Internet Memes: Humor in late modernity and encroachment

upon the mainstream

Charalambos Konstantineas, George Vlachos

Internet Memes are only a small part of the global Internet culture. While only
a fragment, it is growing steadily, becoming more intense and special; it is
beginning to propose different moral codes of communication and language
between the shareholders of the community. Memes recommend a certain point of
view, a point that is sometimes considered unorthodox in a modernistic approach.
Our goal initially is to define with the greatest possible clarity the term internet
memes and demonstrate its relationship with the emerging internet sociology.
Then, we will attempt to link the subculture of internet memes and especially
the humor it promotes to the general attitude of post-modernism that struggles to
dominate the western world, with the help of post-modern considerations,
primarily, by the French thinkers of the second half of the 20
th
century. We see that
the humor of internet memes sometimes seems to be immoral, callous and
malicious, but this is the case only from the perspective of the grand narratives of
modernity, not so much the political ones but the social narratives of the
appropriate.

Finally, we will consider the cases of internet memes that escaped from the small
community of those who create and enjoy them and passed into the mainstream
culture. Here its easy to find the classic complex of "authenticity"; Memes that
started as concepts of a chosen few and initiated and then became property of
many and uninitiated cannot enjoy the support of their creators anymore. We will
try to investigate why this is happening, but also it is important to see what kind of
memes passed into the light of humorous popular culture. In this case our
hypothesis is that the morality of grand narratives that defines "funny"still puts
restrictions.
Keywords: Internet memes, internet subcultures, humor, mainstream, post-
modernism, morality

*****

1.Memes and Culture ; An Archaeology
The word meme itself is very recent and was initially articulated and used as a
conceptual tool by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene.
Memes in essence are actions, notions, behaviors and mostly ideas that are
transferred amongst individuals within the realms of the community. The root of
the word meme is greek and is derived by the verb mimoumai, meaning to copy,
to reproduce. The word meme must be differentiated by the word gene which is of
a similar morphology, specifically: While memes spread horizontally within the
bounds of a society and are subject to conversion depending on specific social
catalysts, genes on the other hand predominantly represent information spread
vertically, waiting patiently for the next generation to do so.
The fact that the term meme is fairly new does not prevent us from
interpreting the history of mankind through its scope. Therefore both pre-modern
and modern civilization could be inevitably viewed from such an angle. Language,
religion, technological advancement, even fashion trends are results of a circular
process that includes conceiving and disclosing an idea by one person, embracing
it, conversing it and finally republishing it by another person. Thus it is evident
that when speaking of memes it is impossible not to speak of culture as well.
One could argue that memes can be seen as the basic ingredient of an important
sociological concept, which is the norm. Norms are behavioral patterns that exist in
order to differentiate certain human behaviors into two categories; acceptable and
unacceptable. They also play a major part in the socialization of the subject;
becoming internalized and externalized by individuals, they perpetuate their
reproduction within a society. It would be easy to correlate norms with memes, as
both concepts require the same host in order to survive which is none other than
humans.
This is a latosensu approach of memes. However the aim of the study is to
observe internet memes. The objective of strictosensu memes is to humor and on
certain occasions their humor seems alien and controversial as we will discuss later
on.
Internet memes can be defined as words or phrases, images, comics and videos,
containing pop culture references in certain cases, which enter the public sphere of
the Internet. They spread rapidly, they transform and depending on their success
they are forgotten or become established as parts of that public sphere. It is
remarkable that for the first time we are considering an extremely wide, if not
global, public sphere, for its boundaries match those of the World Wide Web. The
noticeable impact of a meme, published and shared between millions of people
within a day, along with the dubious nature that they sometimes display, is bearing
the fruits for a new system of norms. This new system considers Important
Others parents, classmates and in general anybodys physical presence as well as
a giant network of anonymous users of a giant community such as the Internet.
Fora and imageboards created in the early 00s that functioned as
communicative channels were responsible for the initial creation of Internet
memes. The social environments that had arisen through online interaction induced
the establishment of cyber-communities which gradually developed an internal
consistency along with an idiosyncratic etiquette and a written or unwritten code of
conduct, depending on the nature of the community. In the years that followed the
introduction of video sharing websites and social networks was catalytic to the
accelerated spread of Internet memes. This led to a shift from a state of exclusivity
within closed circuits of users to a state of mass recognizability and acceptance by
the public which is not only affiliated to the Internet but also to more traditional
and massive media such as television.

