Memes and Philosophy Installment #2 (Class #6)

In my first post I discussed the beginnings of memes and what significance they have on internet and real life cultures. In this installment I would like to discuss the impact they can have on the social plain and how it can affect us.
This phenomenon of things going viral on the internet has shown countless examples since the internet has existed. James Rubec, a writer for Cision, a marketing company says that we’ve had memes since before the internet, people used to play with Transformers and Ghostbusters toys because of the movies and T.V. shows back in the day. Today the entertainment industry sees this as a goldmine because of the, “built-in knowledge”, and fan bases that these franchises have accrued over the years. He continues by saying that, “Memes carry a similar weight but for a shorter period of time. They are an avenue toward catharsis and engaging online during peak periods of social interaction…” (Rubec) I agree with Rubec, based on personal experience, I’ve seen people become huge fans of memes just the same as T.V. and movie franchises. A few examples would be: Grumpy Cat, Gangnam Style, Doge, and #TheDress. Based on sight or reference, these memes are instantly recognized by millions of people just the same as any other franchise. This allows for memes to grow in popularity and reach farther across the internet landscape. Because of this ability to spread virally, memes are starting to become as common as written word on the internet. At this point you could just use memes to give your opinions or have a conversation with others and they would completely understand you without any need for clarification.
With all this information about memes being spread virally and their many uses in different forms of literature and entertainment, one might ask themselves, “how does this apply to me and should I be concerned?” Well to put it simply, that depends on many factors. Memes can relay information and ideas extremely quickly, this could be considered a double-edged sword. Let us say that you post a picture online and think nothing of it. A week or two later you start to see that same picture of you being spread around with a mean joke or hateful message written on it. People start to insult and bully you, all because of a picture you posted on your social media. In Ghyslain Raza’s case, it was a video that was posted without his permission in 2003. He was known as the “Star Wars Kid”, his video shows him doing Star Wars- style fighting with a pole for a school club. His classmates secretly posted the video online and within weeks it had spread like wildfire. By 2006, it had been clicked on more than 900 million times, before it was taken down (Garsd). From the outside, this may seem like a great accomplishment, but this made Raza’s life a living hell during high school. In 2013, he told Macleans Magazine that he lost most of his friends and even ended up having to transfer schools (Rubec). The constant ridicule was so bad that he eventually dropped out of school and had to go to therapy. So, while memes seem like harmless pictures on the internet, it turns out that they can have real world consequences and can ruin people’s lives. And, there are many cases, just like Raza’s, where people lose everything just because of a simple picture or video. However, in other cases, such as Laina Morris’, who turned her fame of being the face of the “Overly Attached Girlfriend” meme into a successful YouTube channel where she has over a million subscribers (Garsd). It really depends on how the person at the center of a meme can handle the new attention they have gained.
Not only do memes affect people’s personal lives, they can have huge lasting impacts on society and culture today. A writer, for the blog All Things Dank, that goes by the moniker, “dank”, states that memes, “change the way we live, shape popular culture and continually evolve with the modern society. They hugely influence modern language and culture shaping how the youth and the whole internet user community live.” I agree, based on real-world examples like Raza’s, it seems that memes hold more weight than critics are letting on. They, like dank states, have profound influence on many aspects of our daily lives and most of us don’t seem to realize that. Memes are almost worth more than words on the internet at this point. A statement might make a few small ripples on the internet, but a meme can make waves and big ones at that. Maybe the reason memes have this type of viral impact is because of the way that people fragment themselves among communities. Depending on where you place yourself online, and even in real life, could determine what memes do and do not impact you personally.
 Memes will continue to evolve, just like people’s opinion and ideas evolve. Over time they will develop into something even more complex than what we have in our sample size today. Some would disagree with this sentiment, like Neuroanthropology writer, Greg Downey, who considers memes and memetics, “nonsense on stilts on skates on thin ice on borrowed time, as deserving of the designation ‘science’ as astrology, phrenology, or economic forecasting.” The main reason Downey hates memes is because, “memetics sucks the air out of the room for a serious consideration of the ways that culture, knowledge, technology, and human evolution might be interrelated.” And, I must agree with this statement. Memes definitely have a significance in our culture and society, but when people or memecists go so far as to say that everything is a meme, that’s where I draw the line. In an earlier paragraph, I stated that all aspects of human culture could be considered memes. Now, I feel like I was thinking a little too broadly. It really depends on the circumstances when determining if a meme is impactful or significant. In a way, I would say that memes are equally significant and insignificant. They may be just virtual imagery online, but they still have real world effects.
To clarify and restate my thoughts, memes are not all aspects of a culture, they ride on the identities, social aspect and communities of a culture. Memes don’t define a culture, cultures define memes. Cultures and communication provide the framework for memes to be created and technologies provide the means for memes to travel. That is what my research has led me too. Memes are not the definition, they are the nuances or elements of what cultural evolution is. Without memes, we would probably have a pretty boring internet. I for one, am glad that we have such a diverse creative outlet that allows every culture to intertwine with each other based on their own humor and ability to laugh at themselves. Memes may not be the new cutting edge form of communication that memeticists were hoping they were, but they are helping people come together across the world in ways that seem to be evolving every day.