Destructive Meme
So for my own sake, I’m not creating a destructive meme. Two reasons, first of which is my desire to not make something cruel or offensive enough to be characterized as “destructive”. Second, I’m not sure I’ll capture the type of meme in a serious light. Whatever I make may end up being silly or a bit uninformed as to the nature of this kind of meme.
In any case, here is the meme I found. Personally chose to search for something on the self-depreciating side of the spectrum. Some pretty awful ones exist, so I chose something a bit tamer (comparatively speaking). In any case, the meme states that while you (the meme viewer) advise friends against suicide you yourself are contemplating it. The notion of a meme suggesting you desire suicide… obviously isn’t great, that fact needs little support. It provides a push in thinking that should never exist in the first place. If viewed by the wrong kind of person, namely someone without the will to laugh off or ignore the meme, the individual can be pushed further into a dangerous downward spiral through basic suggestion. After all, we’re all weak to suggestion. This goes for suggestion from others, as well as our inner voice.
Note: Outside mental health concerns, the following footnote is worth having. Suicide isn’t a laughing matter.
Non-Destructive Meme
To open with, I don’t inherently believe myself to be capable of making viral memes because I do not care for creating them. It’s not something I strive for in life, nor do I foresee myself ever needing to make a meme at all (outside this one academic instance). That said, as per the assignment I’ve generated a meme.
Outside of my personal thoughts regarding my capacity for generating a viral meme, I don’t believe this meme has the potential for becoming viral. Most viral memes I’ve come across are silly, and in some cases self deprecating. I don’t believe individuals will resonate with a meme meant to help individuals under stress, anxiety, or some form of mental strain. That kind of meme can, however, develop into part of a localized group culture.
Positive News
Viewing strictly from the twitter and reddit points of view, a new system would need to be put into place to allow a better flow of positive news. When it comes to twitter and reddit what you see can be based on the interaction or likes of a particular post. Posts in relation to negative events are an easy magnet for a lot of attention. The new system needs to adjust this relationship by adding an extra filtering method that allows adjustment to feeds based on specific content, or more to the point content of a specific mood.
Noticeably, the idea of changes to news outlets didn’t come up within the previous set of statements. That single fact is on purpose. Between the lines exists the idea that groups of individuals are better agents for relaying good news than corporate entities. Personally view the idea of news outlets prioritizing good news, over bad news, to be unrealistic. It is inevitably the goal of any company to generate the greatest outputs possible for the lowest quantity of inputs. Prioritization would have already shifted to good news, if focusing on such news was of greater value. For that reason my view is to look elsewhere for creating a flow of positive news. In that way the ideal outcome is a societal change to value a healthy exchange of good news, which in turn trickles down to news outlets.
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