Catholics are sharing memes online. Is this the New Evangelization?

[trotsky]

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/03/14/catholics-are-sharing-memes-online-new-evangelization

...Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as a shortened form of the word mimeme (drawn from the Greek for “imitated thing”). Memes transmit cultural ideas, behaviors and attitudes from person to person through imitation and variation. An internet meme, at its basic level, is anything that can be spread from person to person on the internet. This includes videos, catchphrases, links and, most popularly, images with overlaid text.

While almost anything shared on the internet can be considered a meme, the term is mostly used for particularly successful and long-lasting examples. It is difficult to predict what will catch on, but the memes that go viral tend to exhibit a perfect balance between absurd humor and replicability. Viral memes work insofar as they can be understood as jokes and can also be customized to apply to different situations or audiences. Most popular memes can be repurposed for inside jokes among groups of friends.

That’s where Catholic Memes begins. Brandon Ocampo, a campus minister for the Archdiocese of Newark, recalled the birth of Catholic Memes on Tumblr in an interview with America. It began eight or nine years ago with a group of Catholic friends applying faith-related jokes to popular memes like All the Things or Success Kid. When the memes shared among friends grew more popular, Mr. Ocampo, 22, thought: “It would be awesome to have our own page. This is actually a good way to evangelize people.”

He began with the Tumblr blog, then created a Facebook page and Twitter account. “Our faith is not something we always have to be serious about,” explains Mr. Ocampo, and memes allow us “provoke questions and create conversations.”

I thought memes were supposed to be funny or at least thought-provoking?

[Siwsan]

1. Certainly rated a "Meh" from me

Maybe with a little practice they will get better.

[MineralMan]

2. More Thinking in Slogans. Bumpersticker Thinking.

That's fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with actually thinking beyond those limits. Thinking is hard. Memes are easy. People are lazy.

[NeoGreen]

6. A meme can be, and often is, a...

...starting point for a larger conversation.

Plus, often by combining text with a relevant image the subtleties of a specific point of view are easier to convey and comprehend.

Calling memes "easy", is a meme.

Claiming people are "lazy", is another one.

[MineralMan]

7. I disagree. I see memes as ways to avoid the conversation

altogether. Just my opinion, of course.

[NeoGreen]

10. I respectfully disagree...

...but I would readily concede the point that many memes are used to shut down particular debates as much as they are used to start, continue or clarify others.

Memes are a double edged tool, used to enhance the intent of the person employing them.

They are not inherently a bad thing.

[Lordquinton]

21. Memes convey a lot more information in a simple picture

Than just a simple phrase could on it's own. If you know the image then you have a bunch of info instantly conveyed that would take a lot of words to evoke. That everyone needs to craft everything from the ground up is an elitest attitude. It's typical, and actually a cultural meme itself to look down on something that has been made easy by technology.

Plus, they're usually funny, but you have to have the cultural knowledge to understand them. So if you don't get it, then you need to be more cultured.

[NeoGreen]

24. I would argue that every...

...power point presentation is merely a series of memes (with commentary), as is every (presumably, since admittedly I have not seen "every" or any significant number of them) TED talk ever presented.

An image with text, or even better an image with text and dialog is far more efficient at conveying information than just merely text or dialog or text and dialog.

[Lordquinton]

26. A picture is worth a thousand words

I don't understand the need to diminish a form of communication. Maybe if you feel excluded from it because they move fast or just don't get the references.

It's nothing new either, even is in the Bible, with drawing a fish, that's still used today. Religious icons, candles of Mary and such are all memes. It's just when the kids are doing it on openly available platforms when it becomes a problem.

[NeoGreen]

11. Plus (with apologies for all the ST references), I see memes...

...as they are being used today, as a prototype for a new form of communication, one utilizing analogies and larger references to complete a narrative without a lengthy repetition of text in the vein of:

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. You'd call that a meme? I'd call it a nod to an extremely small group of people

who'd have any idea of what it's about. I watched a fair amount of "The Next Generation", and the only name I recognise in that is "Picard". I have no idea in what context that caption could be used. It would seem to be designed to be a "secret handshake" - a message that the user has really detailed knowledge, and wants a few others to realise that.

It seems about 180 degrees away from the idea of a 'meme'. I'd say it stands bugger all chance of getting propagated.

The vast majority of self-proclaimed memes are just short phrases with a vaguely-associated picture, that aren't going to be remembered or spread, but the creator wants to think they've achieved something so they label it a 'meme'.

[Pope George Ringo II]

19. Darmok is among the best TNG episodes and worth a watch.

The premise is that they meet a species and the universal translator is useless because the species basically communicates in memes, so a bonding experience is created which forces Picard to learn enough of their culture to communicate with them. Imagine if our word for boasting was, "Trump, his mouth open." Then build an entire language around assassination being "Caesar on the Ides" and so forth. No verbs or adjectives as such, just references. You can't hold a conversation until you know all the history.

[NeoGreen]

25. Cool...

..I like your human generated examples.

I can't wait for "Trump, wallet empty and everlasting involuntary servitude."

LL&P

[Pope George Ringo II]

27. Peace and long life.

[NeoGreen]

16. Is this a "I see what you did there"...

...moment?

I disagree. I see memes as ways to avoid the conversation...altogether.

[MineralMan]

17. Nope.

[trotsky]

9. Memes are just like other communication media.

They can be easy and simple. They can be obscure. They can also be surprisingly deep and thought-provoking.

[Voltaire2]

13. Unfortunately memes have come to mean

A picture with some words.

That really isn’t what Dawkins meant.

[Mariana]

14. Language evolves. nt.

[Freddie]

3. I wonder where

"How can you get upset about guns when Planned Parenthood kills millions of children a year?" Comes from. Pisses me off but there's no talking to those people.

[Mariana]

4. The best memes are funny or thought-provoking

but plenty of them are stupid, hateful, and/or lame. For example, here is one that is all three:

[MineralMan]

8. Ugh!

I have no words beyond that.

[NeoGreen]

5. New high score...

...

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. Oh boy. Catholic humor.

I got a few jokes I can pull off the shelf. Check this out:

Q: How do you make holy water?
A: You boil the hell out of it!

[Bretton Garcia]

15. Catholics are following atheists, by using the word "memes";

Last edited Mon Mar 19, 2018, 07:44 AM - Edit history (3)

That's almost progress, I guess.

Catholics should follow atheists more often; they will learn even more.



The use, after Dawkins, of the word "memes," by the way, does not indicate approval of them. It is an objective, descriptive term, which can be employed critically.

The term is fairly neutral and objective. And can be used to approve a meme, or not.


Simply put? Not all memes are bad. In some ways, there are good memes, and bad memes. So they need to be evaluated individually. On a case-by-case basis.

[Iggo]

20. New high score for doing nothing?

Prayed instead of helping 403 motherfucking times today!

Woo-hoo!!!

[MineralMan]

22. A new high score for consecutive irrelevancies?

[Angry Dragon]

23. Meme of the soul