Tennesseans had a really bad case of FOMO last week.
FOMO, for the uninitiated, is internetspeak for Fear Of Missing Out. Nobody likes to be left out of something exciting. Like when a zebra is on the loose on a busy interstate.
The zebra is Ed, and he’s become an internet sensation. Viral doesn’t begin to define what this little guy is who broke free as Zeke but will forever be known by his Ed social media tag.
As I understand it, Ed had just been purchased by someone in Rutherford County at the end of May. He had barely been with his owner or owners when he decided to make a run for it.
It was in his great escape that Ed — um, shall we say, was spotted — on a busy I-24 in Rutherford County. Folks in those cars took video and shared it social media. Nashville TV stations got in on the action, and by nightfall May 31 you’d either seen the footage of the fleeing zebra or heard about it.
The folks in Murfreesboro took AI into their own hands overnight so all of us could awaken to memes of Ed munching down on some yummy apps at Toot’s, a well-known restaurant in The ’Boro. Or see him sucking down a margarita decked out in his Raider Blue gear with what is presumably a student or alumnus, also sporting his MTSU garb.
They were funny. I laughed. I copied them and shared them with Serena Vasudeva, our other MTSU alum in the office and a longtime Rutherford County resident.
That afternoon, AI Ed showed up on a Dollywood roller coaster. And the funny turned to sad desperation as others sought to get in on the Rutherford County action.
Over the past week, I’ve watched as others have tried to earn their stripes in the zebra AI creation craze.
There was a zebra in a Lebanon police car. A zebra aboard a Blue Angel jet. In another police car, this one in Franklin.
On a Nashville bridge. Rubbing elbows with the country music faithful during CMA Fest. At the Wilson County 911 Center. In front of the Knoxville Police Department.
In Cookeville — where he’s Team Harvey; no Shinny Ninny shenanigans for this Raider guy. (MTSU and Tennessee Tech alums of a certain age know what I’m talking about.)
He’s even shown up a couple of places in Cumberland County.
As more news agencies picked up the story — People Magazine, BBC, CBS, NBC, USA Today and the New York Post among them — the FOMO went national, then international.
While Ed explored the environs of Rutherford County, the internet sent his AI likeness to the Eiffel Tower in Paris (France, not Tennessee), on a beach in Key West, in an Oregon rodeo, and in more ads than could ever be thought possible.
It’s been a long time since the black and white on social media hasn’t been related to politics. But no matter the political bent, the internet was united on one thing: Hoping Ed would be found alive, well and safe.
It had been five days since his May 31 romp on the interstate when the little zebra who could — and did — was discovered. Sky5 showed images from the sky Friday morning of the black-and-white equine hanging out in a wooded area in Rutherford County’s Christiana community.
It was welcome news.
As social media rushed to get in some final AI Eds, the experts plotted how to rescue the runaway zebra.
A week and a day after Ed’s romp, he stole the internet again. Video and still images reminiscent of the movie “Madagascar” showed Ed sitting almost humanlike in a net that airlifted him from his week of freedom back to safety.
CBS News reported Laura Ford, who bought Ed as a pet, pronounced him “safe and 100% healthy.”
“This has been a long, stressful week,” she added. “I am so happy it ended the way it did and no one got hurt.”
Which just goes to show: One person’s stress is another’s FOMO. That’s not a far stretch from the sad devolution social media has become.
Back to your usual bickering, social media.
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Cheryl Duncan is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. Contact her at cduncan@crossville-chronicle.com or 931-484-5145.