4. Why do Memes matter?
I love this meme and similar ones of this type because I think they are just so funny and cute. i've become a big fan of capybaras through these kinds of memes alone!
Limor Shifman's book is a nonfiction and opinion report. She is an author and professor in the Department of Communication at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She wrote this book to break down the qualities and characteristics of what makes a meme and aims to bring the skeptics and general population together and encourages that "Internet users are onto something, and researchers should follow" (4). Her purpose through the book was also to redefine and clarify definitions and conceptions surrounding the idea of the meme. Shifman includes photos of popular memes to use as examples of memes and their online and societal impact, especially shown with her example of the "River Crab" meme.
The purpose of the last section is to show the readers the bigger picture of why memes are important. As Shifman says, "we need to take Internet memes seriously" (172). She then discusses some implications of what the future holds with memes, one of which that interests me is the bullet titled "Internet memes as a language" (Shifman 173). She says that memes enable communication through short phrases or images, which we see everywhere online and sometimes even replacing the original language used pre-meme. I love that memes can be so uniting online as the world gets more divided, as a language that so many people can understand and use in a light-hearted way.
This book is extremely relevant today in the age where digital media is fully incorporated into my life and everyone else's as well. Since so much of our time is spent online as well, that gives more platforms for memes to develop and deepen in meaning. David Polgar, former contributor to Forbes, writes that "As more people speak in memes, the importance of understanding the references and overall language becomes crucial. To put it more bluntly, being meme illiterate means that you might not be fully understanding the web...the meaning in a meme could differ significantly from its literal meaning" (Polgar). This shows that even though internet memes are more widespread and integrated, they become more nuanced by necessity as well because they start having layers of depth and references that are needed to understand the meme.
Source:
Polgar, David. "Why Understanding Memes Is Important To Grasping What People Are Really Saying In 2020." Forbes, 4 June 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/davidryanpolgar/2020/06/04/why-understanding-memes-and-internet-humor-is-important-to-grasping-what-people-are-really-saying-in-2020/?sh=3848b2d24da2
I selected an article on The Atlantic, written by Charlie Warzel who writes for the Atlantic and his own newsletter called Galaxy Brain. The article is called 'Elon Musk's Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius'. I initially clicked on the article because of the headline--there is an innate nosy side of me who is curious to see what things the richest man in the world could possibly be texting about. The opening paragraph of the article simply sets the stage for "how unimpressive, unimaginative, and sycophantic the powerful men in Musk’s contacts appear to be" which was rather surprising to me (Warzel). Warzel explains how many of the contacts connected to Musk have a clear intention of trying to get closer to him, because of his status in the technology world, resulting in multiple cheesy, corny messages sent from adult men to Musk. Also during Musk's bid to buy Twitter, both Musk and his contacts seemingly throw around terms, new policy ideas, and money to each other without too much thought. As Warzel puts in words, "Is it surprising that rich people (including one of the world’s 10 richest men) are throwing money at their friends the way you might on a low-stakes poker night?" (Warzel). I think this article is important in our digital age simply just to show and bring awareness to what goes on between the Silicon Valley giants, and is eye-opening in the way that we don't see the level of professionalism that we would expect among people of their status, especially regarding big decisions such as the Twitter bid.
Source: Warzel, Charlie. "Elon Musk’s Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius." The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2022, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-musk-texts-twitter-trial-jack-dorsey/671619/.
Replies:
Hi []! I know exactly which meme you're talking about, that one is so funny and relatable too haha. I found it interesting to learn about the Black Forgiveness meme, I don't know that one but reading about it through your explanation really shows how memes can bring and teach us things beyond just humor, but to educate us in social and political issues as well.
awww that puppy is so cute []! makes me wish I was sleeping right now too HAHA. I find the article you picked really interesting and also true! Software has its place where it belongs right now and its place where it doesn't belong, and it also made me more aware that right now, we can't use software to fix everything. Also, your example of memes in Malaysian politics reminds me of old US political cartoons. It's so cool to see that people can use memes and their platforms to voice opinions for change.
