Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Out on the Pickleball Court?

Submission 18,220

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About

Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Out on the Pickleball Court?, also known as Is the Cure to Male Loneliness X?, is an exploitable meme template based on a New York Times opinion piece written by Michelle Cottle in July 2023 that leads with the headline about pickleball and male loneliness as well as artwork showing a redheaded man crying while looking at others playing the tennis-like sport. After its publication, meme creators screenshotted the article and replaced what the headline was discussing to create the phrasal template "is the cure to male loneliness X," additionally changing what the man was looking at and crying about.

Origin

On July 19th, 2023, the New York Times^[1] published an opinion piece written by Michelle Cottle titled "Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Out on the Pickleball Court?" that included artwork by Benjamin Marra. A screenshot of the article's headline and artwork (shown below, left) was posted by Twitter^[2] user @PresidentToguro later on July 19th, who captioned it, "we don't got pickleball courts in the trenches," gaining over 400 likes in five days. Later on July 19th, Twitter^[3] user @TheMiddleborne tweeted the first-known variation of the meme, replacing the words to reference "Retaking Constantinople," gaining roughly 13,500 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Spread

On July 20th, 2023, Instagram^[4] user @wholemilkmemes_ reposted Twitter^[3] user @TheMiddleborne's meme, gaining roughly 35,800 likes in four days. Variations then surfaced on Instagram, such as a post shared by Instagram^[5] user @overheardonwallstreet on July 20th, 2023, which received roughly 9,800 likes in four days (shown below, left). On July 21st, 2023, Instagram^[6] user @botoxqueen1968 shared a meme originally posted to Instagram^[7] user @instantdecaf's story, gaining roughly 12,700 likes in three days (shown below, right).