As a teenager, I was introduced to the word “Peak” in relation to Oil, the panic around us running out of oil was gladly pushed by the media of the day, and panic ensued with the NZ govt. Introducing “Carless-days” in which you could only drive your car on certain days. We finally found out there was no shortage of oil really, just idiot leaders of certain countries...Read more here

A Google search for Covid memes runs into the millions

I feel the same with the Meme culture today, Terrance McKenna the doyen of the psychedelic 60-70’s revolution spoke a lot about memes and his description was that a Meme was the boiled down facts, understandable in an easy glance, and usually relating to “self-evident” truths (He himself now the subject of memes!)

A meme according to Wikipedia “A meme (/miːm/ MEEM)[1][2][3] is an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme.”

Memes have been weaponised

I think what has been really revealed is that when it comes to memes we have no fear about shouting our thoughts to anyone and everyone, and with the current feeling out it is easy to see two sides are not relenting in their pursuit of truth. We had the ridiculous memes, decrying, shaming their evil non-believers and they are only getting worse!

This makes me think that Memes have lost their relevance

We aren’t particularly worried about who is the target of our meme guns. And now I don’t think most people pay much attention to anything that is contrary to their own belief, we just look for meems that echo what we think. Unless we let it trigger us, and then we log a few memes back at the opposition.

I could spend hours pulling apart many of the memes that have evolved in the last 2 years, but I would fall into the same trap that many Memesters have created for us. Will memes save us? No, they should only be brief notes that draw our attention to the current state. Some memes are downright nasty and very targeted, and they serve only to polarise the world. Left V Right, Blue V Red, Meat V Vegan, Pro-Life V Pro-Choice… and the list is endless.

I personally think the meme will need to work harder in the future and I promise to be a bit more careful before a press the “Share” button