• Uninvited Guest
    link
    fedilink
    10
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    Because they’re not memes. I had a heck of a time explaining to my partner that a picture with text on it does not constitute a meme - the same picture used repeatedly with different text captions? Meme.

    It did not compute.

      • @ThoranTW
        link
        63 months ago

        Absurdist memes were/are peak

    • @TokenBoomer
      cake
      link
      63 months ago

      Who decides what a meme is? Consensus? The creator? A random moderator? This comment is a meme if we decide it is. Every one of these “memes “ were just random pictures with text until they went viral? Were they not memes until then?

      • @eeltech
        link
        53 months ago

        From the dictionary:

        an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.

        Its exactly the part where it is copied and spread. It’s just an image macro until then.

        A arbitrary comment or image isn’t a meme if nobody copies it and spreads it

        • @aulin
          link
          13 months ago

          It annoys me that they specify humorous and internet, even if neither of them is required for something to be a meme. Any idea is a meme if it proves successful in spreading among other people.

          • @frostysauce
            link
            33 months ago

            “I like Ike” was a meme from the election where Eisenhower became president.

          • @eeltech
            link
            23 months ago

            That could be covered by the 2nd definition, I just didn’t think it was relevant here:

        • @TokenBoomer
          cake
          link
          0
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          Either everything can be a meme, or memes don’t exist.

          If nothing is a meme until it is, then all original content is, by definition, not a meme. They only become “memes” when spread and repeated.

          So, any original picture with text is thus, not a meme, or potentially a meme. If it is not a meme at conception, then it shouldn’t be proliferated in meme communities, because it’s not a meme.

          If everything is a meme, then there is no novelty or uniqueness to the content, thus making “memes” superfluous and ubiquitous to the point of nonexistence.

          So, the qualifications are arbitrary.

      • Uninvited Guest
        link
        fedilink
        23 months ago

        Your last two sentences is how I would describe it.

        It’s text on pictures until it ascends to meme-hood.

        • @eeltech
          link
          43 months ago

          Those are just image macros. Not every image macro becomes a meme

          And not every meme is in the form of an image macro

    • @ramenshaman
      link
      43 months ago

      It’s the poorly drawn black/white dudes that bother me the most.