this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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Old People Facebook
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The sublemmy for "Old People Facebook" is a curated space showcasing the charming, confusing, and often hilarious social media endeavors of the older generation. From accidental memes and cryptic status updates to endearing attempts at using modern technology, this sublemmy celebrates the unique ways seniors engage with the digital world.
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I don't think so, unless I've been misinterpreting these memes for years. I've always understood it to be like the Lisa Simpson one, where the text is just a stand-in for OP's "controversial" opinion and wants to open up a discussion
It's a pompous asshole egging people on to prove him wrong
It has a different tone from the Lisa one
People use it incorrectly most of the time though
I can confirm, you're misinterpreting the memes. Originally it was acknowledging that they're an asshole themselves that hold a technically correct but ultimately contrarian or socially disrupting opinion. They might be right, but they are still assholes who are antagonizing the public to derive personal entertainment from outrage at the cost of actually constructive dialogue. It's the epitome of bad faith arguing. Most people fail to identify this nuance and use the meme format incorrectly, thus rendering its original meaning obsolete.
I would argue that this is part of how memes evolve just like language. The original context is largely lost and forgotten and with that the use of the format changes over time
You're right, every single meme template is a race to the bottom. No matter how niche it starts it'll inevitably become generic as it's reposted over and over and over