Internet Memes vs. Fascism

[flamingsword]

If not understanding people is scary then those who are different from us are our enemies, because we don't fear our friends, right? Fascism, such reasoning goes, is the obvious answer: if everyone's alike then we don't have misunderstandings with each other, and we have nothing to fear. :\

We look down on memes but still participate by taking them, posting them, and pimping them around. Do we recognize the truth in them: that no matter what we score, we're still included in the test's results? Do we feel empowered knowing that while our friends have different outcomes, they are different in ways that it's possible to quantify and understand? Do memes make interpersonal differences less threatening?

If so, then email questionnaires, website personality quizzes, and other memes are one more way the internet is breaking down the kind of thinking that leads to fascism. Strength in numbers used to mean excluding anyone that couldn't fit the most popular mold, but we've got a new paradigm going here on the web.

Accepting our differences together is its own kind of solidarity.

Comments

[lifeblender.livejournal.com]

Do questionnaires in magazines accomplish the same task?

[flamingsword.livejournal.com]

Possibly! But I get to snub them because I only have eyes for the internet. &hearts_&hearts

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

I love how you get deep thoughts out of "which Disney prince is your Ideal Mate?". Actually, I pretty much just love you

[flamingsword.livejournal.com]

I AM LOVED!!

Also, Pete Wentz is contagious, because since I started reading through his blog I've been writing again. Here's what I've got so far:

'Lu' is not for Lupus
'Lu' is for Lupus, but it's never Lupus.
The tests like to dupe us;
The docs like to lose us.
The hell of it is that
Life likes to screw with us.
So 'Lu's not for Lupus, 'cause it's never Lupus.

'Lu' is for Lunatic, but you're not a lunatic
Not melodramatic
Or cerebrum-rheumatic,
You may shun the pragmatic
And be a fanatic
But you're not a loony, so 'Lu's not for lunatic.


(It's not finished yet.)

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

Making me laugh in the public library! Unfair! *squeeeeeezes you*

[sushi-slave.livejournal.com]

I actually know a guy that keeps a spiral full of notes on his "friends" scores to every meme that is posted so he can "categorize" them for the great cleansing he does every year from his FL.

[flamingsword.livejournal.com]

WOW! Asshole maneuver!