“an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme” (from the Wikipedia article) seems to be a perfect fit for what’s going on in this post.
Lol, the word “meme” was introduced as a parallel to gene and religion was provided as an example of a very strong meme. At one point the word started to be used for memes that spread over the internet, and since most of those were image macros, a lot people came to believe that meme means “image macro”.
But jokes are a wonderful example of meme. There are jokes that have been going around since ancient times, some with almost no alterations.
partially related, I find the clickbaitiness increase in the titles and behaviour of Dawkins amusing. It’s like the joke from futurama, :
Al Gore : As I discuss in my book Earth in the Balance and the much more popular Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth
The selfish gene (Look,biology behaves like an asshole)
The Blind Watchmaker (yeah, I’m sticking it to god. There is no “cosmic watchmaker”, shit’s all random)
The God DELUSION (Fuck your god! Your lord, and your Christ)
Are we just using the word “meme” to mean joke now?
“an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme” (from the Wikipedia article) seems to be a perfect fit for what’s going on in this post.
Soo… “yes”, we’ve changed the definition from “image macro” to “any joke”
Memes and image macro were never synonyms. Image macros are memes, but that doesn’t mean all memes are image macros.
Memes are much older than image macros. And this here is a textbook example.
Loss is a meme. Rickrolling is a meme. The Game (which you just lost) is a meme.
Well shit thank you for that. Can I at least get a participation medal?
goddamn it I just lost the game…
when you tried to gatekeep but you don’t know what you’re gatekeeping
That’s also not what gatekeeping means either lol
Maybe we should all chip in and buy this kid a dictionary
I love books!
Maybe try reading them too
The word “meme” has been around since before image macros existed
The word meme existed long before image macros.
An image macro is a subset of meme, not the superset.
Lol, the word “meme” was introduced as a parallel to gene and religion was provided as an example of a very strong meme. At one point the word started to be used for memes that spread over the internet, and since most of those were image macros, a lot people came to believe that meme means “image macro”.
But jokes are a wonderful example of meme. There are jokes that have been going around since ancient times, some with almost no alterations.
The word meme is older than the Internet
OOP is using it in the most correct way that could even exist
Well, depending on your definition, the two came into existence at about the same time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene
partially related, I find the clickbaitiness increase in the titles and behaviour of Dawkins amusing. It’s like the joke from futurama, :
Al Gore : As I discuss in my book Earth in the Balance and the much more popular Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth
You need to learn how to use a dictionary. I would recommend starting with the word “etymology”.
A meme is any self replicating thought that spreads from carrier to carrier.
Notable examples include: language, stories, culture, fax machine jokes, and image macros
Memes are older than the internet. They are, in fact, the DNA of the soul!
Human pattern recognition and repetition is the cornerstone of how our brains work.
Once you get it, like really get it, you see the world in a whole new way.
Everything is meme.
Why, yes, we as a society are, indeed, ruining any and all types of nuance! Why do you ask?