How to explain the Jerusalema Challenge mania (in one word)?
Boredom. Massive, MASSIVE amounts of it.
This is the end-of-the week edition of Tripe + Drisheen. February is just about done, and schools are reopening thank f…ully. Back next week with a profile piece. If you haven’t read it, Ellie O’Byrne’s first piece for T+D on the plight of Cork’s trees is well worth a read.
And now, a serving of Sunday night satire.
For the first few weeks of February, the majority of workers in Ireland - roughly 72% according to the CSO - were living in fear of an email from a boss or colleague with the subject line: “Jerusalema Challenge”.
Most people, but clearly not all, would sooner quit their job and emigrate - were either of those an option - than to be roped into what was the biggest culchie dance craze since that brief period in the mid-90s when line dancing infected Ireland.
I am aware that anyone who takes the position against the temporary outbreak of insanity is automatically cast as a killjoy: it was a bit of craic, and it was the lift we all needed right now.
To wit, if you did do it, and you had a bit of craic, good for you.
If your Gran did it, and you had a bit craic looking at her doing it, also good for you. And her.
But neither of these things mean others had to like it, love it, share it, be part of the conversation, or above all, do it.
Clearly, the challenge part of the Jerusalema Challenge was not the dance - basically a horse could do it, did do it - no, the challenge was to resist. To hold firm. To be able to say to your colleagues and bosses that you recognize everyone is bored off their head, but doesn’t mean we should start line dancing again. Or something approximate to it.
Challenge accepted
In time, we will look back on the month of February and recognize that what happened occurred in a time of hardship and extreme boredom, and that ‘the craze’ was abetted by the media entertainment industrial complex, which instantly recognized the JC’s clickbait appeal, and rode that horse for all it was worth.
It was, after all, the most highly clickable event of the newish year, and it was both a way of not talking and talking about the most highly clickable event of the past 12 months.
RSVP, where influencers go to die, called the Gardaí version - the original - “epic”, adding: “What seems like every branch of An Garda Síochána took part in the country-wide dance challenge.” (Which is about as riveting and original one can be about the video).
RTE assigned a 327-person team to cover the phenomenon. This is just one of many updates from Montrose:
Just when you think you couldn't love the #JerusalemaChallenge any more, the @gardainfo in Mallow add in some @mycaninecompani puppies and #Cork friends
This is exactly what this freezing Monday needed. Well done to everyone, including the 4 legged dancers
Pretty much every college-educated content creator out there went with a version of the ‘this is exactly the lift we all need right now’.
For a while that dance was our version of the British clap for frontline workers, and to voice dissent, or scream, or to simply just want to be left alone in your boredom meant you hated frontline workers and all that they stood for.
The more videos there were of puppies, dolphins, Gardaí, monks, cabin attendants, yetties, goldfish, junior ministers, drug lords, teachers, and baristas slow walking endlessly up and down that circulated, and the more clicks they got, the more emails that were sent out to forsaken colleagues with the subject line “Jereuselema Challenge”…it was as if something was in the air.
Finally, I get why the Gardaí participated in great numbers; presented with a choice between making something “epic” or manning a checkpoint for nine hours in the rain and dealing with the occasional irate arsehole, then perhaps I too would chose a dance routine that’s choreographed with a Garda in mind.
Anyway, thank god for March.
Bonus links:
Colin Farrell, aged 18, line dancing in Break for the Border in 1994. From the RTE Archives
Stamp Out Line Dancing. When line dancing took over St. Patrick’s Day parades in 1995. Also RTE.
Ian Paisley on line dancing: “…as sinful as any other type of sexual gestures and touchings.”