Meme Culture

There have been a few events that occurred recently that have got me thinking about this, but ultimately what I would say brought me here is the knowledge I've had for quite some time that we live in an era that is dominated by internet culture. For the majority of my life, the internet has been around but it's cultural influence seems to have been growing exponentially since I was a young child. Obviously that's largely a product of when I was born, but I've come to understand and firmly believe that these things we know as "memes" aren't some trend that is going to pass. What's a meme in the first place though? Essentially it's any idea that can spread through culture. Given that broad definition, memes could be pretty much anything and have always existed right? Technically, that's true, but whenever someone says the word, anyone who is familiar with it tends to immediately think of the era spanning from millennials through the current upcoming generation. They're part of the internet, and an integral one at that. I myself am not the biggest fan of memes. Sure, they're amusing, but I don't see any big use to them besides that. Many disagree, especially those who think memes are a good way to raise awareness of certain causes. To them, I would say that many might see them as counterintuitive to the cause due to their inherent association with immaturity and a sophomoric sense of humor. One of the events I was referring to at the beginning of this entry would definitely be the whole Jeffrey Epstein situation, which I find to be extremely grotesque. Recently, people, many of whom I know, have taken to social media and have been spreading memes about the late pedophile. They have claimed that they're doing so because they believe the mainstream media is trying to create a media blackout around the story and they believe that by doing what they're doing, they are keeping peoples awareness of it alive. While they are accomplishing that in a sense, In my eyes they're doing so in the worst way possible; by making a joke out of it. Look at the story itself: a high profile, very wealthy man, with tons of connections with other high profile people, was arrested for and convicted of running a sex trafficking ring. The official report, as I am aware of it, was that he committed suicide in his jail cell before he could give testimony. I wrote about him a while ago around the time the story hit headlines prominently, but since he died, I will admit that the story took a back seat. Some were upset at the lack of coverage since they believed the circumstances of his death to be suspicious, and I don't disagree with that, since they absolutely were, but the way in which they're trying to keep the embers burning in the media is absolutely sophomoric. First of all, since they're largely using memes, I can't even really tell if they're serious about it or if they just think it's a joke, and that's quite stomach churning due to the gravity of the events. Meme culture has largely taken on a nihilistic and disillusioned approach to, well everything. People make jokes about the most gravely matters and that's problematic in my mind, mainly because among all of the jokes, who can even tell when people are serious about something? This is the case with the Epstein situation. I wouldn't mind having some answers myself, but from what I can understand, even if anything legitimate does come up concerning the case, many will just accuse it of being another meme. I don't know if anyone realizes this, but then again, I can't really tell if anyone is actually serious about it. This is a big case of the internet shooting itself in the foot. Hashtag activism is a similar situation, and former president Obama speaking on the matter also got me thinking. In a nutshell, he said that hash tag activism and call out culture has gotten a bit out of hand. He said that if all that you're doing is calling people out, maybe you should take a step back and ask yourself if you're really helping anything. I agree with him, and I was pleased to hear the sentiment coming from such a prominent liberal figure since it was clear by the undertones that he was speaking to his many supporters and admirers. Meme culture and hashtag activism are largely tied, since they often intertwine with each other. Another interesting thing about all of this is that now memes are used by individuals of virtually every political background. Liberals use them, conservatives use them, socialists use them, greens use them, libertarians use them, and Trump supporters use them entirely too much in my mind. Some have claimed to be the "best" at memes, which is a really dumb thing to say, and very much displays that those individuals really don't have their priorities in order, but that's just a stupid distraction in my mind. In fact, I would say memes in general are a stupid distraction. It really annoys me that so many people would rather rely on these idiotic pictures, videos, and whatever else to form their world view instead of actually taking in anything of substance. However, like I said earlier, I don't see them as entirely useless. I enjoy looking at them from time to time for laughs, and I accept that they're just a part of the internet that isn't going anywhere. They're amusing, but again, they aren't much more in my opinion. Every message they convey, can be spread much more efficiently and be taken more seriously in pretty much any other format. Meme culture makes me wonder if the world is just getting less and less intelligent, it makes me wonder if some peoples attention span has become so short that these things are really the only way to get anything through to them, and that's extremely alarming. I'm fully aware that this isn't the case. I know plenty of people who enjoy memes and make/share them, but they also get information from other sources. They actually read in addition to the memes, but there's still a substantial population that is much less substantive. Those are the ones that worry me. The poorly educated people that are legally allowed to vote in this country. I used to care, I used to be upset and want to enlighten people whenever I encountered someone who was clearly uninformed but I'm no longer sympathetic with the majority of those cases. "In the age of information, ignorance is a choice" as Donny Miller said, and he's absolutely correct. At this point in the game, if you are ignorant of what's going on throughout the world, that's mostly your choice and I don't feel the least bit sorry for you. There is so much more to the world than memes, and while I understand that for the majority of people they are a very small aspect of their lives, myself included, the fact that I'm writing about meme culture at all should tell you a few things: first that I believe that it's growing, second that I believe it is harmful in some regards, and third that it's just something that people need to be wary of. In the past year I've gotten back into reading, and I'm talking about actual books. I've built up a decent sized collection and I don't plan on stopping. I really wish more would start doing that. Yes I'm still on the internet plenty, but there is a balance that I've achieved for the most part that I wish more would strive to attain.