Brief Meme History
Memes are units of cultural information transferred from person to person through images, videos, and texts. Memes are exchanged mainly through social media. During the exchange, memes have the ability to grow wildly popular. In this way, memes work as a vessel to connect people with shared emotions or experiences.
The general tone of memes is light and humorous, sometimes they convey satirical reactions to the entertainment industry. Memes can comment on historically violent events, contemporary crises, and political events. A characteristic of memes is that they are rapidly changing along with their meanings. A meme that is meaningful, relevant, or funny one month may be completely irrelevant or even offensive the next. They are ephemeral.
Memes, The Internet, and Social Media
Carl Chen, a professor at the University of Dayton, hypothesizes: “The rise of digital technology and the Internet has unexpectedly fostered a new form of cultural media: the Internet meme”.
Moreover, the Internet has aided in the expansion of memes. More specifically, social media has provided fast and efficient ways to share and create memes, increasing the visibility of memes across the internet.
In recent years, memes have grown as a form of self-expression. Memes have become ubiquitous, covering every corner of the internet and affecting how society reacts to major events, including traumatic ones. Chen along with many scholars agrees that memes have a contagious quality, which can catch on and move quickly through social media sites. Through social media, communities have been formed; these are communities based around a common unique niche interest. Memes are created within these communities with the goal of being relatable to the users within that small community. These memes are intended only for that special group. Sometimes, these niche communities’ memes can break into the mainstream. The goals of the memes vary from light to dark humor, depending on the community.
The importance of a meme is not necessarily determined by its success but by its relatability. A recurring meme will cause more people to react positively or negatively. As a result, memes become viral, moving from their small communities where they were originally produced to much larger audiences.
The archetypal meme is funny and light. An example of a light meme would be Surprised
Pikachu is seen with his mouth agape and eyes wide open after being surprised by something he sees off-screen, and his expression of shock and awe quickly became a meme. The meme is used to express the feeling of shock or surprise, often accompanied by text on the bottom of the image to create humorous or relatable content. The goal of light memes is to be comical.
However, while memes are typically light, a darker side has emerged. A dark meme would be an intentionally harmful image that was created for the sole purpose of spreading hate. It is possible for dark memes to be purely satirical; they are meant to be lighthearted and used as a coping mechanism. An example of a dark meme used in a satirical manner would be the Bad Luck Brian meme to reference the Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza.
The “Bad Luck Brian” meme features a photo of a high school student named Kyle Craven, who is shown wearing braces, a plaid vest, and a goofy expression. The photo was originally taken for Craven’s school yearbook, and it gained popularity on the internet in 2012 when it was used to create the “Bad Luck Brian” meme. The meme typically features a caption that begins with “Tries to…”, followed by a humorous statement that ends with an unfortunate outcome or consequence. The idea behind the meme is that Bad Luck Brian is a person who tries to do something but always seems to have bad luck or fail at it.
The purpose of memes has shifted. Many memes have become toxic, and people have become desensitized. Meme desensitization refers to the idea that groups of people will be less sensitive to offensive or harmful content and even begin to find it humorous. Social media has been highly influential in the way memes have evolved. Many social media sites do not have strict policies allowing destructive groups to prosper.
4Chan
4chan is an anonymous online image board founded in 2003, initially called moot. It is a platform where users can post images and comments on various topics, from video games and anime to politics and current events. 4chan is divided into categories, all focusing on different interests. It functions as a basic message board, divided simply into two main categories /a/ for animation and /b/ for everything else. Unfortunately, there is little to no regulation on /b/. For this reason, the board has become home to the worst of the worst of the Internet.
The most crucial feature of 4chan is its anonymity, and there is no requirement to make an account to interact and make the post. People are untraceable on 4chan, which gives them a heightened sense of invincibility; they tend to behave in ways they usually would not. The anonymity has led to trolling. Trolling is the deliberate posting of off-topic or disruptive content on social media.
