Memeitis (pronounced meme-itis): Every time I copy and paste a meme, I make myself dumber.

My meme is better than your meme.
My meme speaks the truth and your meme speaks propaganda.

A ‘meme’ is a virally-transmitted cultural symbol or social idea.

The majority of modern memes are captioned photos that are intended to be funny, often as a way to publicly ridicule human behavior. Other memes can be videos and verbal expressions. Some memes have heavier and more philosophical content.

The world of memes (which rhymes with ‘teams’) is noteworthy for two reasons: it is a worldwide social phenomenon, and memes behave like a mass of infectious flu and cold viruses, traveling from person to person quickly through social media. – Paul Gil

I am infected. If the best I can do is copy and paste the fruits of someone else’s labor, then in truth I am lazy. In verbal battles – written or spoken – I am a lazy warrior. I want someone else to sharpen my sword, load my gun for me or put their marbles in my slingshot.

Memeitis:
The condition or behaviour of abusing memes through gratuitous use out of context, often out of desperation to feel inclusive in a community. The original meme loses its humour and value, and risks subsequently being abandoned in disgust by its originating community. Symptoms of memeitis include:-
1. The used meme not being self-explanatory to the recipient community, i.e. used out of context and requiring research or defining for understanding
2. Theft from and loss of appreciation of the original source of creativity that produced the meme, thereby cheaply and shamefully appealing to the lowest common denominator without contributing any real creativity for the benefit of others
3. The meme being assimilated by content aggregators such as 9gag, Reddit, or Facebook meme pages, and used with reckless abandon – The Urban Dictionary

Such is the dominant mental laziness that only serves to separate the polarized borders further. It is truly an infection that is brought on by a personal problem of never having been taught critical thinking (I have no memory of anyone at home or in my local schools talking to me about thinking critically.)

Critical thinking presented by an unbiased teacher is the ideal and would have constituted the effect of a vaccination given a child to protect future health. The non-ideal is being taught what to think by someone with a bias based on cultural assumptions, political or religious biases or worse.

The idea of being self-taught if necessary is part of our so-called American culture. We are made aware of people born poor who have become rich through their personal efforts. They are self-made. Well then ought we be self-taught and not spoonfed someone else’s magic?

I am belatedly doing my homework after having been referred the the following information:  Study Finds That Those Who Claim To Know More About Politics Actually Know Less

A recent study published in the journal Political Psychology finds that those who claim to be knowledgeable about political issues actually know less. The study not only found that those who are extremely confident about their political knowledge know less, but that the effect is even stronger when feelings of political partisanship come into play.

Although I have not become as smart as I would like to be – and my public behavior reflects that ugly truth – I do aspire to what Freemasonry refers to further light and knowledge. I still feel at times that I don’t have enough knowledge to know that I  don’t have enough knowledge. In my case, I may be too dumb to know I am dumb.

Google “the Dunning-Kruger Effect” and just wander through a couple of links. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are.

The analysis of the survey results revealed that most of those who took the political quiz performed rather poorly and that those who performed the worst were the most likely to overestimate their level of knowledge (their performance on the quiz).

Which brings me to my being infected.

While such a thought is disturbing, we should not lose all hope in trying to reach the victims of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

At least one study found that incompetent students increased their ability to accurately estimate their class rank after being tutored in the skills they lacked. With the right education methods and a willingness to learn, the uninformed on both sides of the political aisle can gain a meta-awareness that can help them perceive themselves more objectively.

Unfortunately, Anson’s study shows that getting through to these people becomes more and more difficult as the nation becomes more divided. And with Trump’s fiery rhetoric and fear mongering, that divide appears to always be growing wider, making one wonder whether Trump—through Googling himself—has become aware of the effect and is using it to his advantage.

But that assumption might be giving him too much credit, as he is likely as much a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect as his followers. – Bobby Azarian

Author: Arthur Ruger

Married and in a wonderful relationship. Retired Social Worker, Veteran, writer, author, blogger, musician,. Lives in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho View all posts by Arthur Ruger