Memes: Good or bad?

[SquirrelPants]

(I know mods seem to get rid of things about 4chan, so if this thread is a bad thing, please don't lay thy wrath upon me.. I don't think it's bad, since it's not explicitly about 4chan.)

A few days ago, I was bored and decided to visit 4chan, check out /tg/ and /wg/, y'know, that kind of thing.

I started to think about memes as I did that. The technical definition of a meme is "Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity." Now, as most of us know, many memes start and end at 4chan, such as An Hero, LOLcats(I think), and all that Snakes on a Plane stuff.

But that is neither here nor there. I want to know, Escapist, if you think memes are good or bad. I think they can be funny here or there, but they also get old fast, and eventually become an annoying thing that people on the street sometimes quote inadvertently in real life(IE, The Cake is a Lie.) But more often than not, I would call them a good thing. What is your opinion on the matter?

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

They have their places, but not here on the Escapist.

 

[thiosk]

memes are meant to be referenced, not driven into the ground through repetition, and CERTAINLY not meant to be discussed as the primary topic.

Also: Meme is a pretty cool guy, eh fights aleins and doesnt afriad of anythin.

 

[Neonbob]

I have yet to find a meme which I find consistently entertaining.
So I have to say that they are mostly a waste of time.
If anyone wants to prove me wrong, that would be welcome.

 

[almostgold]

Bad. Without a doubt, bad. I hope 4chan goes away forever. Surely they can find fetish porn without creating memes as well?

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Pariah87]

Yo dawg, I heard you like memes, so we put a meme in your meme, so you can meme while you meme.

Bad I know, but I couldn't resist.

 

[Killer Rabbit]

Some are funny when used right. Others are very annoying.

 

[Megacherv]

Hate them. They take something that's creative, genius, and worthy of praise, and then make you hate it beyond belief.

2 main examples: 'Why so Serious?', and 'The Cake is a Lie'. These were fantastic bits of entertainment, worthy of awards, and the memes just shit all over it. I watched The Dark Knight and realised why people said that Heath Ledger's performance was the best out of the entire year. Similarly, I saw why Portal's story was said to be amazing. The memes were just stupid, juvenile, made up by people who are unimaginative and socially incompetent. Sure, I'm pretty unimaginative (you'll be lucky to have a conversation with me without me quoting a comedian), but it's just fucking ridiculous.

 

[SquirrelPants]

Bad. Without a doubt, bad. I hope 4chan goes away forever. Surely they can find fetish porn without creating memes as well?

Ehh, the entire website isn't too bad if you stay away from /b/. Anyway, the discussion isn't really about 4chan, so...yeah.

I have yet to find a meme which I find consistently entertaining.
So I have to say that they are mostly a waste of time.
If anyone wants to prove me wrong, that would be welcome.

I always find that "Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?" one funny. I don't see it used too often, either, so it doesn't get old.

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

Memes aren't good or bad.

If they are spontaneously formed out of something funny/interesting/weird and grow into something bigger that's cool.

If they're forced and then spammed across the web (like many 4chan memes), that's annoying.

Though I think any meme becomes a Bad Thing if it becomes too big and lasts too long. After a while it just stops being funny, and then you can't escape it anymore because everyone is posting it, so it becomes annoying.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Some are funny, most are overused. A lot make me laugh at first and then make me tired of seeing them.

 

[A random person]

I'm one of the very, very few people here who actually likes them and thinks they give the internet its oddly wonderful flavor. Hell, my avatar is a meme (though not one most of you are familiar with, since it's from /a/).

Not that they can't be annoying from abuse, though, because they sure as hell can and have. I seem to have a much higher threshold than most, however.

 

[MR T3D]

hmmmm....
◄ look at that
as far as i'm concerned, they serve a healthy purpose: to ensure that the internet is not taken seriously.

I'm one of the very, very few people here who actually likes them and thinks they give the internet its oddly wonderful flavor. Hell, my avatar is a meme (though not one most of you are familiar with, since it's from /a/).

Not that they can't be annoying from abuse, though, because they sure as hell can and have. I seem to have a much higher threshold than most, however.

2nd'ing this post.

 

[Timotei]

memes are meant to be referenced, not driven into the ground through repetition

But that's what memes are, repetitions. A meme by definition is something which has come to symbolize something. So in a sense, the words I'm typing right now are memes themselves.

 

[Trafs]

Some of them are hilarious. In fact, most of them are pretty funny, until they get done to death.

And all memes eventually get done to death, let's be fair.

 

[The Middleman]

I find memes to be a great way to immerse stubborn people into new subcultures of the internet. That's often how I get people to like video games, or laugh. Overusing memes is tragically bad though.

 

[Plurralbles]

most of them are very cool. I like them a lot. Adds color to an otherwise drab forum.

 

[AgentChunk]

Memes tend to follow a little something I call the Meme life cycle.
Stage one: first their a new idea that's clever and funny.
Stage two: then everyone spreads them all over the internet.
Stage three: you start to see it so often it makes you nauseous.
Stage four: It dies but by this time 5 more have taken it's place.
There's no way known to man to stop this cycle since someones first thought after seeing something funny is to share it with others.

 

[oppp7]

I like them, but they do get old fast.