Some calls for the reset were couched in quasi-earnest concern for the degraded state of the internet, and even society. “People of the world! I know things are looking pretty grim, and we’re all worried about A.I. and where the world is going,” a stick-figure animation intones in a high-pitched, synthy voice in one video. “But it doesn’t have to end like this.” Most of it was jokier: a bunny (Big Chungus, of course) standing in front of a montage of war scenes, captioned: “me and da bois in the great meme reset war of 2026.” The word spread: Stop memeing nonsense, and return to the days of yore.