Memes - Good Or Bad?

I personally think that memes signify the start of a bad trend on the internet.
I think the internet is heading towards a state of comedic stagnation. Can't we have creative thought that doesn't stem from cliched jokes?
Don't get me wrong, I think they're funny, but it's gotten to the point where originality is being replaced with fill-it-in templates. I would much rather see a few things that are genuine than a crapton of the same recycled joke.

That's not to say that they're all bad. Memes are changing. When I see new memes, I'm able to laugh at them. However, I'm getting fed up with seeing "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" and "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED" and "FOREVER ALONE" all the time. It was funny at first, but then they went mainstream and it got really unfunny.

What do you think? Are memes okay, or are they a sign of laziness?

forever alone! wait wat

I don't think they're going anywhere, so deal with it.

:D

As long as a single person doesn't abuse any given meme, it doesn't really bother me. I remember one person using 'NOU' so often, it sort of irritated me, but he's gone now lol

i like the memes i use lol i dont really look around for new ones but until i get tired of the ones i use meh :P

I think they're okay, they seem to be a fad right now. Hopefully that fad will die out and memes will continue but will remain funny. As the internet content changes the memes should change.

This is probably what really gets me, maybe I'm just bitter :(

I'm not trying to sound elitist or anything, maybe it's just the people I talk to that always abuse these jokes.

EDIT: Yeah, that's the saving grace of memes- they change. It's a cycle, new ones will be funny, and the old ones will be replaced.

However, what I'm afraid of is that what happens when the old ones get old-- that's when a lot of people find out about them and it doesn't really "die". A lot of memes are still relevant, but I'm still hearing "OVER 9000!!!!" a lot.

Yeah...I can see that. Some have lost their luster.

you have no idea how bitter i am toward "nou" "you are a xxx" "thats what she said" lol i tend to just ignore it when people say it to me now lol

The new memes that look like they were drawn by someone r-tard don't make me laugh (Fuuu, Chalange, le crap memes, ext). I want my cheezburger back!

not much different from WAZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA or I NEED TP FOR MY BUNGHOLE or any other widespread jokes, internet just makes them more accessible for everyone!

I don't consider "that's what she said" a meme. I remember hearing that the first time about 20 years ago when I used to hang out in the shop with my dad and his friends building drag cars.

close enough

op mad
They are fine with me, but the use of meme's (umad,ujellyetc) as instigation is pretty lame to me.

ujelly :D

udoggy?

Where the fu** did they come from? Totally missed when they became popular and get a mild chuckle from them at best now that I see them everywhere.

Profanity filter. URL at the bottom.

also for op

my bad didn't notice that bar at the bottom.

I'd take this as an insult but I'm too busy being a cynical a-hole to care


But seriously, that's not the impression I'm trying to give, I'm just saying how some jokes get really old. Where's that beaten horse .gif when I need it?

Example: "Haste takes time to proc" was hilarious the first few days, but if I said it now it would have lost its shine. Sure, a reference here and there is funny, but not hearing variations of the same overdone joke multiple times every day.

You could ask the same questions about offline comedy. Hate to break it to you, but memes are really nothing new. The only new thing is that they're so widespread thanks to the internet.

EDIT: basically what Fondue said but 30 minutes later

It's much easier to take a picture from the internet than to make something yourself.

But you're right, it's not limited to just the internet. As you said, it's much more widespread, so (to me) it has a tendency to be overdone. The problem isn't that it happens, but that it happens so much. This is just my opinion though.

Memes aren't great but

It's usually groan worthy stuff. Most of it are pretty much inside jokes, which of course, make no damn sense out of context. So it ends up looking incredibly stupid.

Not in a 'ha, he made a pun! How absurdly uncool!' way, but in a "I loves Newgrounds check out my Sonic the Hedgehog AMV" way.

Internet memes are corny and weak, and like you said, they are definitely a sign of laziness. In my opinion, they became popularized because in some ways, memes "level the playing field" with regard to intelligence and originality among internet users.

For example, there's no where in real-life, aside from an elementary school playground, where saying "No U!" or "U mad?" or "U jelly?" (all of which are basically the internet equivalent of "I know you are, but what am I?!?") is considered anything but pathetic and immature. And yet, in the current internet culture, using those memes is not only accepted, but often praised. Dumb, right?

You talked about it being the "start of a bad trend" though, when in reality it's part of a trend that started at the dawn of civilization.

They go away after a while.

I don't hear almost any mention at all nowadays of lolcat-references ("speedy cat sure is speedy", "ceiling cat is watching", etc.), Xhibit "yo dawg" memes, mudkip memes, "I'm Rick James, b@#@$", etc. at least in average ffxiah.com posts. All of those used to be super-popular.

As Night mentioned image usage is part of zeitgeist and pop culture before the internet. Wide-spread use of cartoon characters like "The Yellow Kid" (by different creators/cartoonists), Kilroy Was Here (from World War 2), or sayings like "Frodo Lives!" (in the 70's) were all technically memes.