’Tis the season to be bonding

Eventually, I will get to talking about Christmas game nights and holiday cook-offs. But first, I need to talk about Meerkats.

Over the past few months, I’ve altered my media diet. After the (for me) disastrous 2024 election results, I needed something to occupy my mind that didn’t constantly remind me of what had just happened. My media diet now includes a lot more sports and significantly more science-related content. Meanwhile, my daily habit of using whatever was on my local NPR station as background chatter is gone, as are my frequent viewings of PBS NewsHour.

We’ll see how long this shift lasts. My hunch is that I’m reacting to social conditions in much the same way many others do — sour grapes and all that. Eventually, I’ll return to my usual politics-heavy media diet, once I feel my self-imposed quarantine has served its purpose. Or perhaps when Elon Musk inevitably announces that he’s actually the President.

However, one change in my media diet may have significantly altered how I see the world. My own personal folk wisdom has been updated, so to speak. And it all started with squirrels. Or marmots. Or was it meerkats? I have, after all, analogized human behavior to meerkats before.

Meerkat Bonding

Imagine a mob of meerkats — yes, that’s the correct term, and part of what makes them so fascinating. Picture them all standing together in sentinel position, another reason they’re so captivating. Now, let me describe what they might be up to.