Do viral meme moments ever actually change outcomes or merely memorialize them?
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I haven’t believed in the meme theory of outcomes since Dukakis and the tank.
Closest to believable was maybe Ted Cruz eating a booger.
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One of the most memorable pre-meme moments in presidential debate history was actually in a vice presidential debate.
Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
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Perhaps memes become viral because they *channel* the direction and momentum of an unconscious shared feeling.
In one sense, they’re an effect, not a cause (a memorialization.)
In another sense, they seem to focus and accelerate a social direction, influencing the outcome.
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I think this is accurate. It's like when you give something a name. The thing existed before the name, but as soon as you name it, it becomes cognizant.
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The meme is to stories as planck is to length.
It's the shortest possible story. A story fragment.
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