The era of the meme trade is over. What began with the social network craze of the early 2000s has morphed into the full-on internet meme culture we’re all familiar with today. But while this culture has spread, it has also spawned the creation and marketing of some of the most bizarre and overreaching memes yet. Here are the 10 worst.
10. “This is the face of terror.”
This was, in part, a defense against the kind of hate speech that was becoming more common on the internet. In the wake of the 2016 terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, the concept of terrorist face-shares was born, to show the horrors of life under a totalitarian regime as well as the dangers of fake news and social media.
But the reality was, it was another attempt by the right to weaponize the internet for political effect. And while some of these memes were meant to be funny, few were truly funny, as they often were merely used to create an aura of shock to advance the agenda of their enemies.
9. “I hope this doesn’t look like a selfie.”
This was one of the first major images to make its way into the meme world. A picture of a man’s head with what appeared to be an alien-like face was posted on Twitter by a man in the U.K who, later discovered, was actually a parody account of Trump’s own account. Not exactly the best way to promote an image of peace and harmony.
8. “I’m the one who looks like this.”
This, an image that quickly became a meme, is a picture of Bill Nye the Science Guy in a bikini. The image was shared after the science teacher asked his Instagram followers to take a look at the way his body was changing. While he ultimately turned out to be a man, the meme was born and has since become a staple of the internet.
7. “You’re so ugly, you must not be Jewish.”
This was a meme that spread quickly among the Jewish community in the wake of the 2014 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people. The meme claimed that every single person who lost a loved one in the attack was an anti-Semite, a charge that was