Internet Hell

Last week, someone who I care about very much betrayed me on Facebook (and no, I will not name names).  They posted onto my wall in front of everyone (well not everyone, friends only- got that security down tight) a meme so horrible, so lazy, so treacly, that I may never be able to look at this person the same way again. That's right, it was a Minions meme.

What possesses otherwise sane and rational people to pass these garbage memes along like the digital herpes that that they are? I suspect it's the same reason "likes" flow like a raging river and "unlikes" are equally tossed about with an easy callousness on Facebook. And that reason is that people are dumb.

No, the reason is that most people don't think too hard about the images that whiz past them while scrolling about. It's just so easy to click an impulsive "like" and "share" as one wastes time on Facebook. As a consequence of this casualness there is a body of work allowed to fester and grow there, a lazy and incompetent collection of memes so outrageously bad and inept that pity is bypassed and only scorn must remain. These images, and other nonsense from around the web, make up what I can only call:

INTERNET HELL

And make no mistake, we're all burning in it all the time. Let's see some examples, shall we?

If your friend loves you more than your lover that might be a problem.

 Now this is not the meme that was posted to my wall (the one I received was worse in some ways) but this one has floated down my newsfeed MORE THAN ONCE. It has several hallmarks of an awful meme. First, children's cartoon images aimed at adults. Second, random schmaltzy (often nonsensical) text combined with images that have nothing to do with the text. And third, poor spelling and grammar (not so much an issue here, though it has no punctuation).

And finally, the issue that truly pisses me off: images that have been modified by people who have no idea how Photoshop or Illustrator or, hell, Ms-paint work. This Minions meme appears to have been modified at some point possibly (the two font styles, the poor spacing, color vs. black text) but it has held up fairly well ("well" being used subjectively here). Here is a better example of the modification issue:

Is this funny? I don't know. I've seen this posted by multiple people. I think the joke has to do with how strippers exist? Regardless, notice how the text is blurry. This image has been saved (most likely as a jpeg, a file type that can degrade over time) and resaved and reposted many times it appears. It possibly has been crudely placed on different colored backgrounds to appear as though it's a new meme, possibly for multiple people to try and claim ownership of it. And this blurry, badly aligned mess is the aftermath.

But as bad as these are . . . I have worse. It has become a sick obsession for me to collect these. As I post them here I will purge them from my computer's files, thus cleansing my hard drive and my soul.

As a final thought, I would like again to point out that every time Grandma posts a Snoopy meme about how much she loves her grandkids it's not time to pull out the pitchforks and torches. It's way too easy too absentmindedly engage with bad stuff out there- a click here, a click there and suddenly your friends are hiding your feed. So let's remember- don't blame those who repost, for they know no what they do. Blame the people who are creating these memes.

For it is they who must be stopped.