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Open Discussion: The State of the Memes in 2014

Last posted Dec 02, 2014 at 04:37PM EST. Added Nov 25, 2014 at 02:04PM EST
87 posts from 77 users

Expand Dong is my favorite. It's just so open ended, you can put the stupidest things and still get a laugh. I've seen a couple here that didn't even have anything sexual in them and people liked them anyways.

RandomMan wrote:

Protests exist all around the world, each year again, and that will never cease.

In the more recent years however, social media became more and more a part of these protests, functioning as a medium for participants and amateur journalists to keep the world updated on the occurances that are going on. Protesters can also communicate easier to organise these protests. Social media lights them, and fuels them.

But this year it stood out for sure, so I'm giving social media journalism a ribbon.

On the other side, let's consider social media's role in international conflict and agitation.

As we all know, the Islamic State is also a fan of social media, starting two hashtag memes: #CalamityWillBefallUS and #AskIslamicState. They used social media to share the news of their mass executions of Iraqi soldiers. Even as I type this, the IS is claiming "victory" over Twitter about Def. Sec. Chuck Hagel's resignation. It thrusts their atrocities into the spotlight in a way that wasn't necessarily possibe even 10 years ago, when the extent of al-Qaeda's PR was a courier to carry Osama bin Laden tapes to al-Jazeera, which were then often restricted by major media outlets. Now, they can reach their target audience (the West) directly.

Alternatively, individuals have responded by trolling the IS accounts, starting their own hashtag trends like #notinmyname, and sharing videos and images of themselves burning the IS flag. Moreover, the US State Dept. has a Twitter account devoted entirely to trolling the IS, like by pointing out an image of alleged abuse by the Shia Syrian and Iraqi armies was actually a screenshot from a Hungarian porno.

Social media in international affairs is definitely one of the larger trends of the year, but I think so is the Middle Eastern situation, as it is every year, but also the IS specifically.

Last edited Nov 26, 2014 at 09:50PM EST

I nominate Shrek is love, Shrek is life and Five Nights at Freddy for this one, consider this following terms:

- For Shrek is Love-Life, those pharse and story wouldn't leave my mind since the first time read it, and tried to recreate it using text-to-speech program for my private project.
- For Five Nights at Freddy's, they are the Top Gallery record breaker that stays in their current place for few months, and if they can hang in there for 1-2 years it could surpass My Little Pony FIM image gallery record for next longest Image Gallery lingers at the 1st place.

Personal favorite meme of 2014: 2014 World Cup Semifinal: Brazil vs. Germany. Historic ocassion and provided great fodder for jokes (sorry Brazilians :<

I also agree with everybody who pointed out that social media-fueled social justice-based memes are some of the most important, such as Ferguson and #YesAllWomen/#NotAllMen.

On the pop culture / fandom side of things, I say KLK, Five Nights @ Freddy and GOATS are on the top. Possibly Korra too (season 3 FTW)

Other memes I'd like to see near the top are Expand Dong (I'll admit it's important even if I'm personally sick of it) and other World Cup related memes

I nominate:

Kill La Kill (Althought it might be from 2013)
Too much water,
Alex from Target (because it grew in only 1 frigin day), and
2014 FIFA W orld Cup (Specially 2014 World Cup Semifinal: Brazil vs. Germany and Suarez Bite), also
Steal her look/Starter Packs (Should merge)

Genry wrote:

Best meme? Expand Dong, hands down.
Most important/influential meme? I hate to say this, but probably #gamergate.

Agreed.

And we seem to be having alot of of "gates" lately. It's been an eventful year though, that is for sure.

(also first forum post, yay)

Expand Dong has been one of the best this year
BUT
- Pregnacy test
- Natalia Poklonskaya
- TPP
- All of the #Gate-'s
- 4Chan-Tumblr war (Exposed some idiocy of the tumblrites)
Were some other memes that, more of a meme reflected some of the reality we are living on also events like
- ISIS formation
- Ferguson Riots
and other things like that, really made this 2014 a convulsed year.

Last edited Nov 27, 2014 at 05:33PM EST

amanda b. wrote:

i <3d…

SKELETON WAR.
Giferator.
Bluespace.
An extra hour in the ballpit.
Twitch Plays Pokemon.

OMG I had totally forgotten about Dashcon 2014!
+1An extra hour in the ballpit.

