This is one of my favourite memes. I pull it out every once in awhile to remind myself, and others, to make sure that we really look at what we are sharing. As more and more people get their news from social media, more and more people share misinformation.
Memes really get under my skin, as anyone can make one. They are rarely the whole truth or unbiased, and yet we keep sharing them over and over. You might be thinking, "Kate, what brought this on?"
Well, I spend a lot of time on social media, and every day I see the memes that people share and it just makes me wonder. Who made this? Is it supposed to be a joke? Does the person who posted this really hate that politician that much? Does that person really believe that? Am I being punked? Sometimes I do laugh, as I can appreciate a joke. Especially if the meme includes cats, or T-Rex.
This is the meme that brought on my urge to talk about this today. Now this is just about a fish and there really isn't anything divisive about it at all. It's not racist, it doesn't really affect our health, and it's certainly not political...BUT.... it is straight up untrue!!!!!!
If you look at the picture of the tilapia you can see that it has skin. We have a few markets in Edmonton that sell them live. They have skin. I've also been told by the employee at the grocery store that they do, in fact, have bones!! OMG!!! A quick search tells me that while the tilapia we eat is mostly farmed, they did originate in the wild and not in a lab somewhere. There are studies that show that the dioxin in tilapia is no more than any other farmed fish. I have not tested this yet, but I'd put money on the fact that this fish can be overcooked. Probably pretty easily. Leave anything on a fire too long and it turns to ash.
You still might be wondering why such a stupid meme would get under my skin so much. That's assuming I'm not a tilapia and I do have skin...
To answer that, I've been doing a lot of reading for research for an upcoming podcast episode. It's on whether or not as a society, we are becoming more divisive. For someone like me, who is more active politically than many of the people that I know, it really feels that we are.
There is this song, New Dress by Depeche Mode, which has always struck a chord with me. The chorus in particular;
"You can't change the world But you can change the facts And when you change the facts You change points of view If you change points of view You may change a vote And when you change a vote You may change the world" - Martin Gore
I feel that memes are a way to change the facts. I mean look at all of the antivax memes that are still around which cite facts that have been debunked over and over again. Memes are designed to trend, and go viral, so the group that is creating the meme can reach wide audiences. Most of the time when we share, we don't know who creates many of these memes or what the true intent is behind them. Sometimes I feel that memes are a weapon. Not all of them, of course, but the fact that Russia has been accused of tampering in elections around the world should make us stop and think critically about what we share. I think that we really need to stop and consider if the info is really true, or do we just wish it were true?
We will touch on this and much more in the next episode of the podcast.
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