Here’s my abridged Theory of Memes: we go nuts over each delightful new meme because we’re acutely fearful of the trite and the passé. To cling to a dead meme is to reveal you’re a half-step behind The Discourse, a fatal admission you’re not wholly fluent in the hyperactive language the Internet reinvents each and every day. Nobody wants to be that day’s big dumbass, the guy who didn’t get the memo, the Facebook cousin misusing SpOnGeBoB mEmEs in 2019.
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David’s Theory of Memes, Part II: discussing memes is the best way to kill them dead. It’s kind of like collecting butterflies. We all admire their beauty as they flap past, but the actual researchers have to pin their lifeless bodies to a dull cork board. For most of us, it’s best to point them out as they come and hope to see another in the near future.
When we wrote on Monday of “OK Boomer”, the dismissive Gen Z-dig at annoying and tone-deaf elders, we already knew it was on the way out. “While old people are complaining about “ok boomer”, young people are making US $10,000 from “ok boomer” merch and are already sick of the non-Gen Zers using it,” we noted, adding with a certain weariness that it wouldn’t take long for the meme to “hit the Australian commentator circuit”.
It happened this morning. Here’s a Today panel, featuring nobody on the Gen Z-side of Millennial, discussing folks who say they’re offended by the phrase. It features a somewhat accurate description of “OK Boomer” and a weird segue into some bullshit about how 60-year-olds aren’t really Baby Boomers. In total, it is a cold-blooded execution of the meme.
A 60-year-old radio host feels so personally attacked by the term ‘ok boomer’ that he has likened it to being racially offensive. Are you offended by it? #9Today pic.twitter.com/Jcxe9HSh3O
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) November 5, 2019
To confirm its death, Today went on to sprinkle discussion about the British royal family with “OK Boomer” references.
The approval rating for Meghan Markle is so low that she only ranks above the Duke of York, despite his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Is this fair? #9Today pic.twitter.com/CKPYHcukkw
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) November 5, 2019
“OK Boomer” is dead. Long live “OK Boomer.”
