Modified meme

[ckd]

If you truly believe that "you are either with us or against us, and to be with us you must publicly profess your agreement" is a sentiment that is no more useful as part of an LJ meme than it is when the Bush Administration uses it, post this in your journal.

If you don't, you're a horrible evil person.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You win the internets.

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

This was exactly my sentiment when I saw the poorly-worded "Gay Rights" meme.

Please wear this arm-band to prove that you're One of Us.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Clearly, I'm an evil person because the day the original meme made the rounds, I was offline for, you know. Reasons.

:)

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

Still a free country (more or less) so if I want to have post a gay rights meme, why the hell not.

I don't like wishing happy birthday to total strangers, or getting the same from total strangers. Different strokes 'n' all.

[gtrout.livejournal.com]

Even more, to prove that you're not One Of Them.

[gtrout.livejournal.com]

:applauds:

[ckd]

I have no arguments with a meme that says "post something about your views on <topic>"; the discussions during International Blog Against Racism Week were often very interesting and well thought out.

I don't like the "if you don't send on the chain letter, bad things will happen to you" aspect of this particular exhortation.

In your post, you actually discussed the issue, leaving out the chain-letter "pass it on or else" part. (As it is, your phrasing "What consenting adults chose to do and who they chose to love is their own business. Period." nicely sums up my own view on the topic.)

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

????

As far as I could tell, here is the original Gay Rights Meme request, and it didn't do any of those things:

---

Gay Rights
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" - Ernest Gaines

We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on LiveJournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this. Thanks.

[like D'oh!]

Pass it around.

---

Anyway, maybe if I'd seen a meme that demanded I do it, I might have felt differently! Since I didn't see that...

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

The inference I took from the way the meme is worded is that "if you don't repost this, you aren't for gay rights." It made me bristle, so I am sure it will annoy others as well.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The wording of that meme made me very very bristly.

[ron_newman]

If I didn't repost it, maybe I just didn't see it until now. Or maybe I never post anything to my LiveJournal, and am here only to participate in certain communities. (Both are true for me.)

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Yes it did. Reread the last two sentences slowly and carefully.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

That's part of it, too. Basically, not posting should not equal not agreeing with the meme sentiment. The whole thing is just worded so badly.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I'm already a horrible evil person. I've now seen this gay post thing commented on in two LJs, but I didn't see the original.

Hurray!

[ocelotn.livejournal.com]

Hurray! I'm a horrible evil person!

Do I win the secret lair, the badly designed but cool looking gadgets, the horde of minions and the ornamental girls?

As proof of eligibility:

I have a non LJ life (and you know that it's selfish to keep things to yourself).
I am discriminate in my meme transmission (and you know that discrimination is wrong).
I avoid helping bullies (and it's mean not to be helpful).
I don't like chocolate (so I'm devoid of all humanity).

Please send directions to new lair by return post!

[mistri.livejournal.com]

Most of the people who posted it didn't read it carefully enough, I think.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

How 'bout if I believe in Gay Rights but don't *want* to post it in my journal, for instance because my gun-totin' Republican-votin' parents read said journal? Or if I didn't see the meme until three months after it passed, but whoops! Too late, I must hate gay people. Or any one of the infinite other reasons I decide not to post in *my* journal that I believe in gay rights. The question of itself creates a False Dichotomy™.

So while there is no formal demand, the statement is worded such that either I still beat my wife or I no longer beat my wife, but it's not possible that I never beat my wife.

[eanja]

You have completely nailed what bothers me about this meme (in a much shorter way than the other people I have seen discussing it.)

So I have indeed stolen your meme and reposted it, thereby saving myself the need to say anything intelligent about manipulative intolerant language and how I would foolishly like to think that people actually arguing in favor of tolerance would see the inherent hypocrisy in using it.

[niqui.livejournal.com]

this is the second reaction to this meme i've seen, without actually seeing the meme at all. i must be hanging out with the wrong crowd. what's the commotion about?

[ckd]

Basically, there's this meme that says that if you support gay rights, you should post the meme in your LJ.

It includes the following: "If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". If you don't believe in gay rights, then just ignore this."

At best, it's egregiously sloppy wording and bad logic. At worst, it's a demand that you parrot a particular post rather than, y'know, thinking for yourself and posting the results.

I'm both amused and pleased that I've seen more variants/objections/discussion posts than I have copies of the original.

Re: Hurray!

[ckd]

New lair currently undergoing repairs due to combination of captured superspy, badly designed reactor self-destruction system, and erupting volcano.

Also, Horde of Minions Local 148 is on strike.

?

[webzombi.livejournal.com]

what's a "meme"? how will it effect me? should i be frightened?

[mplsvala.livejournal.com]

I did as you suggested, but I can still read it differently. On one hand, it asks true believers to identify themselves by repeating the mime, while asking those on the other end (those who disagree, perhaps strongly) to remain quiet rather than turn it into another bunch of battles. This reading doesn't address those who fall in between. I would assume that they could choose a response (if any) without further advice.

Actually, the original is in lauriemann's comment above

[mplsvala.livejournal.com]

I was really glad to see the original in the comments above. DD-B posted the rebuttal version and I was tracking it back. As it happens, I have become a true believer and don't mind saying so, if prompted. I seem to hold a minority opinion that only two groups are actually addressed, true believers and disbelievers. Obviously many people felt slighted by their reading. So, I would have to agree that it is badly worded. And I find the rebuttal version ookable. I thought it was funny even without knowing the particular context.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

I am so stealing this myself :}

(ckd, you rock.)

[eanja]

Hey! We have the same name. (There aren't that many of us.)

[julesjones]

[giggle] A lovely, eloquent summary of how I felt when I saw the original chain letter and its blackmail attempt.

(And thanks to dsgood for the link.)

[slobbit.livejournal.com]

Yes! I am a horrible, evil person! I am a monkey, not a sheep.

Memes in general irritate me, and this one positively got my back up. I support human rights in my every day actions. I don't need no freakin' feel-good meme medal.

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

I did go back and review it, and came to the conclusion I didn't read it as carefully as I should have yesterday. I suppose because I do agree with the contention so strongly, it colored my judgement on how it was phrased.

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

I saw that one too.

[mplsvala.livejournal.com]

I appreciated the inclusion of the original in your comment. I hadn't seen it and was pleased to see it myself and have my own reaction. Looking at it was useful for me. It made me realise that I had become a "true believer" who was willing to say so. So I did. I really get the ojection to people telling you what to do. I just didn't have that reaction. I enjoyed what I've been calling the rebutal version. I agree with that too, I just don't think it applies here for me.

Re: Hurray!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I don't like chocolate or alcohol. Hard to believe I'm a fan, eh?

[webzombi.livejournal.com]

i *totally* agree w/you: "I support human rights in my every day actions." and on the whole "meme" thing as well. plus i'm a monkey too!