We’ve shifted gears from the ‘viral’ era. Culture’s now going pandemic. And there’s just no way to stop it. There was a time when Internet memes were relegated to a small coterie of Internet geeks who cherished their exclusivity, played lots of massively multi-player online role-playing games, and shared images, ideas, jokes and phrases within their community. A new metalanguage was created and cherished by those who could talk the talk. Then the unthinkable happened, memes went mainstream.
via Rajiv Naresh: Meme Wars and the Death of the Underground.
I’ve reached my meme saturation point. After the Sh*t Anyone and Everyone Says videos, college memes, and the new What I Really Do memes, I feel like a poignant part of Internet culture has been wrung out. And we’re only in the middle of February. Meme culture used to be opt-in rather than opt-out. Other than one more way to just procrastinate, I think the final question is:
Related articles
- Infographic: A history of the internet meme (smokinggunpr.co.uk)
- Oh Great, Now ‘Linning’ Is Becoming a Meme (newsfeed.time.com)
- “What I Really Do” meme (holykaw.alltop.com)
