It’s Not You, It’s Meme

What happened to all those great Facebook thingamajigs that expressed a profound sentiment in a really funny and original way? The memes that seemed to know what we were all thinking but didn’t have the courage (or creative expressionism) to say!

You know – the Gene Wilder one that was often used in mock wonder. Or the one that had six pictures on it and depicted the various humorous ways in which a job or hobby was seen by different people? Or – my personal fave –  the Batman slapping Robin one? (Robin: It’s raining outside. Batman: I have a fucking window! Chortle! Comic genius!)

Some of them were amusing, sure, but after they’d been displayed and distributed about 40 times, it got a bit old.

Then — just like the turkey in Christmas Story — they are gone! All gone! No meme a la King! No meme sandwiches! Gone!

What happened? I can’t remember the last time I saw Gene Wilder. How am I supposed to cunningly express dismissive sarcasm as it pertains to the important events of the day?? Come on Gene, don’t leave me hanging!

I think I saw one of the six picture memes about a week or two ago. And I might have seen a Batman slapping Robin one just the other day. But – it’s been a while since these gems have made the Facebook rounds. At one time, it seemed that half of my Facebook feed was composed of one of these memes.

I don’t really miss the memes, mind you. Well, I suppose I miss them a little bit. I mean, there were a few that were clever and well done. One thing I do have to say about them is that, overall, (like Kim Kardashian) they got a lot of mileage and traction – for little to no reason, then crashed and burned. Hmmm – it’s interesting to note that the memes simpy went away when their 15 minutes of fame was up. Maybe Kim should consider that….

Back to the topic: I guess there’s something to be said for delivering a message or thought using only recycled pictures and a little bit of cleverness. Now I am left to wonder what form the next generation of memes will take.

I had thought that those “Still a better love story than Twilight” ones might have taken off. Or Grumpy Cat. But no – neither one of those have had the staying power of the Gene Wilder meme or the Batman slapping Robin meme. Aparently it takes more than just hating on everything to get staying power.

I’ve seen some Jean-Luc Picard action floating around Facebook. He might have the stuff. Even I didn’t know the extent of just how many JLP memes there are.

So I put it to you, meme-sters. Despite my better judgment, I don’t want to be meme free. Marshall all your creative memeosity. Dazzle me. I think you owe it to us to deliver the next generation (pun intended) of memes for our Facebook feeds. Frankly, things have gotten a little dull.