The Meme Made Me Do It
- a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users
If you spend any amount of time on social media, you have no doubt run across a meme. It might be a photo with a user made caption. It could be a truthful photo with a misrepresented tag. It could even be the explanation of something unfamiliar or hard to understand, succinctly defined by my personal favorite: Aliens!
We won’t spend any time on Cheezeburgers or Aliens, but we should look at some of the others.
I subscribe to, or ‘like’ opposing views. Occupy Democrats and Occupy Democrats Logic are the primary ones this is based on. The Meme Policeman tries to counter these and others with an extensive explanation of what is wrong with the meme, which could have been generated or perpetuated by either ‘side’.
I have written before about my attempts to interject myself into some of these debates, and the struggle to get people to do their own research, before posting, or re-posting, one of these memes.
As a fan of quotes, I can fully appreciate an attempt to simplify a seemingly complex issue in one or two sentences. Most quotes are more opinion than fact, but can boil it down to an explanation the masses can easily digest.
The truth is out there, but maybe not where you are looking.
The most popular answer when I challenge someone is; I just reposted it, I didn’t write it. While that may be an honest answer, it may also be far from the truth. More so, it was probably the continuation of their opinion, based on a lack of research.
My favorite is the list of talking points. One of them will be true, several will be misleading, and the rest are patently false. To actually do the research on five different claims can be arduous, taxing or boring, but should be necessary.
An example could be the memes of Colin Kaepernick. The ‘left’ will change the goal post as to why he chose to kneel (police brutality, white supremacy, systemic racism) and the ‘right’ will conflate the protest to one of the military and the flag. So in this example, one is true, and the rest are wrong, but I will see all of them presented as factual.
Opinions are not something to debate. Facts are not either. It is the merging of the two, forging an opinion based on incorrect facts, that memes hold the greatest ‘value’. A prepackaged opinion, sympathetic to ones own thought process, as flawed as it may be.
Both sides lob ‘truth’ bombs over the ideologically produced wall, and expect the others to fall in line.
Well, how’s that working for ya? It doesn’t.
Maybe the wall should be perceived as a pyramid, that would allow you to walk up and view the other side, while staying safely on your side, if but for a moment. Or maybe a trapezoid, where you can view both sides from a safe perch, and form or reshape where you stand.
Whichever you choose, be wary of the hype. Despite assurances to the contrary, democracy, or more accurately, our republic, has not disintegrated because of chatter on the interwebs or bills proposed in Congress.
Pick just about any topic. Guns, immigration, NFL protests and ratings, John McCain, abortion. There is a meme available with your view. But, is it accurate?
I mentioned before about not debating opinions. What you would debate would be the conclusions used to form the opinion. Where does it come from? Research? A meme? That is where the debate should be centered. Challenge the ‘facts’, not the person. An individual may have come to a wrong conclusion, which feeds to a deeply held belief. Make your case to support your own conclusions, first to yourself, and then to others. Can you really defend you own opinion?
But even with being armed with facts or statistics, be prepared to run into a meme generated response. We have all seen the ‘man on the street’ interview from Crowder, Horowitz and MisterDirect (local media mogul) in which the editing reveals clueless people on about any topic, except the Kardashians.
Our current society learns from sound bites, even Google takes too long. It is so much easier to look at a picture, and accept it as fact. There really isn’t any benefit to perpetuating myths, urban legends or the like.
Critical thinking has been replaced with a drive-by opinion accompanied with a picture. While they could be correct, most have significant deficiencies. You need to first determine what is being conveyed. Is it opinion or fact? You would then move on to the fact checking (if it presents facts). Are the statements providing context or is it lacking? Are the numbers based on facts or feelings?
For example: Children are being slaughtered in school by deranged gunmen using assault weapons.
So the truth would be that yes, children are being shot, sometimes in school, by mentally ill people, using guns.
What seems to be missing would include that there is no such thing as an ‘assault weapon’. That is a manufactured term to mean ‘nasty’ looking weapon. The reality that it does not function as a military-grade weapon gets lost in the drama. It plays on emotion to elicit the sympathetic response. The truth of how few people are actually shot using these weapons doesn’t have the same effect, and is omitted. In an unusually large number, the ‘government’ had a level of awareness of the individual, and did nothing. Not because an individual low-level employee didn’t want to, but more related to the levels of policy, procedure and an individuals rights, and yet, the government, who failed to protect people, is being asked to protect people.
But you won’t get that roadmap included with the picture.
By reading a meme, you might be led to believe that Socialism is a viable alternative to Capitalism. It’s not, but that doesn’t stop anyone from reposting the virtues of the Democratic Socialists of America. While the idea of free education, healthcare and housing, along with a guaranteed federal job, is appealing (emotional response), the practical implications are that it can’t/won’t work (factual response). Everything works in theory, but when the rubber hits the road, it becomes a wee bit more murky.
Comparing the United States to any of the homogenous Nordic countries, should stop it right there, but it doesn’t. Our sheer numbers of citizens should be enough to dissuade a comparison, but alas, it won’t. When challenged on the specifics of implementation, the arguments balloon rapidly deflates. It will end up with the ever popular ‘they didn’t do it properly’ or more likely, deflect to something completely different, failing to address the topic of the original question.
You see that my brief explanation(s) barely scratch the surface, but it still more than the bullet-pointed meme. I have spent more time typing this, than most people will spend trying to verify what they are ‘passing on’.
This is the problem.
Instead of being part of the bullshit conduit, do the math, do your homework, ask questions.
I occasionally speak to a local politician, and we have a back and forth on some issues. There is nothing wrong, with being wrong, it is the lack of interest in being educated enough to know the difference. Conceding a point, is not the end of the world. It actually makes it smaller. You will find more similarities than differences in a brief conversation, than you would have thought.
Take the time to learn from others who may have had different experiences. Trust me, both parties will be better for it.
Past history does not mean future history. You can still change it, but ignorance will keep you from the truth.