What Memes Mean: Rebecca Black And Pulse-Checking

Last updated on: July 29, 2011 at 11:07 am by Kirk Bozeman

What Memes Mean: Rebecca Black And Pulse-Checking 2011-07-29T11:07:59-06:00 Kirk Bozeman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m not a physician nor the son of a physician, but it’s my understanding that checking a person’s pulse gives doctors and nurses a sort of “quick and dirty” look at a person’s overall health. Obviously there are more tests that need to be done after a minor touch of the wrist, but if something’s wrong there, something’s probably wrong everywhere.

The constant barrage of internet memes that we plugged-in post-moderns have at our daily disposal offer us a great opportunity to check the pulse of our culture. Trying to define the idea of meme briefly (it’s a bit difficult to do), “memes” are the little pieces of culture that we pass from person to person. On the web, these tidbits typically hit us in the form of sound bites, jpegs, or video clips that go viral, gaining momentum and evolving along the way as they’re passed on via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ (?), etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUntx0pe_qI

What do we mean by “pulse check”? Take, for example, the Rebecca Black “Friday” debacle. The song was deliciously funny in its 3-minute awfulness. But (and I hate to be “that guy”) don’t you feel a tinge bad for the poor girl? Using this meme as a pulse check for our culture, it is apparent that we can be pretty mean spirited and judgmental, seem to care little for the feelings of others when enough of us is laughing, and have no problem bullying those with even the best intentions. From the insight this meme gives us, our “idiot culture” seems to be eroding into a “jerk culture” as well.

Memes can tell us what our culture finds funny, entertaining, encouraging, meaningful, and relevant. They can tell us a lot about the culture’s values, interests, and dark desires as well. Therefore, as Christians, the meme is a great way to take a deeper look at ourselves and see how much we are mirroring the world instead of standing apart from it, or maybe a better way to speak to our culture. This column will be a weekly pulse check of this type, vis-a-vis the exploration of these cultural tidbits.

So, the first question: If you had to sum up what internet memes as a whole tell us about our culture in a “quick and dirty” pulse check, what do you think they are saying?

Also, in the spirit of collegiality and mutual edification, this link should further elucidate some of these themes, perhaps in a more direct and understandable way…

Asides

rebecca black

What Memes Mean

Previous Post

July 29, 2011

Elsewhere: Piper on Twitter, Coffee, Google+, Mortal Kombat, etc.

Next Post

July 29, 2011 Mixed Signals: A Creative Muse Named Sharpie

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Asides Elsewhere Featured Film Games General Culture Headline Literature Music Of the Moment Podcast Politics RetroPost Sports Technology Television Uncategorized Viral

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz