No Cats for You! — The Day the Internet Ignored Cats

The Internet is suspiciously quiet today, and it’s not solely because all eyes are glued on the Apple iPod event. There’s something . . . missing. No paws on keyboards, no faces peeking out of ceiling holes, no household pets climbing up the underside of a staircase. Today is A Day Without Cats, and it’s oddly unsettling.

Last week humor site Urlesque announced a 24-hour ban on posting funny cat pictures and videos starting today (09/09/09). Many sites followed suit, including known cat-lovers Best Week Ever, PopEater, and Urlesque’s biggest nab: Cute Overload. The movement caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, proving that people are tired of the degradation and exploitation of mewlings and strive for more enlightened entertainment — at least for 24 hours.

Worried that the phenomenon will extend its visit? Urlesque realizes the Internet cannot be entirely devoid of cat-related humor. “. . . Let’s be honest, [24 hours is] probably only as long as we’ll last before a hilarious video comes crashing into our inbox. But for one day, we will abstain . . . for you . . . for the cats,” Urlesque’s editors wrote.

Other blogs — especially I Can Haz Cheeseburger (don’t click if you want to stay pure) — resisted and announced an “All Day, All Cats” event, which isn’t really a departure from the norm.

I’m jittery already. Where will I get my fix? I try to concentrate on other, more important news, but in the back of my mind I’m haunted by furry felines in ridiculous poses above grammatically-blasphemous taglines. Maybe I’ll just take a catnap (har har) and wake up tomorrow when the Internet has returned to its blissful normalcy of LOLing.