As I’ve mentioned before, I live in Trump country.
Or, I did. It’s not an exact estimate but today I went to the grocery store and post office and I noticed that only 5 Trump signs and banners were still flying. Interesting! And, by coincidence, those signs and banners were mostly on the few houses that also fly confederate flags.
The rest of the Trump signs appear to have blown away in the night.
my mad photoshop skills
Actually… My friend Anna introduced me to the deliciously goofy world of internet memes. I keep thinking sometimes that I should post some of the better ones, except I’m fairly sure that anyone who is interested in the memeosphere will have already seen them, and anyone else isn’t interested.
Well-constructed memes are sometimes surrealist masterpieces, chock full of social commentary and weirdness. I know people (cough) who have hard drives full of them.
Someday someone will write a history of the evolution of memes, just as someday someone will write a book entitled “The Media Is The Message: Political Influence of Twitter and Social Sites” Tell me, professor, is Twitter part of the means of production or the system of oppression? I officially disapprove of Richard Dawkins’ (apparent?) popularizing the term,* because I feel like he’s simply reifying “ideas” into something meta-. One could just as well refer to Dawkins’ “memes” as “demons” and not change the meaning of the sentence, much. But it’s not dramatic to say “people have and share ideas, and ideas spread, change, and can unexpectedly exert subliminal influence.” But then, you know, “religion” is just “a bad idea” and it’s hardly breaking new ground to write a book saying “Religion is a bad idea we’ve been sharing for a long time. So is supply-side economics.” I’m comfortable talking about complicated topics without having to introduce specialized vocabulary. I wonder if we’ll someday have social histories of memes, and memologists.
There are collections of trolley car problem memes that go on for pages and pages. Don’t worry, I won’t post them. Not all of them.
* Or was it Vannevar Bush?
What’s the difference?
I read Guy Debord’s ” The Society of the Spectacle” last year, and mostly just couldn’t help thinking “Oh man, you ain’t seen nothing yet…”
At least memes can make sense, unlike “emoji speak”.
Marcus:
Apparently, there already are “memeticists” of various kinds:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics#History
I think it’s one of his best ideas, myself. And yes, it was him.
It hasn’t really panned out, but still, it was a possible proto-scientific approach, potentially no less useful than semiotics or eisegesis for sociologists and anthropologists.
Internet memes have nothing to do with his original formulation, name aside.
Same as the memex.
(That said, I too find the featured dog/wolf “meme” rather poignant)
Someday maybe the people will rise up and seize the memes of production.
I heard one of my friends characterize the Millennial experience succinctly: “the memes are good, but the situation is upsetting.”
I see it like iconography making a comeback.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Hellabytes
People have asked me to talk about 4chan and what I saw there. It’s complicated. Someday the hoard I’ve collected from sometime in the late 90’s and for about a decade will be useful. Even funny. Right now that is hard knowledge to express. Talking positively about 4chan was not politically helpful while learning about something I could not control. I’ll figure it out at some point.
Brony: Social Justice Cenobite has to be one of THE best user names I have seen! Bravo!
Also: Have you read EMBASSYTOWN by China Mieville? Interesting novel on communicating with an utterly alien race.
@bmiller 11
I have not read that one. I’ll keep it in mind when I get into fiction again.
Somehow I really dont think it’s co-incidence at all. Also HRC was so right as recent events prove.
Question : has the attack on Capitol really woken some people up here to Trump’s flaws? Enough of them? Is there, as implied, a momentum away from Trump and what sort of mood / reflections are getting from the former (or resigned and becoming former?) Trump crowd?
@2. Intransitive : Sadly I’m just seeing this message there :