“Born to shit – Forced to wipe”. As such goes an internet meme that started in January of 2019. At first glance it may only appear to be one of many highly ironic memes of the kind that has rapidly gained popularity over the course of the last few years. Combining intimidating imagery with a sense of humour that would only belong in a kindergarten, this meme gained decent popularity. It is easy to dismiss it as a dumb attempt at humour. But in fact, this meme hides something much more complex beneath its apparently stupid outer. Something that, as you will soon see, tells us something about not only ourselves and the society we have created, but also our entire species.

Let us start by examining the first piece of this meme: “Born to shit”. This sentence may seem thoroughly childish at first, but it goes much deeper than what meets the eye. Every living human has to defecate in some way, making this line immediately relatable to the viewer. The focus on something as basic of a biological function as defecation, gives this statement a primal feel to it. After all, the need to rid ourselves of excrement is a trait shared by not only other creatures we live side by side with today, but also the ones we have descended from. Excretion of faeces becomes a unifying concept that binds together all life that is and has been, from the very first multicellular animals, to early hominids, to modern humans. In this meme, defecation becomes a symbol of primality, nature and our unity with it. It is one of the things we share with every other of Mother Nature’s children.

As we read on, we encounter the second line, “Forced to wipe”. This is where the true meaning of this meme makes itself apparent. While the first line focuses on our natural and primal side, more specifically the functions evolution has given us, the second line turns everything on its head by introducing wiping of one’s behind; a man-made practice requiring technology which is not found anywhere else in the animal world. Humans are the only species who clean their anus using hand-held tools. This immediately creates a disconnect from the themes introduced in the first line, replacing nature and biology with the human mind and technology. A division between man and animal has been created.

This is no simple separation. The introduction of our ability to shape the world around us and use it for our own comfort, is a complete game-changer. It is what has allowed humankind to become so massively advanced in comparison to other species. It has given us the opportunity to problematise what nature has equipped us with, finding our own solutions to problems we ourselves have created. No other animal worries as much about having a clean anus as we do. We made it a problem on our own, and invented the tools to solve it with. Yet, this meme does not convey a message about technological utopia. Rather, it is the opposite: this division, although it may seem good on paper, is shown to be involuntary. Deep down, we as a species did not want this separation of man and nature. We were, as is said, “forced to wipe”.

As we become more and more technologically advanced, we end up as slaves of our own inventions. We create problems just so we can solve them. It is not hard to imagine the life of a man 200 000 years ago compared to that of a modern man. Back then, we lived as nature had intended, survival and reproduction being the only things of importance. Today, nearly every human has a countless number of worries on their mind, most of which are not directly related to continued survival and procreation. Yes, we might live twice as long today as we did before, but does that truly matter when we have built up such an immunity towards deriving happiness from simple things? It seems life has become more stressful, as we have become more advanced. That is the true meaning of this meme; that we, deep down, never wanted to take control of our own fate in the way we have. It tells us that by surrounding ourselves with our own creations instead of Mother Nature’s, we have missed our chance at a simple, joyous life. We have long since passed the point of no return. There is nothing that could convince the modern human to go back to a time where the most complex technology was a blunt rock, when we already busy finding new things to problematise so that we can solve them for a brief sense of superiority over our past selves until we eventually take our newfound inventions for granted again and the cycle begins anew.

To conclude, “Born to shit – forced to wipe” is an amazingly deep meme. So deep and so profound, that I honestly hesitate to even call it a meme. It borders to art. It conveys a message about ourselves, society, nature, technology, and happiness as short and concise as one can ever hope for it to get. These six words are ones to live by. They are the key to true happiness.