The Internet is no longer a place where people can genuinely express themselves. Rather, it has become a battleground where everyone competes to bring the darkest joke to the table, even in the most grieving situations.
Misinformation, the evil twin of memes, is also going head-to-head. Netizens are busy making the wildest speculations rather than wishing well for the actor.
Is meme culture making us lose humanity, or is it just revealing the beast inside us?
What Happened to Actor Saif Ali Khan
According to the report, an attack took place on Thursday night at around 2.30 am on actor Saif Ali Khan at his own home. As the actor tried to intervene in an attack on his son’s nanny, he was stabbed six times including two deep cuts near his neck and spine. He was immediately taken to the Lilavati hospital after the attack.
According to the Mumbai police, the accused was close to one of the actor’s staff. A glimpse of the attacker was also seen on the CCTV. Police have registered an FIR on the accused.
The Wave of Memes and Misinformation
Millions of fans have showcased their condolences on this incident and raised concern about the law and order situation in India. However, a part of the netizens have made this concerning event ground to express their ‘dark humour’ and spread propaganda.
While some people are making fun of the security of Saif Ali Khan, some have brought back the ‘panauti’ joke on PM Narendra Modi. Some are also busy portraying Saif as a ‘Super Dad’ with the help of memes.
If you think these are harmless then wait for the misinformation and speculation part. While some are accusing Kumar Viswas of this attack, some are busy giving a religious colour to it. Not only that, a majority of the internet is suspicious of the reality of the attack in the first place. Some even went to the extent of calling it a publicity stunt for the upcoming movie of Saif Ali Khan.
The Psychology of Meme Culture
The word meme is derived from the Greek word ‘mimeme’ which means an imitated thing. The term was popularized by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book, The Selfish Gene, as a cultural parallel to the biological transmission of genetic information through genes and genetic recombination.
The Virality of Memes and The Role of Misinformation
The internet acts as a fertile platform for memes to spread as wildfires. But what increases the virality of meme culture? The answer is simple,
- Visual appeal with image and punchline
- Repeated appearance on social media platforms
- Lack of critical thinking among individuals
Memes are always backed with a certain emotion, be it funny, disgusting or triggering. As memes successfully invoke emotion in our minds very easily, we tend to react to it or share it more than other content.
However, emotions can not always be invoked with straight facts. And that’s when the role of misinformation and speculation comes into play. Together they build the unholy vessel of virality.
Memes: The Stress Manager of Our Mind
Memes act as a powerful tool to spread a message effectively. It can convey information in a way that causes individuals to rethink it and spread that new way of thinking. To many people, memes have played the role of an antidepressant and stress management pill. This was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Penn State University study, those who saw memes with COVID-19-related captions reported lower levels of COVID-related stress than those who saw a non-COVID caption.
Memes: The Dark Side of Humanity
Utah State University computer science professor Nick Flann has compared internet memes to biological viruses that infect a host’s mind and replicate via the share button in “Meme Menace: How Disinformation Spreads on Social Media”.
Flann has further said “It’s not just fun, it can change your behaviour and some of the outcomes of society, perhaps. Memes thrive in the world because we have the internet and because we have advanced artificial intelligence (AI).”
Regarding fraud and misinformation, Flann has said “Soon we will be able to make deepfakes that can make people do anything”.
Conclusion:
Thus, like every other controversial element, meme culture in itself is amoral. What matters is our intention and how we receive the memes. However, meme culture should not be an easy ground for misinformation to spread. And that can only be done by active participation of the government and citizens.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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The author is a freelance content writer and a UPSC aspirant. She specializes in entertainment, travel and lifestyle and finance niche.
