M.E.M.E. - Manipulating Encoded Media's Expression

Hi, I’d like to share with us an old note I wrote back in 2018 about memes and their importance on public opinion and the well-being of people, especially younger generations. I wrote it back in high school, where I studied computer science, and a few months after getting out of a mental hospital due to long-term problems with alcoholism and depression, which led me to start writing a journal to help me keep my thoughts and getting some hatred out on the paper to ease my mind. It started as a daily routine and led to writing some other “longer stories” like the following: “Meaning of Life”, “What are emotions”, “What is happiness”, “Why I hate humanity” and few others.

If any of you are interested in reading more from me at the time, let me know in the comments, and I’ll translate them and post them.

First things first

I’m gonna show you the unedited version that I wrote at the time (only visually formatted for better reading), and afterward, I will say my current opinion on the topic. So, let’s get to it…

Every one of us knows this modern trend – meme, taken from Greek cinema – imitate. Mostly to make others laugh, or at least most of us see it this way. But what if it isn’t like that?

To this day, I like memes and present myself as a meme-lord. This probably changed today. Memes have been with us for a long time, as we have known them today since 2015, I think. But finally today I thought that maybe we don’t see memes as we should.

I saw memes as most of you do, just some kind of fun that makes other members of this community laugh and/or distract others from everyday stress. But today I saw context, that alone means nothing, but it connected with other things. Corn meme – trend of July 2018.

A year ago, there was a famous meme with a futuristic girl holding corn with the text, “This meme is from the future. You don’t get it yet.” Back then, we all saw it as just another template for making more memes. Last week I saw on Reddit post which content could be summed as “from tomorrow everyone upvote very meme with corn.” And as was written, it happened. From this day, these “corn memes” have been unstoppable.

A few days later, I saw another post that said – “Someone goes back in time and posts this meme to mess up with people,” with a picture of the futuristic girl with corn. After two days, I started to think about it. I was surprised about what I’d discovered, but it was still okay. More important were thoughts that started coming to my mind afterward.

Most young people see memes online every day. Even ads are inspired by memes nowadays, and this made me think. What if memes aren’t just random templates made to make us laugh but have “deeper meaning.” A lot of memes nowadays are about low self-esteem or depression. It shows us the wrong side of the world, etc. In the past, there was no internet, and people then were referred only to what they saw in their surroundings. But today, we have the internet, and everyone who is curious is able to get to know about everything he wants to. What if some meme templates are made to regulate our thoughts?

For example, corn meme to make corn more saleable and inflation of it. Memes about low mental stability keep young brains from thinking about the real world around them.

What if some sort of memes were just made by the Illuminati (insert your favorite shadow organization) to make us submissive sheep? Kids then were not as depressed as today; what if memes are the reason for this massive self-confidence loss? Some sort of fame is even created through memes (e.g., Trump).

As my dear roommate, J.J., said after a debate about this topic: **M. E. M. E. = Manipulate Encoded Media’s Expression

Just think about it.

So what do I think now..?

I couldn’t agree more with the author, clever man (corny attempt at being funny). No, but seriously, there’s more than this article showing the increase in mental health issues in younger generations due to social media, memes included. About the “from the future” meme - it could have been just a well-thought plan for karma farming and creating verifiable accounts for whatever purpose there is, or it was indeed from the future (who knows how many lizards, aliens, demons, and God knows what else walks between us every day). Or maybe it was just a coincidence, and I’m looking for something that ain’t there.

Needless to say, whatever is true, it’s important to note that it’s necessary to make sure you are feeling alright, and if you are feeling depressed, anxious, excluded from society or so, try to think about what content you are consuming and try to encapsulate yourself in a bubble made of positive things and vibes. :)

And what do you think..?

I’ll be glad for any tips on writing, your thoughts on the topic or whatever you gotta say either towards be or the article, thanks for reading!