The tomb-raiding Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones has battled Nazis, cultists, grave robbers and all sorts of other villains—but he may have met his match on Friday. Even as the latest, and likely final, film in the popular movie adventure series hit theaters for the holiday weekend to largely mixed reviews, a short video shared on social media racked up massive views.
The response to the 22-second-long clip of a cat cuddling with a bunny has been extremely positive. The video has been seen nearly 14 million times as of Saturday afternoon, while it has received more than 186,000 likes and more than 30,000 retweets.
It also likely was far cheaper to produce than the efforts to de-age “Harrison Ford” for Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny.
A ‘Feel Good Clip’ When We Need It Most
This is hardly the first feel-good clip to go viral, but it could be argued that in a week that has seen cities covered in smoke from Canadian wildfires, an oppressive heatwave in the southern states, no end to the war in Ukraine, violence in France and Supreme Court rulings that will likely only further divide Americans, we were due for something good.
“With all the negativity we are barraged with every day through the media, Internet, and social media, it’s a relief to see something so heartfelt,” explained technology industry entrepreneur Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible. “And who doesn’t like kitties and bunnies?”
In fact, hardly anyone had anything negative to say, a surprise for social media where there is at least always that one person who feels it necessary to bring the negativity.
Yet… it should still be noted that cats and rabbits can actually get along and coexist, even as experts warn that the two should never be left alone unsupervised given the predator-prey context of the animals. However, as seen in the video, this duo seemed like close friends.
An Actual Social Experience On Social Media?
This video served as a reminder that before Twitter became a platform where people would turn to have their views reinforced while arguing with those they disagreed with, the micro-blog service was actually filled with this type of content. Perhaps for those reasons, this short clip has become a hit in a way not seen in a very long time.
Unfortunately, such content also tends to have a short shelf-life, especially in our deeply divided nation.
Much like how there are feelings of well-wishing to everyone around the holidays, only for it to be back to business as usual just weeks—and more often mere days—later. That is a mirror of our society, but the fact that a cat is able to at least briefly befriend a bunny, even if it was staged, shows that there is hope we can be a little less divided on social media.
“Our country has never been as divided as now since its inception. We as humans all want peace in our lives, and we haven’t seen much of that in a while,” added Safko. “When the lion lies down with the lamb or, in this case, the kitty and the bunny, it gives us all hope that somehow, we too can work it out.”
And this cat and bunny seemed like the closest friends since that “Moose & Squirrel” duo!
Read the full article here