i didn’t meme to make you cry
Posted by Gordon on July 24, 2008
What is the page 123 meme? here’s one guy called Brad’s attempt to track it down. I like the “thigh bone connected to the shin bone we’ll get to the bottom of this by climbing up the ladder of links” approach. Especially that he has to really dig for some of the links – people not linking properly etc – and then in the end he gets back to 2004 and the trail goes cold .
At this point, I’ve made myself pretty sick of this meme. Often it appears to be a means by which people can brag about whatever erudite text they may or may not actually be reading. Even so, I can’t have wasted this much time and not play along.
But, for those like me who have a shaky hold on what a meme might be, I reckon – after skimming the extensive Wikipedia entry – that the blogger’s use (= intellectual game?) is drifting a bit from what Dawkins had in mind (gene – physical idea; meme – equivalent cultural idea).
One of Brad’s commentators calls the page 123 meme “the internet time-wasting sensation” – I thought that was Facebook .. just kidding. And I just noted Brad’s blog is called Footle. Look it up. Or save time by clicking here.
