Not funny at all

If anyone comes across someone who uses such memes to appear to be �funny� or �witty� in the future, a little time should be taken to ask that person what is so funny about it. They should be reminded that what may appear as a cheap thrill to them or as a joke is a real life situation for many out there

Suffice it to say, most, if not all social media users are quite aware of what a ‘meme’ is. By definition, a meme is ‘an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations’. As far as social media is concerned, memes are ubiquitous. They can be witty, funny, usually has the penchant to make us laugh out loud and share it with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, and shockingly if I may add, there are some people who find some tasteless memes funny and even worthy of sharing and using when in reality, they are just plain sickening. Let us begin with an imaginary example.
It has been quite a few months since that devastating incident which changed her life forever took place. She knew that this was a wound that time may fail to heal. It has been a while since she and her family went out of the house or faced the outside world. It breaks her heart at every waking second when she looks at herself in the mirror. The once vibrant gregarious young girl was now a shell of her former self, barely speaking and constant tears of sorrow and despair are seen flowing down that once smiling happy face. She was a victim of rape, and ever since that horrific incident, her world was shattered. Her bright young life has been replaced with dark clouds that do not seem to disappear. Her tragedy gained public attention. She was grateful that she was still alive, and the perpetrator was caught and justice was served. But she knew that the scar would remain forever. Her family and friends always do their best to be by her side, but often it is like playing in the fields of futility. She still has nightmares and often screams out in her sleep, breaking into a cold sweat. Her world has been turned upside down since that incident. She tries to distract herself and tries to resume her normal life with every passing day. Each day is a challenge. Then one day, she logs onto her social media page. It was the day when two big teams were playing and social media was going berserk with the other team’s heavy defeat. Then she sees a meme where the losing team is depicted in a humorous way with the words ‘Team A absolutely ‘raped’ Team B’. The most fearful, devastating, earth shattering incident in her life that took place, that very word was being used to highlight a sporting team’s victory, or in another case, if the word simply being used in a meme attempting to be funny or witty. Just for a second, imagine being her after reading that meme. Imagine being her mother, brother sister, and father.
Months ago, his future was all planned out. His career catapulted since he began the job. Years of hard work, dedication, perseverance, tenacity and sacrifice finally was paying off.  With regular promotions and increments, he can finally now pay off all the family debts, buy his mother that small plot of land she dreamed of, pay for his sister’s higher education. He can now finally approach the girl’s family and can propose. Life was about to start. It was going to be that fairytale ending. Until that day when he received the medical report, and in a flash of second, his world changed forever. Cancer chose him as its next target. Now months later, all he thinks about are all the things he probably will never get to do. He thinks about the son or daughter that he may probably never have, he thinks about never seeing his sister’s wedding, about maybe not even enjoying his next birthday. He thinks about the chemo, the pain and suffering, the agony that his family will go through. He thinks how his life will never be the same. He did everything right, yet this happened. He asks the question ‘Why’ at every waking second. He tries to accept and move on.  One day, he tries to kill time and goes to his social media page. There was a post from someone which hardly made sense and caused a lot of argument. Then he saw a response from someone else, a meme which read ‘that post just gave me cancer’.
