Everyone uses the internet and there is so much content that we could never hope to discover all of it. There are entire communities that we couldn't hope to be exposed to enough to understand them. Thankfully the truth is I wouldn't want to waste the time trying to immerse myself in all of them but I have stumbled into several on my cyber escapades and through friends that tickle my fancy. One of my favorites is internet memes. For those who don't know what the word meme means is is an adaptation form the Greek word
mimeme meaning something imitated. It is meant to describe the observation of an idea's evolution in a culture. How it is accepted, manipulated and spread. Using this description the word was then taken from something overly philosophical and applied to the spread of a certain genera of jokes on the internet. Anyone anywhere can set up humorous themes that others can contribute too and these themes are then spread from one person to another weeding out the undesirables and keeping the enjoyable ones alive and infectious. The most successful ones are attached to a image that makes the theme easily recognizable so you know what brand of humor to expect from the meme.
If you are not familiar with a particular meme then you probably won't appreciate it as much as someone who knows what it represents and is trying to accomplish.
The product of this hysteria is a mountain of inside jokes shared by select people all over the world. "Why is this important?" you might ask. I never said it was, but if there is anything to get out of this it would be the realization that public consumption of these memes isn't just a way to tell a joke and get a chuckle out of someone but a fast and effective way to spread ideas to the world. Its amazing how much power a seemingly trivial meme can have on the unsuspecting (and probably procrastinating) mind.
Don't underestimate the knee-slappers.
