Recent EA memes. In the comments of this post. Please don't downvote without actually looking at the memes.
For:
- Memes may not currently be a part of the forum culture but they could be
- Memes are good for spreading ideas
- This is only a single post a month. It won't spam the forum
Against:
- Memes can spread bad ideas as well as good ones, and it's hard to be exact in a single image with a few words
Norms:
- This is a public forum. Not all memes will be suitable
- I expect more sarcasm here than on other posts on the forum
- Credit the person who originally created the meme
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Comments38
Can we discuss this a little?
I'm curious why you wouldn't want one clearly labelled post a month:
- You can ignore it
- If it's low quality you won't see it anyway
You say that you want meme posts confined to Reddit, which suggests to me you don't think they are the right sort of content for the forum. Is that the reason? If so, how are (suitable) memes different from short stories.
I'd expect people to react very different to memes, so I'm very open to being persuaded that having memes on the Forum is in fact a good idea. But my independent impression is that memes to some degree trivialize our message, and that insofar as there's a place for them in the larger EA ecosystem, it is not on the Forum, which I see primarily as a place for conducting high-quality, high-fidelity intellectual discussion.
I really like your point and perhaps, in some sense, we should see this as something akin to "find a meme that Pablo might appreciate" - something that compress an EA message or discussion without trivializing or perverting it. I think that's quite hard - analogous to trying to produce a work of art using cheap materials and techniques any kid can dominate. So my answer is that Facebook is where memes are made and reproduce, but we should have another place where they are selected - and perhaps it might be here, precisely because it's a different environment.
Sorry to get into aesthetics, but maybe you could change people’s minds if you could show a meme that is as peculiar or poignant as (pseudo-)Hemingway’s "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." This might have an interesting effect on a new reader. Sometimes, comic strips can be like that.
But most memes end up just using a standard graphic format to display a very straightforward simplified message that is only interesting (and often trivial) for the in-group… they remind me of badges, flags, or slogans, and they soon become repetitive. This is not bad (I like it, indeed - that's why I check the fb group daily), but it requires you to enjoy this particular practice as an in-group and to share the corresponding references. And it won’t make you look at things in another way.
Sometimes, though, I think a meme can express an original joke (not just a simple mockery of the out-group), and use the corresponding format to enhance its effect (usually through contrast – like having a very intellectual debate instantiated in the American chopper meme) – but the technique will soon be copied (like having a very intellectual debate in the American chopper meme). And perhaps a meme can be as creative as a good short story, though I can’t recall anything like that right now; that’s a meme that should endure.
Don't think it's hosted on the forum, when I right-click and copy image link I get https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/259629194_10220039871613660_9218217279654834365_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=tnrYKfG2lQ4AX8LlETd&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=5af3c7d105c83cc6c472526d4573647c&oe=61A320C8 which looks like a Facebook URL.
I see the image now (weirdly, it's a stylized form of https://reductress.com/post/quiz-are-you-even-good-enough-to-have-imposter-syndrome/ )
This post brought me joy, and I would enjoy it being a monthly thing. I'm weakly pro it being on the Front Page, though I expect I'd see it even if it was a Personal Blog. I'd feel sad if memes became common in the rest of the Forum though - having a monthly post feels like a good compromise to me.
Thanks. I kinda see memes as a very cheap and compressed form of creative writing - a standardized comic strip for mass consumption. That's why I commend this post, and the idea of getting some feedback from people outside the Facebook group. On the other hand, maybe, instead of a monthly selection, it would be cool to have some sort of ranking, or even contest regarding the best memes... Something even people who are not meme-addicted could appreciate - a meme for each tribe. Actually, I think it'd be particularly interesting to have feedback from people who, like Pablo, don't really like memes - because if they eventually appreciate certain meme, that's a strong signal it could spread further. But, TBH, I didn't enjoy this particular selection.
There are plenty of downsides to memes (especially when I don't agree with the meme's premise/take), but one upside is that they can be a very quick and easy way for someone to be introduced to EA. There's a small chance that the right meme meets the right person in the right context, and that could mean the difference between the community having that great person and not.
Plus, having some light-hearted content around may be healthy.
I'm unsure about how it all balances out though.
Sorry to get into aesthetics, but maybe you could change people’s minds if you could show a meme that is as peculiar or poignant as (pseudo-)Hemingway’s "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." This might have an interesting effect on a new reader. Sometimes, comic strips can be like that.
But most memes end up just using a standard graphic format to display a very straightforward simplified message that is only interesting (and often trivial) for the in-group… they remind me of badges, flags, or slogans, and they soon become repetitive. This is not bad (I like it, indeed - that's why I check the fb group daily), but it requires you to enjoy this particular practice as an in-group and to share the corresponding references. And it won’t make you look at things in another way.
Sometimes, though, I think a meme can express an original joke (not just a simple mockery of the out-group), and use the corresponding format to enhance its effect (usually through contrast – like having a very intellectual debate instantiated in the American chopper meme) – but the technique will soon be copied (like having a very intellectual debate in the American chopper meme). And perhaps a meme can be as creative as a good short story, though I can’t recall anything like that right now; that’s a meme that should endure.