Money For Old Rope

 

Reader, this is 'Guardian' journalism and of course, the 'Royal We':

Even going by the internet’s longstanding enthusiasm for weird little guys, the scale and suddenness of his ascent has been striking.

Not really, it's summer, and it's not known as the 'silly season' for nothing. I'm only surprised we haven't seen a fuzzy photo of an out of focus black blob in the middle of a field or a Sccottish loch  causing headlines yet. But it's still early, I suppose. 

It’s easy to see why people, brands and even baseball teams have jumped on Jimothy: he’s cute, unproblematic and not at all political.

This places him in that rare, dwindling and highly prized category of “stuff that everyone can agree is good”.

Except journalists. Well, serious journalists, anyway, if the 'Guardian' still has any... 

You can tell the story of the internet, and with it the 21st century, through the animals it has rallied around.

Now, animal content is not just a pillar of the internet but load-bearing infrastructure, with cute pictures and funny videos providing respite from an angry, anxiety inducing internet.

Internet history shows we’ve always come together over animals, but increasingly they feel like our only common ground, because they’re depoliticised, uncomplicated and benign.

Oh, for pity's sake... 

The most heartening, human takeaway from Jimothy’s viral moment is that it suggests we really do desire more unity and connection; we just don’t feel comfortable doing so in public, or at scale, on anything other than the most innocuous topic.

Yeah, sure...