35 Spot-On Anti-Memes That Aim To Destroy The Whole Meme Concept

To find out about the complex world of internet memes and the significance they have in our culture, Bored Panda reached out to Bradley E. Wiggins, an associate professor and department head of Media Communications at Webster Vienna Private University. Bradley has been researching digital culture, new media, games and simulations, and intercultural communication throughout his career, including memes, so he was happy to share some very interesting insights on the topic.

When asked what it is about memes that makes them so appealing, Bradley said it’s “humor and the need for humor (perhaps from a need to escape society, critique it, express something otherwise not available to a person in other contexts).”

“Acknowledgment of viral/virtual aspect of online communication as it is inherently highly visual and therefore (1) means people read less online and/or (2) people want or seek out visual abstracts of complicated subjects,” the professor explained and added that “perhaps most critically important to memes that address a politically or socio-culturally topic is the role of ideology.” Bradley also said that individuals who post such memes “may be reinforcing an identity that is essentially an extension of a given ideological practice.”

It turns out, different memes have very different roles. “Memes among far-right propagate hate and/or dis/misinformation willingly but along fairly clear ideological lines; memes can also demonstrate some literacy, for example, those COVID memes that might make fun of social distancing, masks, Zoom, etc. but not in a demeaning way. Rather the function of humor there is to ameliorate a stressful situation but also conveys 'correct' information, i.e. masks are useful, vaccines are important, social distancing is a necessary measure, etc.”

The professor also explained that memes have become so powerful they have penetrated nearly all aspects of culture, yet at different levels and/or intensities. “For example, in the lead-up to what became the Jan 6 (attempted) insurrection at the US Capitol building, memes and related content posted to 4chan's politics /pol/ board contained very clear indications of violent insurrectionist intent as early as Nov 2020.” Interestingly, “one can't necessarily say that those memes were part of mainstream culture (as problematic a term as that may be),” Bradley added.