A comment on memes
The latest meme that's been going around - the ask-and-I'll--tell-you-what-I-think-of-you one - has made me pause for thought.
It's as old as the hills, yes, I've seen this one go round at least a couple of times before. It's one of those I tend to read, because you can learn something new about people, sometimes. And sometimes about yourself. And - rarely - about what other people really think about you. But it's mostly coated in sugar; people are usually too chicken to write what they really think.
And it bears repeating. What people thought of you a year ago is quite likely a mile away from what they think of you now. You meet new people; people change, hairstyles change, interest rates fluctuate.
I think that these sort of posts are much better when they're not copied by the masses. If someone decided to do an opinion post and nobody copied it, it'd be far more interesting, because it'd be a point of focus. With everyone bandying them back and forth it's made a bit of a nonsense. It's like signing people's yearbooks: "Have I done Jenny? No? Why not? Actually, who's Jenny?"
One or two people have, by default, made all their replies to people's "me too!" comments private. On the whole, I like this idea better. You could make the post a memory, link to it on your userinfo page or have a friends-only post saying "comment here and I'll add you OR tell you why I don't like you" :)
My only actual worry is that people are using it as a mask. They're not being honest with themselves. They copy this meme in the hopes that person B will ask what they think, because really they've been itching to scream out what they think of person B for quite some time. So they do this, relish it, and most of their replies to other people are distinctly filler material. And you just know they're pissed off when person B doesn't ask. Is it even to tell person B they like/hate them? Or for the benefit of person C? The politics and the logic get quite twisted and hard to follow here. They do for me, and I expect other people are thinking along the same lines, though nobody's actually going to say it.
I don't know what this shows. Maybe it shows that people need an excuse to say how they feel. Maybe it's tact, not saying anything when it's not been asked. Maybe it's a peace offering, a way to solidify friendships or sweep old arguments under the rug. Maybe it's just people being bored in the office and enjoying mutual back-patting. I don't know. I know I think that friends shouldn't hide what they think of friends, or pretend to get on when in reality they're stabbing one another in the back, nor should they pretend to be bosom buddies when they hardly know each other. Hark at me, telling the world what it should or shouldn't do, eh?
Mostly I think people should be just as wary of these memes as those that take your personal information. You're putting down your feelings in a way that you are - by definition - unprepared to in the normal course of your journal writing, for all to see. If this is what people want to do and they need this as an excuse, fair enough. If else, I hope they take time out for once to examine their own motives and be honest with themselves... after all, pretty much nobody else cares, so the only person they're fooling is themselves, right?
Maybe I just like being the person to say what other people are thinking. It certainly got me kicked out of class enough when I was still in the educational system :)