this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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memes

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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (4 children)

We never got rid of slavery, we just made them responsible for their own food and housing.

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[–] ObtuseDoorFrame@lemm.ee 75 points 5 days ago (17 children)

This isn't a fucking meme. It's a great quote, but doesn't belong here.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 41 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Almost no modern "memes" are actually memes anymore.

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[–] irmoz@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago

How isn't it a meme? It's an idea that's been repeated and passed through many people, surviving in its distilled but still exploitable form.

[–] Thelie@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So, I looked up the term on Wikipedia. It sais: "An Internet meme, or meme ([/miːm/], [MEEM]), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through social media platforms]. Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images, videos, GIFs], and other viral content. Key characteristics of memes include their tendency to be parodied, their use of intertextuality, their viral dissemination, and their continual evolution. The term meme was originally introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1972 to describe the concept of cultural transmission." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

I'll let you be the judge of whether this fits that definition or not. (And whether it's worth your time arguing about something being a meme).

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[–] redwattlebird@lemmings.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Hmmmm. Sounds like something UBI could solve.

[–] underline960@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Except there are a lot of people who believe that the homelessness and suffering is natural, correct, and deserved.

[–] redwattlebird@lemmings.world 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Maybe in America, but in most other places homelessness isn't demonised nearly as much (also America is probably the only place that will make you homeless if you get seriously ill).

I think somewhere in the Nordic states, they've trialled UBI in an area and I think with success.

Edit: So the results are a mixed bag, as you would expect, but generally people were much happier with UBI.

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 3 points 3 days ago

Right up until the point it happens to them.

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[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 35 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

I have never been more motivated by the complete absence of a social safety-net, than each day I have spent unemployed.

As Americans, perhaps we behave this way largely to do normalization and indoctrination. And maybe some are tacitly aware of the fragility of this arrangement. But for those of us that have stared into the financial and classist chasm that sits beneath us all, it vastly exceeds any unease you might feel from not keeping up with your peers.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 35 points 4 days ago (2 children)

My state has stripped unemployment down to 12 weeks, after that went by after my layoff at Christmas, I got so desperate and depressed and a little bit crazy. As the day is ticked closer to my first missed mortgage payment and car payment, And the thought of homelessness for me and my animals became a sobering reality, I started taking every interview I could possibly find, no preparation, just winging it until something worked.

During that whole process, I saw what the endgame is, we are slaves, but there is no slave master anymore, we do that part ourselves to avoid dying on the street.

So I am very motivated to start my own niche company and get the fuck away from this whole system at this point. Especially since I will have to work until I die, 401ks have all been cashed out during crises.

My condolences on both the awful realizations and the exhaustion of your retirement funds. I feel you on the self-incorporation front. That one keeps coming up for me, especially when times are tough.

[–] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 7 points 4 days ago

My endgame is to pull the rug on the whole thing by offering, in a capricious way, something better

[–] Angelusz@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago

Yeah turns out usa didn't reinvent the wheel super good or something. You have all been scammed under the pretense of liberty.

Now go fix it.

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 25 points 4 days ago (2 children)

6:30 am? In my city, the streets are already packed with working class people at 6:00 am.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Starting work at 6am? Luxury! In my day we started our day's work the day before, and didn't finish until two days after!

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 44 points 5 days ago (2 children)

For a time I lived awakened by the birds and a purring kittty and the golden dawn.

I would evacuate and then make a pot of French press and sit and and enjoy a cigarette and caffeine while my kitty and I watched hummingbirds flit among them flowers.

I would sleep when my work was done and I was tired. I’d bathe before bed and curl up with the kitty purring at my feet.

Minutes are a human construct. Rebel against them.

[–] Photuris@lemmy.ml 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Cool. How’d you monetize this, exactly, and how well did it pay?

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 30 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Magic and pushing buttons in the right order.

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[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Sounds absolutely lovely, alas unsustainable in the current world and at least my current region.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago

Yes, people are the worst.

[–] tragicinfo@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Hey Bukowski said great stuff when he wasn't kicking his underage girlfriend on camera.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (2 children)

90% of this is just good hygiene.

[–] Artaca 12 points 4 days ago

A lot of people skip the fighting traffic part of their hygiene routines and it shows smh

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[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Easy. Money. Pay me well and I'll do it.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Best we can do is $3.50.

What do you MEAN no??? People just don't want to work these days!!!

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[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

we live in a culture where the value of your life is measured by how much money you have

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

we live in a culture where the value of your life is measured by how much money you ~~have~~ can make for your owner

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[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This has triggered a vague memory of a joke by someone (I think Douglas Adams?). But I can't remember the full quote so putting this out there in case someone knows it.

Basically humanity was smarter than other animals because we didn't adapt ourselves to the environment, but adapted the environment to suit us. So now instead of having to adapt we just have to... wake up at 6:45 am when the alarm goes off, drive to work at 7 30 am etc.

Does anyone know it or was I having some kind of fever dream?

[–] Harashi@jlai.lu 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)
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[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Rise and grind, baby.

[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Imagine life as a video game where you must find the way through a maze, discover keys and find treasures in order to win.
For example, you must find a way to sustain yourself (a maze), find the key to health (power) and avoid the beasts (corporate control).
People spend thousands of hours playing all sorts of games but neglect to properly play the game of life, instead they accept what they are offered by the power players.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 33 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The difference is that in video games there are rules that you have to follow and you’re actually allowed to win.

Real life the winners already won and wrote the rules

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The cheat code is unionization.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

— Buckminster Fuller

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