Zoë Strickland | Editor-in-Chief
I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but the past couple years have been a bit stressful. Regardless of what side you’re on, the election has taken its toll and, in recent months, it’s hard to open up a tech device without getting piles of notifications about scandals or court trials. It’s virtually impossible to stay connected on social media without receiving countless notifications about breaking news. So, in a world where news is being shoved down the throats of the populous 24/7, how do we cope? Well, dear reader, I think we’ve begun coping with memes.
As someone who identifies as being at least moderately hoity-toity, I generally try and downplay the level of internet trash that I am. However, I’m internet trash and the internet has been excessively trashy lately — particularly when it comes to avoiding any semblance of stressful information.
Hear me out: I love a good vine compilation and I live for crappy Kermit/tea combinations. However, at least throughout my own journey through the internet, it seems like people are using humor more and more to just avoid the reality of what’s going on in the world around them. Instead of having compelling conversations about rights or privacy, people are instead posting images that use sarcasm as a way of conveying information — it’s like the extreme version of people who only got their news from watching “The Colbert Report” or “The Daily Show.” It works by bare-minimum standards, but it could definitely be better.
Take, for example, the most recent Mark Zuckerberg case: a trial wherein Zuck’ had to stand before Congress because of a Facebook security breach. Rather than hearing actual news about the trial or the questions and comments made, my feed was clogged with jokes about his hair, his makeshift booster seat and comments about his childlike demeanor. Though some of the jokes made were harmless, they detract from the issue at hand. In cases like these, they can get in the way of information that could be beneficial — especially since Facebook reports having over one billion users. Where people should have been concerned about the security breach and the power that Facebook has, they were instead focused on infantilizing a grown adult.
Though I think that memes are a way of avoidance, there’s also an argument to be made in favor of memes as a way of allowing people to detract from reality in a way that’s positive for their mental health. Humor can be healing, and it’s important to acknowledge that.
Many marginalized groups use this type of online humor to connect with people that share similar circumstances.
“Increasingly, identity-based virtual communities are becoming invaluable tools for fostering solidarity and healing, and for providing humor in the face of socio-political adversity,” explained writer Ludmilla Leiva in a March 2017 piece for Wired. “Finding amusement in dire circumstances has been both empowering and cathartic, and though I still participate in other types of activism, memes have become my favorite form of resistance.”
While I think that using different media to form relationships with people in your community is important, that isn’t all they’re used for.
Instead of blindly jumping on the newest internet bandwagon, I think we should start evaluating the ramifications of the ‘harmless’ jokes we share on social media. Are we doing it as a way of contributing to the conversation, or as a way of withdrawing from reality?
Contact the author at zstrickland14@wou.edu
