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Twitter Reacts To The Empire State Building's Terrifying Red Lights

March 31st, 2020 - 1:33 PM EDT by Matt Schimkowitz

New York City is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. With a population of more than 8 million and more than 38,000 confirmed cases, officials and medical workers have been working around the clock to contain the spread and treat the sick. It's a state of panic and emergency in the city that never sleeps, and to reflect this, someone had the genius idea of turning the lights in the Empire States Building a dark shade of red.

The look of the light has an uncomfortable dystopian vibe to it, like a beacon of pure evil found in the fantasy and science fiction that people turn to for comfort in trying times. Many don't find this reminder from the city's most iconic building all too helpful. The skyscraper's new look has been compared to the urban hellscape from Blade Runner to the eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings to just a bad pitch in a Zoom meeting. Check out some of the best reactions below:

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Comments 10 total

autoreloader

Mar 31, 2020 at 08:55PM EDT

Two words: Argent. Tower.

2

StringFish

Mar 31, 2020 at 07:39PM EDT

When they say "more than 38,000 confirmed cases" it makes me long for someone to re-write the Marine copypasta as Covid-19.

0

Mr. Candles

Mar 31, 2020 at 07:56PM EDT StringFish

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitches? I'll have you know I graduated top of my lab in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and I've been involved in numerous secret contagions and I have over 38,000 confirmed cases. I am trained in asymptomatic contagion and I'm the top pandemic in the entire century. You are nothing to me but just another set of victims. I will sicken you the fuck out with spread the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet?

4

Mr. Candles

Mar 31, 2020 at 07:57PM EDT StringFish

Think again, fuckers. As we speak I am spreading my secret network of asymptomatic carriers across the USA and your healthcare system is being overwhelmed right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggots. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your lives. You're fucking dead, kids. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in under three weeks and that's just without mutating. Not only am I extensively trained in hijacking the respiratory system cells, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the average Chinese bat's diseases and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable asses off the face of the earth, you little shits. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongues. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiots. I will shit fury all over your lungs and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddos.

4

Torchpost

Mar 31, 2020 at 07:04PM EDT

"New York City's most iconic building looks more like the Eye of Sauron over Orthanc." -The Front Page

I feel compelled to point out that the Eye of Sauron floats over Barad-dûr, not Orthanc.

2

PatrickBateman96

Mar 31, 2020 at 04:53PM EDT

The Empire State Building has been lit up red many times before. Why are people acting like this is some unprecedented event?

3

Ldude893

Mar 31, 2020 at 11:25PM EDT PatrickBateman96

The lights don't usually go around like a siren beacon, all while pulsing like a beating heart. Also, it's a response to an ongoing crisis that's killing thousands of people (and maybe more), so people find it quite ominous.

0

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