Humor/Ethics
The humorous element is a very strong factor of coherence for Internet users
that consider themselves members of particular cyber-communities.
Themannerofcommunication, thatischaracterizedfirstlyby textuality,
incombinationwith the use of images, signals the birth of the Internet memes.In
their turn, Internet memes functioned as the cement that kept those communities
firm and alert. Alert communities are those that feature a strong element of
interactivity, the instant and rapid feedback of ideas and notions that in the end
compose the essence of a cyber-community, an essence that incorporates the
concept of individualization as well.
Individualization is a crucial key word for studying and understanding late
modernity. It refers to the utmost and constant need for the members of a
community (or a society) to redefine themselves freely, without taking into
consideration the strict boundaries imposed by modernity. In a similar manner, this
is also the case with memes. Images, text and practically every structural template
of a meme is subject to constant merging and reshaping, creating new memes
known as spin-offs of their predecessors. Thus, a memes structure is not
something presumed; its constant reshaping implies a renewal for the meaning the
meme carries as well. With this in mind, meme communitites are placed among
common wealth internet communities, which aim spread concepts, software as well
as images without placing them under copyright law.As we observe the subject of
individualization though, we encounter a paradox. Total and relentless
individualization is open to all; its mandatory character drives the process of
feedback within the community. The natural person that goes through that process
is not allowed to claim any of his work, because memes do not belong to
anybody. They are created involuntarily and spontaneously and any attempts made
by particular members of the community to impose a meme upon the others are
met with disapproval towards the meme and its creator.
While studying the articulation of humorous discourse through cyber-
communities and Internet memes, it is important to mention the moral relativism
that seems to direct those communities occasionally. This moral relativism appears
to completely ignore all the ethical contrusctions which normally placed
boundaries upon the liberty of humorous expression. The origins of this moral
relativism can be placed upon the end of modernitys Grand Narratives and the
value system composed by the majority of the political and social ideological
formations, along with the evaluable norms regarding what can be subject of scoff
and ridicule. A new, looser grid of correlations is formed, but a clash with the
former standpoints is indirect. This speculation is associated with the perspective
of thinkers such as Lyotard, Baudrillard, Derrida, Lipovetsky and Foucault,
thinkers that have endorsed a post-structuralist approach while viewing the world
distanced from manichaeistic dogmas set in the past.
This is also shown in a form of notional equivalence. Anything goes, an
irregular flexibility of beliefs and actions, is a common saying found in many
theories regarding late modernity, post-structuralism and post-modernism.
Respectively, in the field of Internet memes, we encounter the attitude for
tehlulz, a phrase that suggests an unconditional and unbounded tendency towards
bantering about issues considered off limits due to seriousness or compassion.
Based on that point of view, there is no image of pain, illness or misfortune that
deserves to remain immaculately above a humourous scope.
Gilles Lipovetsky, in his book The age of void, argues that, post-modern
humor seems to have been shaped long before its passage to internet culture: the
dominant and unprecedented tonality of the humorous is no longer sarcastic, but
playful
1
. Mass humor is no longer founded in a gloomy and bitter background;
todays humor not only fails to conceal pessimism and be the courtesy of
despair, but also tries to exist without density and describe a glistening universe
2
.
At the same time we encounter a different humorous approach, more unorthodox
compared to the prevailing.
Next to the mass, euphoric and symbiotic humor, an underground, obviously
relaxed, but with a hard, down to earth tonality humor is unveiled
3
. A post-
modern, new wave humor, which should not be associated with black humor; the
tone is bleak, imperceptibly provocative, vulgar; it ostentatiously exhibits the
emancipation of the language, the subject and sex
4
. Cyber-communities that
produce memes seem to cover the whole range of post-modern humor according to
Lipovetskys approach. On one hand we come upon memes demonstrating a sense
of humor that avoids confrontation, respecting the narrative of what is considered
appropriate, and on the other hand we encounter memes in which humor seems
immoral, malevolent, and even violent. Controversial issues (depending on what is
considered comical) such as cancer, AIDS, racism, child pornography, autism,
through the textuality andimagery they utilized by the community members, they
are signified as special humorous style.This results in the recognition of the
members of the community among themselves.
Focusing on the second category, a crucial factor that can interpret this
seemingly immoral stance, beyond the moral relativism of late modernity, is
anonymity. Members of the community may choose to (and they usually do) hide
behind the picture of an avatar, or they may even select to conceal themselves
completely through total anonymity.
The inability to identify the other leads to the expansion of these behaviors. An
anonymous cannot be blamed for anything, for he is not a person recognized by
real society. Nevertheless, his humor, his attitude and his actions are existent.
And while the objective existence of the community can be disputed (if we
consider cyber as non-corporeal), the stances of the individuals that form them are
utterly real because their impact in creating and shaping opinions is also real.
It can be hypothesized that digital persona and physical existence are the same.
This is something very difficult to verify empirically because anonymity covers the
tracks ofindividuals. Usually communities apart from names do not own memory,
they only own names. The vast traffic they experience means that they develop an
equally vast production of memes. Therefore it is almost impossible to track down
a user who created and posted a meme and then blame them for its obscene
content. This means one of two things: On one hand, no lone user can force a
meme because memes are created and adopted entirely and collectively by the
community. On the other hand, already developed and praised memes have been
reused and reposted at such a degree where few can actually remember its creation
and the majority of members of the community consider it to be funny on its own,
a sui generis joke, giving meaning to itself, without any references to its original
usage and humorous context. In the end, memes such as these are capable of
evolving over time, with a lot of them possessing unorthodox humorous features,
which shows that the hypothesis regarding the elimination of political correctness
is probably true.