Professor Carl Chen notes: “This lack of identity has created an extremely free, almost anarchic community, in which no one is afraid to say anything because everything is attributed to Anonymous, the term for the collective hive mind of the users.”
4chan does not archive posts; this means that anything posted can gain popularity if it is relatable to the masses. If not, the meme will likely get buried in the onslaught of a post every hour. It is the hive-mind mentality of 4chan that creates popular memes. The users want to share a commonality, even if that commonality seeks to hurt. Alternatively, when memes become too viral or mainstream, the communities seek to reclaim the meme.
This has become known as trolling; the term “troll” can refer to both the person engaging in this behavior and the content they post. Trolling is generally considered a form of online harassment and can harm the online community.
The Taking of Pepe
Divergence occurs in memes as they move from group to group. The meanings are adapted to fit their new audiences. For example, Pepe, the frog, was first featured in a
comic called “Boys Club” and later garnered mass internet popularity. In the cartoon, the personality attached to Pepe, the frog, was that of a post-college bro who plays video games, eats pizza, behaves in gross ways, and smokes pot. It is a green frog-like creature commonly appearing on streaming websites like Twitch.
As with many memes, Pepe rapidly changed. For example, during the 2016 Presidential elections in America, Pepe was depicted as future president Donald Trump. In recent years, 4chan users have claimed Pepe the Frog as an alt-right movement as a symbol of hate, racism, and bigotry. This transformation began around 2015 when far-right internet trolls created and shared memes featuring Pepe as a white nationalist or anti-Semitic figure.
Pepe’s adoption into the mainstream resulted in many 4chan users becoming upset. They wanted to reclaim their power over the meme. “It was later revealed that Pepe’s transformation as a racist symbol was not a fortuitous process, but a carefully engineered plan by some Internet users to turn the character into a toxic figure that normies would no longer be able to use.” (Pelletier-Gagnon and Pérez 7). It is further stated that many users believe that when the mainstream culture is in on the meme, it is ruined. 4chan users have a hivemind mentality, meaning that many users share the same ideas. They view themselves as a collective, everyone in the mainstream is removed from the collective. It is very upsetting to see their symbols such as Pepe in this instance gain mainstream fame.
The rebranding of Pepe was a form of internet trolling; it is a direct result of the desensitization many 4chan users have become accustomed to. Their moral compasses have been swayed, and they no longer react to harmful memes aimed at select communities. 4chan users are no longer triggered by what the average internet user would consider dangerous or alarming memes.
Meme Desensitization
There is a duality within the definition of memes. To the mainstream community, memes are fun and uplifting, and comments on society to groups like 4chan memes are dark and harmful.
University of Florida professor Barbara Sanchez reflects on studies that have been shown to increase certain behaviors. “There are existing studies that theorize exposure to general forms of media that display sensitive matters, especially those that are violent, correlate to increases in violent occurrences and increases in societal desensitization when confronted with these sorts of situations in real life.” (Sanchez 6)
This means that we are continuously confronted with violent stimuli. Exposure to violent stimuli increases the likelihood of disruptive behaviors. Research has linked the media to physiological desensitization. Physiological desensitization is the process by which an individual becomes less responsive or reactive to a stimulus over time, because of repeated exposure to that stimulus.
In the context of media exposure, such as violent or graphic images in video games or movies, repeated exposure can also lead to physiological desensitization. In an environment such as 4chan repeated exposure to “initially hateful stimuli” in a positive context can lead to the extinction of anxiety or harmful (desensitized) reactions to negative memes. This can lead to decreased sympathy for the victims of the hate and an increased belief that intensifies the hateful beliefs.
Internet memes are largely malleable, they bend to their audiences. “One common example is the popular genre of Adolf Hitler and Holocaust Internet memes. In many cases, Internet memes referencing Adolf Hitler, or the Holocaust are for the sake of humor, although they may hold satirical elements, they make light of this violent historical event.” (Sanchez 6) In this case, it is the way in which we cope that has been affected.
