• squid_slime@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Its more to do with the connotation of calling something a meme.

    Maybe I am out of the loop but the description for a meme that was previously given has never occupied my mind whilst seeing a meme.

    Eat the rich with the laymen’s understanding of a meme does not fit the perceived definition.

    Where as eat the rich and its evolution still has the same connotation as it had when first spoken, most likely due to it be a quite with historical meaning.

    I am wrong with the given definition but I still see there being understandable confusion and a need for meme to evolve for it to used without confusion.

    • livus@kbin.social
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      7 months ago

      No it’s really a very similar situation - meme was coined in 1976 (Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene) and was pretty widely known.

      Internet memes were thus named because they are literally a subset of memes. So for people who know the wider meaning of the term it’s still got the same connotations. Calling internet memes “memes” isn’t problematic for us.

      What’s happened to you is kind of like when people say “animal” but they’re only thinking of mammals. In most contexts the missing scope isn’t noticeable.

      Which is understandable but going after someone for not knowing about the French revolution is a lot like going after someone for not knowing about meme theory.