Limor Shifman's book is a nonfiction and opinion report. She is an author and professor in the Department of Communication at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She wrote this book to break down the qualities and characteristics of what makes a meme and aims to bring the skeptics and general population together and encourages that "Internet users are onto something, and researchers should follow" (4). Her purpose through the book was also to redefine and clarify definitions and conceptions surrounding the idea of the meme. Shifman includes photos of popular memes to use as examples of memes and their online and societal impact, especially shown with her example of the "River Crab" meme.
The purpose of the last section is to show the readers the bigger picture of why memes are important. As Shifman says, "we need to take Internet memes seriously" (172). She then discusses some implications of what the future holds with memes, one of which that interests me is the bullet titled "Internet memes as a language" (Shifman 173). She says that memes enable communication through short phrases or images, which we see everywhere online and sometimes even replacing the original language used pre-meme. I love that memes can be so uniting online as the world gets more divided, as a language that so many people can understand and use in a light-hearted way.
This book is extremely relevant today in the age where digital media is fully incorporated into my life and everyone else's as well. Since so much of our time is spent online as well, that gives more platforms for memes to develop and deepen in meaning. David Polgar, former contributor to Forbes, writes that "As more people speak in memes, the importance of understanding the references and overall language becomes crucial. To put it more bluntly, being meme illiterate means that you might not be fully understanding the web...the meaning in a meme could differ significantly from its literal meaning" (Polgar). This shows that even though internet memes are more widespread and integrated, they become more nuanced by necessity as well because they start having layers of depth and references that are needed to understand the meme.
Source:
Polgar, David. "Why Understanding Memes Is Important To Grasping What People Are Really Saying In 2020." Forbes, 4 June 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/davidryanpolgar/2020/06/04/why-understanding-memes-and-internet-humor-is-important-to-grasping-what-people-are-really-saying-in-2020/?sh=3848b2d24da2
I selected an article on The Atlantic, written by Charlie Warzel who writes for the Atlantic and his own newsletter called Galaxy Brain. The article is called 'Elon Musk's Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius'. I initially clicked on the article because of the headline--there is an innate nosy side of me who is curious to see what things the richest man in the world could possibly be texting about. The opening paragraph of the article simply sets the stage for "how unimpressive, unimaginative, and sycophantic the powerful men in Musk’s contacts appear to be" which was rather surprising to me (Warzel). Warzel explains how many of the contacts connected to Musk have a clear intention of trying to get closer to him, because of his status in the technology world, resulting in multiple cheesy, corny messages sent from adult men to Musk. Also during Musk's bid to buy Twitter, both Musk and his contacts seemingly throw around terms, new policy ideas, and money to each other without too much thought. As Warzel puts in words, "Is it surprising that rich people (including one of the world’s 10 richest men) are throwing money at their friends the way you might on a low-stakes poker night?" (Warzel). I think this article is important in our digital age simply just to show and bring awareness to what goes on between the Silicon Valley giants, and is eye-opening in the way that we don't see the level of professionalism that we would expect among people of their status, especially regarding big decisions such as the Twitter bid.
Source: Warzel, Charlie. "Elon Musk’s Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius." The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2022, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-musk-texts-twitter-trial-jack-dorsey/671619/.
Replies:
Hi []! I know exactly which meme you're talking about, that one is so funny and relatable too haha. I found it interesting to learn about the Black Forgiveness meme, I don't know that one but reading about it through your explanation really shows how memes can bring and teach us things beyond just humor, but to educate us in social and political issues as well.
awww that puppy is so cute []! makes me wish I was sleeping right now too HAHA. I find the article you picked really interesting and also true! Software has its place where it belongs right now and its place where it doesn't belong, and it also made me more aware that right now, we can't use software to fix everything. Also, your example of memes in Malaysian politics reminds me of old US political cartoons. It's so cool to see that people can use memes and their platforms to voice opinions for change.