Britain could start by banning the unnecessary junk that is added to so much of our food before blaming the internet.
There will never be a 'meme ban' because what they're suggesting is a meme isn't even a meme - thats just an idea thats championed for a while.
'Banning' memes would require banning in-jokes, trends, Adidas Superstars or slang as well. Yes, I know I just took it literally...
The internet 'clique (*eye roll*)' I'm part of introduced me to memes, they were candid and just in-jokes with each other. We never shared them outside 'The Clique'.
One of them was just photos of bread rolls, and the one that had me fully accepted into the clique was simply
'and that was the news today' with
this 'feel like a sir' face. We're all still close,
years later and most of what we have in common are those ideas/memes/jokes and the campaigns we did. It was stupid, simple fun.
Outside of the clique, my favourite memes are
The Simpsons memes and philosophy memes (it lends itself so well to the idea of fast-ideology).
I detest memes that bring levity and glamour to mental illness like I detest self-deprecation (not humility, totally different). Whether it's normalising cultural binge eating or throwing glamour all over borderline personality disorder, both of which are damaging
to a point - it's a
disgrace to the whole art of internet based memes.
Most aren't even funny, which was the point, but also it was supposed to be an
idea that was 'relatable'
and because it's the internet: comedic - a huge percent of this
crap is just wallowing, which in
any medium is annoying.
Oddly, I had this discussion this past spring about the psychological effect of memes - they weren't going for the obesity angle, they were going for the depression angle.
While I agree that it
is unhelpful towards those who are depressed in the same way that being on an ED (even a straight diet site, now I think about it) site hurts recovering-disordered people - it normalises behaviours which skews ones own thoughts - I'm just annoyed that the memes that are genuinely funny are being phased out in favour of the most
boring ideas. I stopped logging into my social media because of the saturation of mental illness as a commodity.
That said, I am vehemently against censorship of any speech and find the authoritarian sentiment of whatever "meme ban" has been issued highly disconcerting.
Figured I'd quote you here, Elle, because this
is an issue that I think needs clarification. I share your stance of anti-censorship (however, I also think that my, and certainly a handful of others' paranoia is warped and easily seduced to appear at irrelevant times. The fear based manipulation is disgusting) so this isn't entirely directed towards you, but does address your concern.
No need to be disconcerted!
It isn't as simplistic as that, and although the spin on it for the past few months has been adamant, it really has little to do with censorship (unless you're talking about the fact that the Swedish government decided the 'Distracted Boyfriend' meme was sexist... which is something else). You only need look at the companies that are lobbying against it to see how little about true
censorship it is and more about finance.
Succinctly, because the big ones (Google, FB, Twitter) don't pay proper taxes due to loopholes, the EU is clumsily trying to claw money out of a 'new' format of sharing in the name of 'giving control back to the European creative industry', but also because it's costing
them a huge amount.
The panic is ridiculous. It all regards copyright and hyperlinking (which as we all know is a quick way for a person who has to host a website and pay for bandwidth to rack up a huge bill - limiting that is
not a bad thing, some people go crazy and hotlink 8MB photos - don't get me started on GIFs - which is a load of data to be shelling out for) which is why Imgur.com banned forums from using them as a host (specifically jcink, IF, pro boards etc), I imagine that is one of the reasons SGF is safeguarded from hot linking images as there are a lot of guests browsing and the photos that are uploaded are usually very high quality.
Alleged 'meme bans' are simply a side effect in that they won't be as easily shareable - I personally think thats a good thing as it will encourage people to use real
words and
language instead of being idle.. but at the same time? It isn't going to change much of anything.
What the businesses and their law teams are suggesting is capable of 'eradicating' Google News is stupid - they'll never stop RSS feeds, and a glamorous RSS feed
with advertising is all Google News is... and the fact YouTube(Google) 'warned' against it?
There is
no 'meme ban'. They just want 'responsible' use of data to be enforced instead of being glossed over (the copyright laws have always been there, the terms of 'fair use' are just very hazy!) and the 'mad men' behind these huge businesses are appealing to the main user base of their sites by yelling buzz that they'll relate with (and like you and I would in terms of censorship).
It's very manipulative, actually, when at the core of the issue in 'theory' it will help a lot of young European musicians, artists and writers - although
that I find suspect as well, if we're being frank, which thanks to the premise of the site I assume we all are.
...I could ramble a little about how I worry that 'pasted' links etc would then be archived and invoiced, so individual users and their traffic might then be at risk (and doesn't that just yet again conflict with the new GDPR laws?) but I won't, I'll go bury my head in the sand and pretend my privacy is perfect instead.
and so on, and so on... *sniff* 
memes are a relatively new phenomenon
Sorry I haven't replied, work scooped me up, but I'm
back.. and this is what I say in reply to this:
Love you, Wittgenstein. ;]
bless her tiny stomach and fast metabolism...)
