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I hate memes and meme culture.
- Thread starter 8byte
- Start date
I agree. It generally lowers the level of discourse and I feel the act of sharing memes conditions people toward rote repetition rather than individual expression. I don't mind that too much when the people doing it are at least self-aware and nihilistic about it (i.e. saying their individual expression is unimportant because our generation has been set on a doomed path, I get that), but it's such a bummer to see people participate in the cycle unaware of how it's breaking their brains. It's also, of course, alarmingly insidious how memes have the potential to influence the cultural and political dialogue without attaching specific names or ideological banners to their messages. Thirty years ago we could have just said, "Oh, that's Dave. He's a Nazi." and dismiss the message out of hand.
That being said, of course I still participate in this shit.
That being said, of course I still participate in this shit.
Memes can be funny from time to time but I have to agree that the meme culture itself is really annoying especially when it goes too far. I remember when Etika was clearly struggling mentally and his "fans" kept bombarding him with all the stupid memes. Even after his suicide they wouldn't stop memeing. It was disgusting really.
thank mr skeltal
And honestly, memes are great. It's a whole new form of communication
Memes are the modern Art of the information age, the great figures of history would have embraced memes wholeheartedly, we'd have DaVinci memes and fresh dank Aristoteles memes!
What we have instead in classical Art are Bananas taped to a wall so that rich people can circumvent taxes, start loving them memes son!
What we have instead in classical Art are Bananas taped to a wall so that rich people can circumvent taxes, start loving them memes son!
I hate memes too. I know it is because I am a Boomer. They are everywhere and really adds nothing to any conversation. People with nothing to say post memes. I can see a title of a topic and know what memes will be posted already.
Copypasta is another hatred of mine.
Boomer over here.
Copypasta is another hatred of mine.
Boomer over here.
No, it was MJ cameoing in Man in Black 2 when everybody have already stopped giving a shit about him.
Meh like any medium it has its ups and downs. A lot of times people with no actual desire for discussion just post them for "lulz" and many are overused to the point they lose all effectiveness but like any attempt at comedy some are good. It's just that of people who think they are funny probably 10% or less actually are
a graphic designer stand up comedian? Shit man you got all the tools to be a meme generator, why you choose to be this salty.
haha, I mean, they would almost certainly just get stolen by some uncreative leach on instagram or facebook, and reshared a million times without me getting any credit. What's the point in creating if it's just going to make other people money? Memes are a dead end for creative effort because there are other people out there who don't have to spend time creating, so they just steal, repost, and profit.
Nah. That aint for me.
In moderation sending the odd meme across can be quite funny but you really need to back it up with a solid sense of humour of your own - it seems too many people are replacing a sense of humour with just sending memes and I don't really get much joy in that
I'm constantly being accused of being a curmudgeon on this site, but even I don't have an issue with memes or "meme culture", whatever that is. Many of them are just silly or stupid, but many of them also pass along very progressive ideas, which is at a premium these days.
That said, on something like Facebook, constant memes can get pretty monotonous and tiresome. I endeavor to mostly contribute original content myself, which is honestly what I prefer to read most of the time, as well. Friends who never post anything but memes I usually end up unfollowing. It's all about balance, people.
That said, on something like Facebook, constant memes can get pretty monotonous and tiresome. I endeavor to mostly contribute original content myself, which is honestly what I prefer to read most of the time, as well. Friends who never post anything but memes I usually end up unfollowing. It's all about balance, people.
There's nothing wrong with memes.
Like everything in comedy, the secret is timing and context. Of course plenty of people will be bad at it. And I'd agree that "meme culture", such as it is, encourages people to use memes mindlessly - but all trash culture makes people do things in a thoughtless or tasteless way. Memes are no different.
But memes are a form of expression particularly suited to the internet as it has developed.
They can be perfect at the right moment.
Like everything in comedy, the secret is timing and context. Of course plenty of people will be bad at it. And I'd agree that "meme culture", such as it is, encourages people to use memes mindlessly - but all trash culture makes people do things in a thoughtless or tasteless way. Memes are no different.
But memes are a form of expression particularly suited to the internet as it has developed.
They can be perfect at the right moment.
