i recently skimmed through a very interesting article relating the current wave of absurd, onscure internet humour to dadaism, a movement born from uhh i think the great depression? anyway they called the current swathe of random xD humour neo-dadaist. im still researching this angle. bear w/ me here.

memes as dada

wikipedia quotes the definiton of a meme thusly:

meme (/miːm/ MEEM) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.

i want to emphasize one line. "A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena" and then zoom in on it again. "imitable phenomena." if i can be so bold, i'd like to posit that mimesis or mimicry is the lifeblood of a meme. I'll go into more detail about this in the case studies.