Underground/Mainstream
It was implied previously that obvious difficulties are present within cyber-
communities, with humorous stylistic tone becoming the cleavage separating the
two hemispheres of meme culture which are: The Mainstream and the
Underground.
The Mainstream is abundant, an active sum of communities with great cultural
influence in the field of mainstream inside and outside of the Internet. These
communities are usually harmless, their sense of humor is conventional and it
rarely derails from the norms of the approach imposed by a modern moral
idiosyncrasy. One should also mind another restrictive element which is the fact
that the forums rules and guidelines clearly specify what is allowed to be posted.
Anything considered prohibited is deleted as soon as possible. The joyous attitude
is highly appreciated and is considered the most important structural element of
these websites.
In contrast, the underground meme culture shows an irregular humorous
mindset, members of the communities are limited and wish to remain so, believing
that the communitys widening would corrupt its original character. There are no
restrictions regarding the content of the posts and the memes uploaded and shared.
It should also be noted that such a trait has caused legal issues to some fora over
time. Finally, a distinct characteristic held as the cornerstone of these communities
is the anonymity of the users.
While usually underground sub-cultures are formed by members of the
community that have been ostracized from the Mainstream, in the area of memes
we experience the opposite. What we call mainstream meme culture is the
offspring of its members reaction to the Undergrounds controversy. So, while the
more malevolent perspective of memes exist since the early 00s, the popular
spinoffs have started flooding the Web seven or eight years later.
What we observe, and what will be our point of focus from now on, is that
memes that have been created within underground communities and later break
through to mainstream communities (along with the necessary stylistic limitations),
are no longer accepted by their original creators, a sign of delegitimization.
An answer has already been given. On many occasions, a meme is shaped in a
way that is compatible with the politically correct environment of mainstream
communities. From that point on it has lost its harshness and its innovative
temperament while at the same time its overuse, caused by a massive mainstream
haven, leads to its rejection by previous enthusiasts.
Such a scope urges us to inevitably treat those underground sub-cultures in the
same manner as we would treat an aesthetic elite. Based on this, we are going to
utilize the viewpoint of A.-I. D. Metaxas regarding the attitude and style of
individuals participating in communities of expression and discourse. Metaxas
suggests an ideal three level categorization, the basis of which is the ease of
entrance as well as settling among those levels:
A society of expression is witnessed whenever a way of
speaking can be selected just by adopting its constant
usage, while those who already use it show a positive
indifference. The style required for an effective inter-
communal communication is gained rather easily and the
necessary ritual leading to this gain is a simple practice
upon this expression.
A company of expression is witnessed whenever the style
shared by those who are already its members requires for
an outsider an important time for studying Those that
control who can earn and maintain that style reveal those
that do not respond positively to its usage and expose
them to the public.
A church of expression is witnessed whenever the
expense of studying a particular style and entering the
equivalent community is high control over studying
and maintain the particular style is imposed exclusively
by the relentless judgment of those who have already
earned it and supervise not only the entry and the
maintaining upon this particular style, but the limits of its
aesthetic evolution as well.
5

Regarding our approach to the cyber-communities producing memes, the
mainstream communities correspond to a society of expression. On the contrary,
the elite shaping the Underground corresponds to a church of expression. It is
easily comprehended why memes intruding the Mainstream or the ones that are
produced by it, are rejected at large by the underground elite. The rejection occurs
precisely because any attempts of embracing the style and attitude they have
created are regarded as inauthentic, unoriginal and fake. Furthermore these
attempts are treated as an invasion to the space created by a church of expression.
Along these lines, a church of expression can be related to what Bourdieu calls
happy few, whose purpose is to keep their uniqueness and their integrity in order
to differentiate themselves from a homogenous crowd. In this case there is always
the separation between what is considered groundbreaking or conventional,
what is considered deep or shallow and also what is considered easily
accessible. In relation to memes, the successful caricature of morally ambiguous
subjects achieved by the underground communities may be characterized as
groundbreaking. Conversely the conventional approach of the Mainstream is
witnessed through the existent ethically guarded view of the Humourous.

Notes

1
Gilles Lipovetsky, I epohitoukenou, 120
2
Lipovetsky, I epohi, 120
3
Lipovetsky, I epohi, 122

4
Lipovetsky, I epohi, 122
5
Andreas- Ioannis Metaxas, Proeisagogikagia ton politico logo, 38-39

Bibliography
Bourdieu, Pierre. I diakrisi, PatakiPublishers, Athens, 2002
Dawkins, Richard. The selfish gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989
Demertzis, Nikos. PolitikiEpikoinonia, Papazisi, Athens, 2002
Leadbetter, Charles. We think, Profile books LTD, London, 2008
Lipovetsky, Gilles. I epohitoukenou, Nisides, Athens, 1983
Lyotard, Jan Francois. I metamonternakatastasi, Gnoseis, Athens, 2008
Metaxas, Andreas- Ioannis, Proeisagogikagia ton politico logo, Ant. N. Sakkoulas,
Athens, 2001

CharalambosConstantineas and George Vlachos are graduates of the Public
Administration and Political Science department of the Law School in Athens.
They are interested in the branches of political science and sociology, such as
comparative politics, political sociology, Internet culture and the new social
movements.