For sure, they can be entertaining. I suppose I tire of them because I see them shared by 15 people in a day, from 13 different "meme pages", all posted w/out comment or credit to the creator.
I define "meme culture" as the culture of searching out and sharing memes (which at this point is pretty loosely defined as a simple macro image) and then shit posting them all over the internet.
Again though, my issue isn't really the "memes" themselves, just the way they've diluted creativity among people, because it's easier to follow an account and redistribute that content for the dopamine rush that comes with a handful of likes. I'm more bothered with the stealing & curating of original content for mass distribution than I am memes themselves, and I definitely could have communicated that better in the OP.
Eh, this is more or less how it was (except it was on broadsides and in publications vs memes) before intellectual property laws were introduced later in the 19th-century. Didn't seem to negatively impact creativity or creative industries too much back then. *shrug*
I'm not sure the two periods are really comparable in this regard. The internet has fundamentally changed things, where now dozens of people can steal the same content w/out credit and make hundreds or thousands of dollars monthly on stolen content w/out any effort. You also didn't have instant mass distribution of content, so stolen works didn't have the same impact on the creator and the worth of their property.
Conversely, copyright law can stifle creativity as well. A lot of good ideas come from people doing things unofficially. Sonic Mania was made because of unauthorized mods. The western anime community mainly exists because of pirating and fan translations jump starting it. The reason memes proliferate is because people quickly riff on ideas of others and are able to share things without worrying about ownership. Yes, it sucks when people take others' content and make bank without the owner getting any credit, but copyright laws are also very easily abused by big corporations to crush small creators.
I enjoy a lot of memes but a lot of people I know don't even make jokes anymore. They just send me memes or reference them.
*no fun allowed*
OP, did you ever consider the complete wild west of idea trading that is the internet actually enables creativity?
Capitalism generally doesn't help creativity much as people are looking to create something that sells, rather than something that's genuinely creative.
OP, did you ever consider the complete wild west of idea trading that is the internet actually enables creativity?
Capitalism generally doesn't help creativity much as people are looking to create something that sells, rather than something that's genuinely creative.
There's a pretty big gulf between "riffing" and "stealing".
I really need to update my OP to more clearly communicate it, but I think that ship has sailed as the thread continues to fill with memes, haha. At least I know there are a handful of people out there who are with my grumpy ass.
Of course, but I've also considered the people I know who have had jokes / content stolen & circulated as memes before they could get them finished / in a set or special, and then had to scrap them entirely as someone profits off of their work.
I imagine if I would have framed this thread as targeting "thehandyj" (the latest "fuckjerry" account) I probably would have had a more fruitful thread, but it is what it is. I'm just tired of meme culture inspiring and enabling people to steal the work of others for profit and there being no mechanisms in place to protect their content.
Among "types" of jokes it definitely is one of the worst when it comes to uncreative and repetitive behavior. It encourages it by creating one-size-fits-all packaging for any observation or comment.
I think there's something uniquely internet about them, in a way that's interesting and fresh - that it's all democratic and it recontextualizes prior work constantly. That's a feature, not a bug.
But then you visit r/ComedyCemetery and no, it's awful.
I think there's something uniquely internet about them, in a way that's interesting and fresh - that it's all democratic and it recontextualizes prior work constantly. That's a feature, not a bug.
But then you visit r/ComedyCemetery and no, it's awful.
As someone who used to create art and share it online, I can understand the sentiment. A few years ago the top post on reddit was a screenshot of someone's facebook post quoting one of my webcomics. No attribution or link or anything.
I honestly questioned why I bother spending so much time drawing stuff when a screenshot of twitter or FB is enough to get a laugh out of people. But it's just how things are these days and you either accept it or you don't.
I honestly questioned why I bother spending so much time drawing stuff when a screenshot of twitter or FB is enough to get a laugh out of people. But it's just how things are these days and you either accept it or you don't.
I'm just more confused how "shitposting" replaced actual jokes. Everything is too overly ironic, also.
You realize that a lot of that sub is people ironically creating intentionally bad memes, right
I am big enough to admit that these are the best two posts in this thread, and they fill me with hatred and joy at the exact same time. I am forever broken.
thank mr skeltal
Hue hue hue hue.
This is amazing quality all right!