Another example would be the popular meme Bad Luck Brian, a popular internet meme featuring a picture of a high school student named Kyle Craven. The image shows Kyle with a slightly awkward smile and a vest, accompanied by humorous captions describing various unlucky or embarrassing scenarios. This meme trope was used to cope with school shootings, referencing Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza.
Coping with Memes
Memes have impacted the way we cope. Coping can be described as the behavior people use to handle internal or external stresses. It is a uniquely millennial response to use memes as a form of coping. The natural emotional response has been greatly altered by the continuous positive responses or the application of humor in emotionally taxing environments. The use of memes to cope.
In the year 2020, everything changed, COVID-19 lockdowns were issued and everyone was stuck inside. Memes played a significant role during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for people to cope with the stress and anxiety caused by the outbreak. As people around the world were forced to adapt to new restrictions and challenges, memes emerged as a popular way to share humorous and relatable experiences. There were memes about stockpiling toilet paper, as a comical way to deal with the shortage of toilet paper as a result of covid-19. Memes about being trapped inside.
While memes can be used to cope, they can also be used to ridicule celebrities during public displays of distress. Michael Jordan is just one of many celebrities who were turned
into a meme after crying publicly. Professor Sanchez of the University of Florida states: “Another issue I propose is how the application of humor to sensitive matters and the viewing of this material can also desensitize natural emotional responses to these situations—such as sympathy or empathy.”
The Crying Jordan meme is a popular internet meme that features a photo of Michael Jordan crying during his Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech in 2009. The meme involves Michael Jordan’s tear-streaked face onto images of people or things that are perceived as losing or failing.
The popularity of this meme reflects society’s desensitization towards images and emotions. Memes have contributed to a culture of detachment, where humor is often substituted for sadness. Michael Jordan’s tears have been stripped of their original emotional weight and repurposed for comedic effect.
Conclusion
The effect of meme toxicity and desensitization on society is a complex and multifaceted issue. While memes can serve as a form of humor and entertainment, they can also be used to spread harmful and toxic ideas that desensitize and influence apathetic behavior. It is important to be mindful of the potential negative effects of our meme usage. This means being critical of the content we consume, share, and create.
It is vital for social media platforms to recognize their role in shaping the cultural landscape and take steps to mitigate the negative impact of toxic memes. This can include implementing better moderation policies, promoting more diverse content, and fostering a more positive online community.
Ultimately, it is up to all of us to consider the outcome of our actions and strive to create a more thoughtful and compassionate online culture. By doing so, we can help combat the negative effects of meme toxicity and desensitization and create a more positive and inclusive society.
Works Cited
Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2009). Comfortably Numb: Desensitizing Effects of Violent Media on Helping Others. Psychological Science, 20(3), 273–277. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40575012
Chen, C. (2012). The creation and meaning of internet memes in 4chan: Popular internet culture in the age of online digital reproduction. Journal of Visual Culture, 18(2), 175-195 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Table-of-Contents-the-Creation-and-Meaning-of-Memes-Chen-Rao/cdfe5d41d45a2453d8177e87a2a766068535ee12
Knuttila, L. (2011). User is unknown: 4chan, anonymity, and contingency. First Monday, 16(10). Retrieved from https://firstmonday.org/article/view/3498/3020
Ohlheiser, A. (2016, October 11). Pepe the Frog explained. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-pepe-the-frog-hate-symbol-20161011-snap-htmlstory.html
Pelletier-Gagnon, J., & Pérez Trujillo Diniz, A. (2021). Colonizing Pepe: Internet Memes as Cyberplaces. Space and Culture, 24(1), 4–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331218776188
Sanchez, Barbara C. (2020) “Internet Memes and Desensitization,” Pathways: A Journal of Humanistic and Social Inquiry: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 5.
Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pathways_journal/vol1/iss2/5
Sommer, W. (2021). The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America: Trust the Plan. HarperCollins https://www.harpercollins.com/products/trust-the-plan-will-sommer?variant=40493482541090