Meme fatigue

Jan 10, 2010 15:14

Ok, you know, I know all those "Copy and paste this in your journal if you care about X!" memes mean well, and in some cases they serve an important purpose in making X more visible to the community at large. HOWEVER, it pisses me the hell off when the text of the meme implies that if you don't copy and paste the meme, then you're an uncaring lout who probably hopes that those affected by X drown in a sewer while you torture their puppy and laugh like Snidely Whiplash at their dying gurgles.

The one I've seen most often is the GLBT rights meme, and lately there's a cancer meme going around. Both of these subjects are important to me. I am gay, and I have family members with cancer, and I work for the American Cancer Society. I can paste a gay rights meme into my journal - but I'd rather contribute to the Lambda Legal Defense Fund. I can paste a cancer meme into my journal - but I'd rather go to work and help cancer patients.

I'm not knocking people who do the memes. Doing the memes and raising awareness of the problems is great. But memes that attempt to guilt people into doing them? Do not want. I often feel that I don't do nearly enough. But if I were to start doing more, it wouldn't be pasting memes.

barb is cranky, stabbity

Previous post Next post
Up
[]