.

So sometimes, it seems easier to post this:

…than to engage in real conversations about the issues we are facing as a generation today and how we can work towards fixing them. Or maybe we just don’t care enough? Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below. And either way, RIP Harambe.