How Memes are Taking Over the Internet

Writing the Emancipation Proclamation political cartoon

        Memes: You've probably heard of them, seen them, or even made them, but where did they come from? Why are they called memes? How do you make them? In this blog I will dive into the history of memes, and share the information with you.


  Memes go much further back than you might expect them to. The term meme wasn't invented until 1976, but far before then there were cartoons, comics, and drawings that were the memes of there time. For example, during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, a lot of Americans made fun of him through political cartoons. One political cartoon that got very famous was a photo of Lincoln writing the emancipation proclamation. This photo went viral because of how it showed that being the president wasn't a smooth or easy job, and a lot of people found it relatable to their lives.

      Most memes these days are nothing like they were back then. Back then a lot of them were drawings about political events, usually without "funny" or "relatable" captions. There wasn't such thing as the internet back then, so most of them weren't as widespread as they are now. Memes have changed a lot. The definition of an internet meme is "a concept or idea that spreads "virally" from one person to another via the Internet." -webopedia.com. They are usually a photo or video with a funny,

sarcastic, or relatable caption. 

The popular Blurry Krusty Krab meme

 Some notable examples of modern 

day memes are Pepe the frog, 

the Catch Me Outside girl,

and the blurry krusty krab. 

Some people have made livings out of running  

meme accounts, with millions of followers, 

and lots of ad revenue. 

       

          The word meme came from the biologist Richard Dawkins 1976 book where he says:
"We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, 
or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds  
a bit like ‘gene’. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. 
If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to ‘memory’, or to the
French word même. It should be pronounced to rhyme with ‘cream’."
I don't know about you, but I wasn't expecting this to be where the word 'meme' came from.

      In my opinion, memes are a great thing. If I'm ever sad, I'll look at some memes, and if I ever want to cheer other people up, I'll make one. There are lots of ways to make memes, and I'll share two of them with you. The first one is simple: Use twitter. Most memes that you see these days are just a picture with a twitter caption above it. Just screenshot the twitter post and crop your username out of it. Here is an example:

Cropped version of Twitter post

Screenshot of Twitter post

      The second way to make them is download and app to make them. Some good apps are PicMeme, Mematic, and Meme Design. Once you have an app you can easily follow the instructions, find a good photo, and come up with a good caption. If you want to know some more about making memes,

feel free to check this awesome website that I found out: http://bit.ly/2lDg8cW

        In my opinion, there is nothing bad about memes: they are funny, witty, and relatable all at once. They make me laugh, and I feel like they are a good little distraction from all of the hate and negativity in the world right now. 

Sources:

Writing the Emancipation Proclamation. Digital image. Abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org. N.p., n.d. Web.

Blurry Krusty Krab. Digital image. Smosh. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

"Where the Word Meme Comes From." Today I Found Out. Today I Found Out, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Beal, Vangie. "Internet Meme." What Is Meme? Webopedia Definition. Webopedia, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.


 Memes, Dank. "Dank Memes (@DankMemes)." Twitter. Twitter, 24 Feb. 2017. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.