On Monday, the hashtags that usually start trending on Twitter are, say, a musician getting cancelled or our politicians acting meme-worthy. But an unusual phrase started to pop up on the trending page, pulling in thousands of uses and even more confused onlookers: "cuck zone."

This phrase stemmed from a drawing created by artist Chelsea Saunders and the editors of Current Affairs, a leftist print magazine that often posts satire. "The Campus: As It Exists in the Mind of a Conservative" is a lambastic take on how conservative talking heads envision a modern, liberal college. Complete with "Oppression Olympics" and a "Department of Intersectionality," the campus also features a bar designated as "Cuck Zone."

The image was published in 2018 for the "The Current Affairs Big Book of Amusements," alongside other Saunders drawings like the "Intellectual Dark Web Carnival" that spoofed conservative figures like Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson.

"The staff at Current Affairs wanted to poke fun at right-wing conservatives, who view college campuses as wild liberal playgrounds," Saunders told Newsweek. "It's funny because colleges are not really like this, and even if they were, they would be amazing places."

The piece originally gained some viral momentum on conservative reddits like "The_Donald," editing out the original title and taking it at face value. One user, "r/LouderwithCrowder," shared the image with the tagline taken out on Monday. "It's depressing how fairly accurate this is," wrote one commenter looking at an image containing an "Oppression Olympics."

"The piece surfaces every couple months, but this is by far the biggest wave," Managing Editor Lyta Gold said. "Every time the illustration pops up, I think the reaction is hilarious. And I'm glad Chelsea's work is getting attention and recognition, even in this odd circumstance...I think it's so funny that whenever 'The Campus' pops up, people aren't quite sure what it's satirizing or who made it, but everyone's absolutely sure they're the ones who get the joke."

The "Cuck Zone" is one of the main points of interest on the map and became a viral point of interest for the image. Gold and her team of editors, who came up with most of the jokes in the image, were the inspirations for the over-the-top bar.

Saunders is proud of her work on the image and says that the "internet has been surprisingly tame to me" and that she hasn't "been attacked for [her views]."

"Political satire is such a great expression of the times," Saunders said. "Glad Twitter thinks it's rad, too."

You can purchase prints of the piece on the Current Affairs online store.

Originally posted here:

'Cuck Zone' Artist Is Happy That Twitter Thinks Her Work Is 'Rad' - Newsweek