[bitoneill]

I don't see memes as infecting our minds so much as giving voice to something that is already there that doesn't come up in conversation. The Nike and Sweatshop meme wouldn't be funny if people didn't already know that Nike had faced charges of using sweatshops. We all have a friend who seems to have terrible luck, so when formalized as "Bad Luck Brian" it becomes a vehicle for finding humor in this.

[mmjaa]

Every word is a story and civilisation seems to be mostly motivated, right now, by the constant creation of new words.

Meme's are a consequence of the nature of our collective consciousness, wrapping up a big story into a simple, easily recognisable symbol and thus eventually, a word.

So we can't fault memes for being, because to do so is to ignore the means we can come to know ourselves, socially. This generation has memes; the 60's had them too. They're a naturally occurring consequence of collective reality.

[pharrington]

"I don't see memes as infecting our minds " See also: Tide pods.

[jrs95]

I like to combine Tide Pods with Ugandan Knuckles:

"Tide Pods are de way."