• mommykink@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think so, unless I’ve been misinterpreting these memes for years. I’ve always understood it to be like the Lisa Simpson one, where the text is just a stand-in for OP’s “controversial” opinion and wants to open up a discussion

    • AnonTwo@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It’s a pompous asshole egging people on to prove him wrong

      It has a different tone from the Lisa one

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I can confirm, you’re misinterpreting the memes. Originally it was acknowledging that they’re an asshole themselves that hold a technically correct but ultimately contrarian or socially disrupting opinion. They might be right, but they are still assholes who are antagonizing the public to derive personal entertainment from outrage at the cost of actually constructive dialogue. It’s the epitome of bad faith arguing. Most people fail to identify this nuance and use the meme format incorrectly, thus rendering its original meaning obsolete.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        I would argue that this is part of how memes evolve just like language. The original context is largely lost and forgotten and with that the use of the format changes over time

        • glimse@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You’re right, every single meme template is a race to the bottom. No matter how niche it starts it’ll inevitably become generic as it’s reposted over and over and over