Im starting to see a trend with /pol/ praising a deity named kek. Or others interpreting memes as a powerful tool to influence politics.
Is this a modern showing of how other religions were formed thousands of years ago or is it a new form of propaganda that affects todays population better than our government?
How you do you interpret memes as? More than jokes?
Memes are the greatest discovery of the Information Age.
>>73525987
Meme is who meme does
Memes = FFVII Lifestream
Check em
>>73526080
So as in the first digital religion?
>>73526111
What do you mean by that?
>>73526304
It's not a religion, it's real.
Religiganda
>>73526842
Do explain. Like a god like being that is real?
>>73525987
>>73526080
I'll give you a serious answer.
Quality memes are a reflection of primal human experiences that have been with us since the beginning. They strike a chord with the audience like nothing else.
They have lasting power because with just one glance, a person from any corner of the planet can "feel" the thought behind these images.
Pepe and Wojak are two of the most obvious and fantastic examples coming out of 4chan. They can convey so much meaning with a single image that human languages honestly can't even begin to compete with the depth and efficiency of that method of communication.
Pic related. Look how fucking smug that expression is. No philosopher in human history could explain the concept of 'smugness' as much as this fucking picture.
This gets interesting when you think about the influence of the internet on the 'real world', especially in the context of the amount of influence that our humour holds.
Humour has always been about approaching uncomfortable topics and nobody is as funny as /pol/. Likewise, no other organization or platform allows for the transmission of memes as much as these boards. It's a simple case of the right ingredients being simple, coming together at the right time/place, and being very powerful.
Friendly reminder that there are entities pouring literal billions of dollars into attempting to sway the Internet's culture and none of them can compete with an international group of totally anonymous racists on an anime board. If that isn't beautiful, nothing is.
TL;DR Memes are the most efficient way of conveying human emotions, which is all that our communication is trying to do anyway.
>>73527183
So it would tip into more of a potential and powerful propaganda influence the masses. I understand what memes are but what are they now envolving into now esspecially in the US elections.
>>73527640
Memes aren't changing at all. They're just simple, easily modified, easily replicated, easily understood icons that convey human emotions. They've existed since time immemorial in various forms, I'm certain of it.
The difference is that the Internet allows them to proliferate at a frighteningly fast pace on a medium that is still almost impossible to control. The Internet has changed a lot over the past 10 years but at its core it's still the wild west out here.
Spam filter keeps stopping me from commenting for some stupid fucking reason so I'll continue with regards to the US election in the next post.
>>73527640
>>73528929
(cont'd)
With respect to the US election I've noticed meme-like strategies emerging from the three remaining candidates since the beginning. Those who didn't adopt memes have been banished already.
Hillary is your classic pre-Internet meme. Everyone already knows her, so she's just being her and doing the bare minimum to suggest that she's still "Hillary Clinton" as you think she should be. She's old and outdated and mostly irrelevant to us on the Internet but she's doing a fantastic job with people outside of the Internet. If you look at her website, it's full of "top 10" style Buzzfeed lists for her normie-as-fuck target demographics.
Bernie is Leddit: the presidential candidate. Long-winded, masturbatory, congratulatory speeches about targeting vague ideas of 'bad' and replacing them with vague ideas of 'good' in a way that makes pseudo-intellectuals feel like they're doing the right thing. You know those Leddit posts that are gilded and upvoted to the moon and have like 30 paragraphs explaining some retarded concept? That's Bernie.
Trump is unironically going full 4chan mode. No bullshitting around or trying to impress people with boring details. Pure, unfiltered, memes that stick with you and make you feel something.
>Build the wall
>They're criminals, rapists, and drug dealers
>We're gonna ban the Muslims
>Make America Great Again
Trump is the master. He knows that most people don't find the details interesting. They find feelings interesting.
>>73528929
I believe the term came from a book on the subject.
>>73527021
memes spread by nature. memes with embedded ideas can spread an idea faster than traditional propaganda ever could.
>>73528929
I see what youre saying with the tool aspects of memes. What of the religious side of it. Kek and all that. Is it a short lived trend or the how religions started?
>>73525987
Given that Kek is a deity associated with primordial chaos, I see this trend on 4chan as a type of modern neopagan chaos worship/post modern parody religion. Reminds me a little of the Church of the SubGenius, a NEET religion from the 1970's.
>>73529487
How was kek and the pepe/ memes connected?
>>73529315
Loosely. The religions you're thinking of probably emerged more out of attempting to provide explanations for the natural world and guidance for its inhabitants. Coincidences or repeated happenings (seasons, astrological stuff, etc.) were likely good tools at conveying these patterns and providing 'form' to abstract ideas.
E.g.: "Well every year it gets sunny around this time and our crops do well when that happens so maybe we should gather and celebrate this occasion!" becomes a religious obligation over centuries.
Kek is like our version of that. A strange coincidence explaining the weird amount of mainstream influence that /pol/ might be viewed as having on the world through Trump and his followers. A mascot. A face. Something fun and celebratory.
Something for us that the rest of the world, seemingly including yourself, can't quite understand. Think about it like the strange symbols surrounding secret societies more than you would think of someone like Jesus to mainstream Christianity.
>>73529838
Humans as a species need reason and explanations even subconsciously for events or result. That does make sense. Is this trend here to stay or wither until the next bigger meme comes in next year?
>>73529650
>>73530292
friend, are you doing this for a school assignment or something?
>>73530538
No just wanted insight on how others view memes.
>>73529650
Divine providence? Kek or Kuk is depicted as a man with a frogs head, someone probarbly just made the connection to pepe and the memes did the rest.
>>73530726
Makes sense
>>73530538
Also an excuse to break away from the usual /pol/ BTFO or cuck threads
>>73529487
HOLY SHIT
I didnt know about that. It's fascinating, I see it as a proof of a theory called the double causality.
basically the present can change the past (and the future of course), and the future can change the present.
>>73531480
Any current example of that thoery in the works or already implemented?
>>73531480
Don't know about that double causality thing. But I agree, its certainly interesting that an anime forum suddenly and partially unknowing, starts worshiping an obscure chaos deity from the Egyptian old kingdom.
