On the Internet, It’s Fine. This Is Fine.
Back in 2000, I got a little obsessed about the cartoon, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” It was already an improbably seven years old, and I was fascinated how it had entered the public consciousness. It was an Internet meme when the Internet was young, but, more importantly, because it had appeared in the New Yorker, people who didn’t understand the Internet used the phrase or posted the cartoon.
I filed a story about the cartoonist, Peter Steiner, and his one-panel in 2000 for the New York Times.
BY now, it's almost an old saying: ''On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.'' You can count on seeing it at the…www.nytimes.com
I just read a great interview at the Verge with the creator of the current accidental dog meme comic that’s been everywhere for a couple of years: “This Is Fine.” His name is KC Green, and he also created the ubiquitous Dickbutt. I enjoyed these panels for a long time before I knew they were part of a larger cartoon; I bought a T-shirt with a modified version of the image, because the sentiment is so perfect.
It was interesting to see some of the parallels between “nobody knows you’re a dog” and “this is fine.” The cartoonist wasn’t try to create a lasting concept, and it was picked up somewhat randomly, and spread without any of his involvement. But it’s got the perfect combination of irony, earnestness, awfulness, and humor to keep it churning. It reminds me of “Pollyanna in Hell” by Roz Chast, also in the New Yorker.
“Nobody knows” is sweeter and more innocent, which was certainly more appropriate for the Internet of 22 years ago, before we realized the full horror of having everybody able to express every opinion at any time with no consequences nearly ever.
On the 20th anniversary of the New Yorker dog cartoon, in 2013, I called up Peter Steiner, an absolutely lovely person to talk to, and we chatted about how the idea of and trust in anonymity had disappeared in the intervening years.