Also +1 TPP

Let's see here, uh:
EXPAND DONG
MLG Parodies
:^) Emoticon's been getting popular
Twitch Plays Pokemon
Vivian James
And finally, the one I'd hate to say something about:
That GamerGate thing

Last edited Nov 28, 2014 at 04:16AM EST

Twitch Plays Pokemon hands down is the best meme event of 2014. As for Memes, Expand Dong probably ranks pretty high on my list.

Though it seems this year had quite a lot of Nintendo Influence in terms of Memes. The hype leading to Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8 was tremendous and it carried a lot of online fan content with it.

Unfortunately, the Gender War overshadowed much of it. So much hate is getting spread around it's almost unreal.

A lot of people blamed Don and Molly for a lot of the shit entries that came up this year. But personally I blame the internet for just generally being shit. Hopefully Virtual Reality Internet becomes a thing soon because hugging friends and punching idiots online would be great.

Seconding Twitch Plays Pokemon. That seemed to be a moment where for one time, or one moment, the internet was at peace with itself

Also nominating MLG parodies. This has been a shitty year for MLG and the reputation of pro-gaming in general but great for jokes at MLG's expense

MLG has been pretty much outed as the corporate exploitation it is. The results have been glorious


@Darude – Sandstorm

I will NEVER get tired of that song

Last edited Nov 28, 2014 at 09:25AM EST

Well, I only joined this site later a few months ago, but I think that a very influential movement this year has been "feminism"; it generated a lot of excitement and attention, though neither of them were very good. Think back on offshoots like "it was my privilege", "i need feminism", and "#shirtstorm". SJWs, too, though mentally I just lump them together.

My favorite meme this year was Expand Dong, and I think Super Smash Bros did pretty well too. What about gijinka? Does that count?

Last edited Nov 28, 2014 at 12:34PM EST

If we had to do a top 10 list based on what people have said in this thread so far, it would be:

Expand Dong
GamerGate
Five Nights at Freddy's
I'm Really Feeling It
Twitch Plays Pokemon
Skeleton War
Ferguson Riots
ISIS
One Hour in the Ballpit
Pregnancy Test Announcement

In short, most of us love vidya gaem memes. MLG Parodies and Expand Dong are a great example.

Not to mention Twitch Plays Pokémon, one of the greatest feats of crowd-based fun. So does E3 and the "insight" it gave us. And who can forget the never-ending hype for Smash Bros?

Last but not least, #gamergate. FUCKING GAMERGATE.
Not only it made a ton of villans, it actually connected us to stand up and rise against corruption. That's what they say


If you think 2013 is full of idiots, guess what, those idiots just went full potato.

The Fappening and Time's Bannable Word Poll raid is a stark reminder that 4chan is (still) filled with faggots.

Dashcon made us sit on a ball pit as the crew behind it went out of resources, two websites declare war and yet to have any physical contact (4c & Tumb), and Anita Sarkeesian's master ruse to help Zoey Quinn cover up the mess backfired as it had grown itself into a special kind of cancer.

Don't forget some guy land a spacecraft on a comet, and then got hated for a gawddam shirt he'd wore.

Nonetheless, 2014 is by far the most potato year I've ever been through. And to prove it, people had to gave out $1000 to help out a guy make potato salad. Who only need $10.

Papa Coolface wrote:

It seems no one else has recognized the true greatest meme of 2014.

I can't believe we all forgot about Yee. Shame on us!

Expand dong was everywhere… i loved it

Then there were the loads of forced hashtags like #iamperfect #alexformtarget and more, i hate those

The best meme was really twitch plays pokemon until it got old and boring, at least for me

Last edited Nov 30, 2014 at 12:56PM EST

Synge wrote:

Unfortunately, I don't think that Montage Parodies can count at this point since they did start in 2011, but I'm totally with you for voting for it does somehow miraculously show up on the ballot. That being said if any of you haven't heard of a game called GAME OF THE YEAR: 420BLAZEIT vs xxXilluminatiXxx [wow/10 #rekt edition] – Montage Parody The Game then you totally should dankload it and play this amazing piece of heaven.

IMO, montage parodies really picked up with r/montageparodies trending on reddit, and it kind of blew up from there. And I think we can attribute to the subreddit trending with the popularity of snipars.

Skeletor-sm

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