The very word that could not allow him to see probably the next year was being used as a humorous response. To some, that word, the disease which will probably end his life was used for being ‘funny’. Imagine being him.
The writer is quite aware that a plethora of articles and opinions have been written and published about use of certain words which are not appropriate and are insensitive to be used in funny situations. He is also aware that there are other words and conditions (eg – ‘retard’) that are used loosely and humorously, not to mention insensitively. Such topics can go on and on and this particular piece is just focusing on the use of the words ‘rape’ and ‘cancer’. How can these memes be funny in any way? How can one equal victory and one can just be used as a joke? Well, suffice it to say, I guess there cannot be a proper answer.
The people, who seem to make them, think that they are harmless and may not have any consequences.  I guess they cannot even comprehend what it would be like if life delivered that cruel blow to them or to anyone they loved. Same goes for the people who share them. Easy for them to use it because they think it’s ‘funny’. Well, even though the characters in the first two paragraphs are just imaginary examples, PEOPLE LIKE THAT EXIST. THEY EXIST AND THEY CONTINUE TO SUFFER. To them, use of those words to describe a victory, a funny incident or a ‘snappy’ comeback is NOT FUNNY AT ALL.
The writer does not mean to be sanctimonious in any way. In a way, it is like stating the obvious. I am quite aware that most do not find it funny at all. However, unfortunately, just as how warriors exist who rise out of devastating situations and titans who still live life to the fullest despite knowing that they may not live long enough to see the end of the month, so do some unethical, heartless insensitive individuals to whom these memes are just funny. They do not think about the real people, who could just as well be very easily around them, who actually have suffered and continue to suffer. In the writer’s very humble opinion, he believes that not only the people who design such memes are classless and lack even the slightest iota of a conscience; the people who seem to find them funny and love sharing them in virtual conversations and exchanges are equally just as twisted. People like that should not even be acknowledged by having their memes shared to be funny.
Again, in the writer’s very humble opinion, this is what needs to happen. In an ideal world, this is what should happen. If anyone comes across someone who uses such memes to appear to be ‘funny’ or ‘witty’ in the future, a little time should be taken to ask that person what is so funny about it. They should be reminded that what may appear as a cheap thrill to them or as a joke is a real life situation for many out there, all over the world. They should be faced with the question of how they would feel if such a tragic incident happened to their loved ones. Quite possibly the responses of ‘Relax, it’s just a joke’ or ‘Come on, lighten up’ will be made. Well, then they should be asked if they would ‘lighten up’ if such incidents actually happened to any of their loved ones. They should be reminded to get a fresh course about decency and should be suggested to no doubt revamp their sense of humour (and also maybe seek professional help).  Depending on how it all goes, it is up to the individual whether they want to select that person’s name and click ‘Block’.

