THE REAL LJ IDOL SEASON 9 -- WEEK 9: KEEP CALM AND END THIS MEME
THE DEATH OF A MEME
As many of you are already aware, I am the creator of a meme here on LiveJournal. Admittedly it's not a hugely popular meme -- it apparently never spread beyond the confines of LiveJournal... but those folks who are aware of its existence seem to like it.
On the one hand, I'm proud of what I've created, and the fact that so many other people enjoy my silly little idea. But the nature of this particular meme practically requires me to be an active participant in it... and for a variety of reasons I simply can't do that any more. Not that this is any huge loss: I started this thing by deliberately mocking a previously existing meme, and to a certain extent I was ridiculing Internet memes in general. As such, turning my mocking statement into a new meme rather defeats the whole purpose of my initial post... and my actively promoting it could be viewed as hypocritical.
So I see no point in my continuing this meme any further. But I suppose it's only right and fair that I list the history of the development of this idea before I formally put it to bed. But make no mistake: after this post I have absolutely no intention of referring to this meme ever again... and that will likely put an end to it.
So without any further ado, for what will be the absolutely final time, allow me to explain the history and development of "The Gang of Four" meme.
When I first set up my account on LiveJournal back in 2003, I was a member of a now defunct group/feed called Kittenbreak. It was directly affiliated with the web site of the same name, which contained a host of pictures of (what else?) cute, cuddly kittens. Every day a random picture from the site would be posted to the LiveJournal group for people to comment on... and the comments would invariably be either silly captions of what the kitten was likely thinking/saying (rather like the LOLcats meme), or statements along the lines of "OMG HE'S SO CUTE I CAN'T TAKE IT! *DIES*"
Now, I enjoy pictures of kittens as much as the next person, but after being exposed to such unoriginal commentary for several weeks, my mind began to rebel against such insipid repetition... and when the opportunity came to "change the rules of the game", I took it.
One day, the following picture was posted in Kittenbreak:
When I saw this photo, I was instantly reminded of something my good friend p_m_cryan had told me years before, regarding a group of stray cats that lived near her childhood home: Members of her family referred to those cats using a term from a news story regarding several leaders of Communist China... and the group name was a perfect description of this quartet of kittens.
And so, I posted the following comment regarding the picture:
"Using the subversive power of cuteness to paralyze all human opposition, The Gang of Four launched their campaign for world domination."
I had the good fortune to be the very first person to comment on the picture... and the general reaction from the folks who posted after I did could be summed up in one word: "Spit-take". But then someone posed the question: Why should humans choose to resist such a takeover? After all, The Gang of Four only wanted us to pet them, feed them and play with them -- acts most cat lovers would perform all too willingly. But then I reminded everyone of the secret horror that awaited all humans who submitted to the dominion of these feline overlords, the odious task that no one ever speaks of:
The Gang of Four would require us to... *SHUDDER*... clean their litter box!
Despite my warning, many members of Kittenbreak willingly surrendered themselves to the authority of The Gang of Four. And thus I tried to mount a desperate Resistance movement against these fiendish felines, warning my fellow humans that each new picture posted in Kittenbreak was actually one of The Gang's numerous minions:
* The kitten napping peacefully was obviously a sleeper agent.
* The kitten partially hiding under a bed sheet had to be an undercover operative.
* And the cat staring at the viewer with a wise expression was their inspirational leader, Mow Sie-Tung.
Further, when a photo of a particularly adorable kitty was posted and various people commented that they had just died from a case of "Cuteness Overload" from viewing the picture, I pointed out that the kitten must be an assassin working for The Gang of Four, as it had been obviously trained in the fatal Oriental art of The Killer Cute (aka "Teh Killler Kyooooot"!) I would sadly tot up the body count as each poor fool declared themselves "ded frum teh kyooooot" -- As I recall the record holder took out 80 humans before its photo was supplanted by a new one. The Resistance was fighting a losing battle...
Then, when all seemed lost, Humanity created an effective defense against The Gang of Four and their minions: One day the photo posted in Kittenbreak showed a feline lying upon a carpeted floor in what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable position... and the expression on the cat's features was that of an angry scowl.
In my comments I explained both the cat's unnatural posture and its displeased demeanor thusly: The creature was an infiltration agent from The Gang of Four that had been captured in the act by The Resistance's latest weapon: The Velcro Carpet Trap! And thus, the battle was on!
For about a year, I and several other members of the Kittenbreak forum continued to post comments detailing The Resistance's struggle against the The Gang of Four and their minions... and the meme became so popular within Kittenbreak that when I occasionally wrote statements which had nothing to do with the meme, I would be chided by other people for my obvious "dereliction of duty" in "humanity's struggle for freedom from the International Conspiracy of Kittens (aka I.C.K.)"! Yeah it was silly... but it was fun.
And then one day, the Kittenbreak feed on LiveJournal just... stopped. No new pictures were posted... and thus, there was no point in putting up new comments. Apparently the Kittenbreak home site had been shut down without warning. And slowly, the various members of the Kittenbreak LiveJournal group began to go their own separate ways.
That was nearly a decade ago... and the loss of the feed still hurts me in a way that's hard to describe. Oh, I know all about the new feed splodefromcute, and I do enjoy it... but it's just not the same!
I have done my best to research what happened to the original Kittenbreak site and feed, but solid information has been almost impossible to find. Indeed, there appears to be an active cover-up going on, as if someone doesn't want people to know that Kittenbreak ever existed. And in retrospect, I realize there is only one possible explanation for the demise of Kittenbreak.com and its associated LiveJournal feed:
The Resistance Movement has failed... and The Gang of Four has won.
And allow me to say that I, for one, welcome our new feline overlords!
So remember, humans: Do as you're told and you won't be assigned to litter box duty... maybe.
In conclusion, allow me to present the banner proclaiming the motto of The New World Order:
This post is an entry for The Real Livejournal Idol Season 9, Week 9. It was based on the prompt "Keep Calm and End This Meme." If you enjoyed reading it, please vote for it by clicking here. My check box is 11th from the top.