Never in my wildest dreams did I think being an Internet nerd would make me a hipster.
Sure, I wear plaid shirts and black plastic-framed glasses sometimes, but I don’t hang out at coffee shops or act smug when you’ve never heard of whatever crazy underground band is suddenly popular.
However, it seems a new community page on Facebook has turned me into the pretentious douche I usually make fun of — LSU Memes.
Pronounced like “meem,” a meme is a “cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes,” according to Dictionary.com.
While I’m not here to study the biological transmission of genes, I’m more specifically referring to the Internet meme.
Examples such as the “Rick Roll” (posting a link which leads to a video of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”), “LOLCats” (I Can Has Cheezburger) and “Rage Faces” have been virtually passed down year to year over the Internet on sites such as 4chan and Reddit.
Usually, these memes act as a sort of inside joke — funny to those in the know, but just random pictures with superimposed text to others.
Each meme has a specific way to use it to lead to maximum hilarity.
Because memes were essentially isolated to these small Internet communities, they remained funny and intact because everyone knew how to use them.
The term “small Internet community” doesn’t work when it comes to Facebook, though.
I’m sure the intentions were good when the creators of LSU Memes brought the page to life. Unfortunately, it’s led to nothing but the misuse and bastardization of the images and videos I and so many others have come to enjoy.
Once the page became popular, my Facebook news feed was overrun with incorrectly used memes and “what people think I do” pictures.
It’s like whenever your parents started liking the same music as you when you were a kid. It instantly became uncool.
Sites like Reddit have a voting system in place. If users like a link or picture, they can click an up arrow to “upvote” the post, and transversely “downvote” anything terrible.
Facebook, though, has no downvote arrow — no way to wade through the grime and ignorantly made memes and rage comics.
I will admit, though, there are a few gems on the page, and it’s fun to see memes localized to the University.
But only when it’s done correctly.
The Internet is full of “trolls” — people who stir up trouble just to get a reaction out of people — so unless you’re one of those people, go to sites like Knowyourmeme.com or Reddit and learn how to meme correctly.
I would say go to 4chan, the site from which most memes originate, but if you value whatever innocence you may have left stay far away from there.
Until then, don’t try to post memes. You’re only making yourself look dumb and enraging all of those already in the know.
Then again, maybe that’s the whole purpose of the LSU Memes page.
Maybe the entire Facebook page is nothing but a giant troll, built specifically for people to post incorrect memes just to upset all of us who have known how memes have worked for years.
My world just got turned upside down. Where is Conspiracy Keanu when you need him?
Adam Arinder is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]