The writer is a Feature writer for The Independent

Not funny at all

If anyone comes across someone who uses such memes to appear to be �funny� or �witty� in the future, a little time should be taken to ask that person what is so funny about it. They should be reminded that what may appear as a cheap thrill to them or as a joke is a real life situation for many out there

Suffice it to say, most, if not all social media users are quite aware of what a meme is. By definition, a meme is an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations. As far as social media is concerned, memes are ubiquitous. They can be witty, funny, usually has the penchant to make us laugh out loud and share it with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, and shockingly if I may add, there are some people who find some tasteless memes funny and even worthy of sharing and using when in reality, they are just plain sickening. Let us begin with an imaginary example. It has been quite a few months since that devastating incident which changed her life forever took place. She knew that this was a wound that time may fail to heal. It has been a while since she and her family went out of the house or faced the outside world. It breaks her heart at every waking second when she looks at herself in the mirror. The once vibrant gregarious young girl was now a shell of her former self, barely speaking and constant tears of sorrow and despair are seen flowing down that once smiling happy face. She was a victim of rape, and ever since that horrific incident, her world was shattered. Her bright young life has been replaced with dark clouds that do not seem to disappear. Her tragedy gained public attention. She was grateful that she was still alive, and the perpetrator was caught and justice was served. But she knew that the scar would remain forever. Her family and friends always do their best to be by her side, but often it is like playing in the fields of futility. She still has nightmares and often screams out in her sleep, breaking into a cold sweat. Her world has been turned upside down since that incident. She tries to distract herself and tries to resume her normal life with every passing day. Each day is a challenge. Then one day, she logs onto her social media page. It was the day when two big teams were playing and social media was going berserk with the other teams heavy defeat. Then she sees a meme where the losing team is depicted in a humorous way with the words Team A absolutely raped Team B. The most fearful, devastating, earth shattering incident in her life that took place, that very word was being used to highlight a sporting teams victory, or in another case, if the word simply being used in a meme attempting to be funny or witty. Just for a second, imagine being her after reading that meme. Imagine being her mother, brother sister, and father. Months ago, his future was all planned out. His career catapulted since he began the job. Years of hard work, dedication, perseverance, tenacity and sacrifice finally was paying off. With regular promotions and increments, he can finally now pay off all the family debts, buy his mother that small plot of land she dreamed of, pay for his sisters higher education. He can now finally approach the girls family and can propose. Life was about to start. It was going to be that fairytale ending. Until that day when he received the medical report, and in a flash of second, his world changed forever. Cancer chose him as its next target. Now months later, all he thinks about are all the things he probably will never get to do. He thinks about the son or daughter that he may probably never have, he thinks about never seeing his sisters wedding, about maybe not even enjoying his next birthday. He thinks about the chemo, the pain and suffering, the agony that his family will go through. He thinks how his life will never be the same. He did everything right, yet this happened. He asks the question Why at every waking second. He tries to accept and move on. One day, he tries to kill time and goes to his social media page. There was a post from someone which hardly made sense and caused a lot of argument. Then he saw a response from someone else, a meme which read that post just gave me cancer. The very word that could not allow him to see probably the next year was being used as a humorous response. To some, that word, the disease which will probably end his life was used for being funny. Imagine being him. The writer is quite aware that a plethora of articles and opinions have been written and published about use of certain words which are not appropriate and are insensitive to be used in funny situations. He is also aware that there are other words and conditions (eg retard) that are used loosely and humorously, not to mention insensitively. Such topics can go on and on and this particular piece is just focusing on the use of the words rape and cancer. How can these memes be funny in any way? How can one equal victory and one can just be used as a joke? Well, suffice it to say, I guess there cannot be a proper answer. The people, who seem to make them, think that they are harmless and may not have any consequences. I guess they cannot even comprehend what it would be like if life delivered that cruel blow to them or to anyone they loved. Same goes for the people who share them. Easy for them to use it because they think its funny. Well, even though the characters in the first two paragraphs are just imaginary examples, PEOPLE LIKE THAT EXIST. THEY EXIST AND THEY CONTINUE TO SUFFER. To them, use of those words to describe a victory, a funny incident or a snappy comeback is NOT FUNNY AT ALL. The writer does not mean to be sanctimonious in any way. In a way, it is like stating the obvious. I am quite aware that most do not find it funny at all. However, unfortunately, just as how warriors exist who rise out of devastating situations and titans who still live life to the fullest despite knowing that they may not live long enough to see the end of the month, so do some unethical, heartless insensitive individuals to whom these memes are just funny. They do not think about the real people, who could just as well be very easily around them, who actually have suffered and continue to suffer. In the writers very humble opinion, he believes that not only the people who design such memes are classless and lack even the slightest iota of a conscience; the people who seem to find them funny and love sharing them in virtual conversations and exchanges are equally just as twisted. People like that should not even be acknowledged by having their memes shared to be funny. Again, in the writers very humble opinion, this is what needs to happen. In an ideal world, this is what should happen. If anyone comes across someone who uses such memes to appear to be funny or witty in the future, a little time should be taken to ask that person what is so funny about it. They should be reminded that what may appear as a cheap thrill to them or as a joke is a real life situation for many out there, all over the world. They should be faced with the question of how they would feel if such a tragic incident happened to their loved ones. Quite possibly the responses of Relax, its just a joke or Come on, lighten up will be made. Well, then they should be asked if they would lighten up if such incidents actually happened to any of their loved ones. They should be reminded to get a fresh course about decency and should be suggested to no doubt revamp their sense of humour (and also maybe seek professional help). Depending on how it all goes, it is up to the individual whether they want to select that persons name and click Block. The writer is a Feature writer for The Independent