I am so embarrassed, I had no idea.....

What can I say...

Sometimes I get a little carried away on my moral high horse and I feel the need to point out to other people where they are lacking while I am the one that is uninformed. I guess we all know the feeling but still...

Internet memes. Some funny but mostly annoying words, phrases, expressions or iconic images that travels our digital highway so fast that almost instantly at the point of creation they become annoying because you already saw it a hundred times...

Hey, don't get me wrong, some are really funny!! ............. (for a short while)

The problem starts when, in this tidal wave of Internet memes, you manage to miss one.......

This is where my embarrassing moment started and what is actually the reason for this thread

Impossible as it may seem, I admit it, I missed a meme.

Last night I ran into a post by an unnamed member in that epic thread full of funny pictures. I was unaware he was in fact posting a legendary meme which was an evolved version of a classic in which Spiderman is laying sick in bed claiming he got cancer because of the quality of a certain post.

(logically the meme in question would be posted here but I really don't feel like posting it)

Know your meme explains:

“That Post Gave Me Cancer” is an image macro series commonly used in response to nonsensical or insubstantial posts submitted by the original poster (OP) or other users in a given thread. This hyperbolic expression implies that the content in question was so far below one’s expectation that it infected the reader with “cancer”, a slang term that is typically used on 4chan to express one’s disgust towards a trend or a thread.

I suspect I know why I didn't recognize this pearl of a meme when it was peaking on the Internet, simply because I just assumed only people with the mental capacity of a 4 year old would try to turn a terrible disease into a "funny"......

How wrong I was...

The expression as a matter of fact is so powerful in it's ability to be funny that it has evolved to the point that it doesn't even need a picture anymore. It has become a full fledged expression that is accepted and can be used in message boards without people thinking you're a complete ......

Anyway I feel very embarrassed for trying to point out to a fellow ATS member how "unfunny" he was when, in retrospect, I was the one not denying ignorance.

I hope you kind folk can forgive my foolish ways and I will try to do better.

I am so embarrassed, I had no idea.....

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Don't sweat it

Meme or not, it isn't in the least bit funny to relate cancer to anything other than the search for a cure.

Whilst I appreciate I'm not young and hip, I still hold my standards high, (well apart from some of my threads )

I'd have done the same

Sometimes ignorance can be bliss

Cody

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Internet is serious business!

Originally posted by operation mindcrime

I hope you kind folk can forgive my foolish ways and I will try to do better.

I am so embarrassed, I had no idea.....

You should not be embarrased and you are certainly not foolish for having a heart Mindcrime (your OP also proves that!)... i totally agree with Cody and would say exactly the same thing.

I had no idea either so would have probably felt like you too.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by cody599


Thanks for those kind words. (Almost makes me not feel bad about not being young and hip anymore )

Peace

Originally posted by Rodinus
I had no idea either so would have probably felt like you too.

Yeah, I guess you have to stay on top of these things or you'll end up not understanding a single conversation.

Peace

Originally posted by sixswornsermon
reply to post by operation mindcrime

 

Internet is serious business!

It is!!

Makes it extra important to hold on to certain norms, I guess

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


That darn high horse can be very tempting and I think it's great when we can look at ourselves and realize that sometimes a word or phrase has hit us sideways.

I will admit that some memes are wickedly funny. However, The fact that "meme speak" has become an acceptable way to communicate is disheartening. It reminds me of trying to have a conversation with someone who can only communicate through bumper sticker sayings and well worn slogans. The fact that it's acceptable on the "internets" is no reason to allow it to continue without challenging what is behind the slogan or meme or catch phrase.

This is one of the many reasons I truly appreciate ATS, and I would hope that just because this kind of vernacular is common place on forums everywhere, that we would not be afraid to challenge the poster to get to the thought processes behind the saying. I would hate to see these forums riddled with one liners, and post after post of " fail losers".

Penny

reply to post by pennylemon


I couldn't agree any more. I hope ATS will remain my bastion of civil discussion.

(I'm sorry for my short replies. I realy don't want to do a "hit 'n run" thread but my connection keeps going down...aarrgghh)

Peace

Dude don't sweat it. I saw the post and was kinda surprised you over reacted, i had to double check the meme, just to assure myself it is a meme that i knew.

reply to post by operation mindcrime
I have never heard of it before. Maybe that makes me "uncool" but if making a jab at someone includes a joke about cancer and is considered the hip young thing to do I think I will stick to being an old fuddy duddy.

reply to post by operation mindcrime

At least it shows that you have not lost the capacity for critical thinking,how many"young and hip" meme followers would have gone down the same road as you did?
Memes in general worry me greatly, as they do appear to be offering a simple.foolproof means of enabling communication with others through the meme,no need for actual reasoned thought plus another nail in the coffin potentially for language as we know it.
Still that's Newspeak for you!

I don't think you need to apologize at all!
Just because something is popular "on the internet"...doesn't mean it's funny.
I have had friends die of cancer...and a couple who are battling it now.
Some memes have been amusing, but the ones that push a personal button (like cancer)...well, they just aren't funny to me.
You're a good egg OP...getting upset shows that you care.
I care too.
jacygirl

reply to post by nake13


Meme are nothing but "subtle" jab at others people in the form of annoyance, ignorance or sarcasm.

Richard Dawkins probably never thought his word was going to be used for such purpose hahaha.

A meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."[2] 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.