Undoubtedly by now many of us has seen some variation of a ‘popular’ meme gripping the internet lately.
Let me explain the joke to those who might not be inclined (Read: Decent people whose brains can’t even fathom the logic behind this ‘funny’ joke).
These pictures ask you to tag someone among your friends, because this somehow unappealing person is looking for them, be it because they are supposedly physically unattractive, or because of their sexual orientation.
The joke here is that your friend would find it horrifying that such an ‘ugly’ person is somehow romantically connected to them.
Funny, right?
They’re Hurting Actual People
Obviously, the extremely creative people behind these memes do not tend to ask the owners of the pictures if it was okay to use them for a cheap joke.
As a result, people who are trying to make their own versions of the pictures more ‘repulsive‘ and ‘edgier‘ end up using photos of burn-victims or people with mental and physical disabilities.
Even if we ignore those punching down at individuals with already difficult lives, is it so easy to forget now that behind these hilarious memes are living, breathing human beings? Or are we all back to a primary school mentality?
Imagine how you would feel if your own picture was used as one of the ‘ugly’ people.
This was in fact the reality for Lizzie Velasquez, a woman who constantly looks emaciated due to a rare genetic disorder that does not allow her body to accumulate body fat.
Once cyberbullied for being dubbed ‘World’s Ugliest Woman’, it is easy to imagine that the person who ended up using her picture simply searched for ‘ugly woman’ on Google Image Search and used whatever picture that came up without really thinking about it.
Meanwhile for Lizzie, this episode may seem like a cruel reminder to the height of her cyberbullied days. But of course, how is this meme any different to cyberbullying?
And there are many who agree.
Variations of this meme using animals give us the same laughs without hurting anyone else.
See? It doesn’t take that much creativity to fix the core issue behind this meme.
In light of all of these memes that made me question our worth as humans, a new variation rises.
They are pictures of so-called “beautiful” people instead, asking for certain names to be tagged.
I do think it might be a bit of a blow to those “ugly” people whose pictures have been used at their expense.
We’re not saying that using conventionally attractive people is any better. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We shouldn’t be using stereotypes to make fun of anyone, and even though the conventionally attractive might seem to be a better choice on the surface, instead it just reeks of pity and judgement still. We’re still making judgement calls on the so-called “attractive” and “not-so-attractive”.
Let’s just stick to animal pictures instead. Or better yet, let this meme die. There was nothing that funny about it from the start anyway.
