Lab+4+-+Discussion+on+Tweety+Profs+Offer+Political+Smear-Meme+'Truthiness'+Ratings+by+Lewis+Page

﻿Article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/29/truthy_truthy/

After reading Lewis Page’s article, “Tweety Profs Offer Political Smear-Meme ‘Truthiness’ Ratings” it has become apparent that internet memes have become a significant trend with the evolution of the internet. Internet memes are known for their entertainment quality, but Page raises many concerns of humiliating and trashing the reputations of individuals aspect. He also notes that it is done through major social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, as mentioned in the article, Lady Gaga fans followed her comments on Twitter concerning John McCain's opposition to repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on ‘uncloseted’ gay people serving in the US military. Although this may have damaged the reputation of John McCain’s campaign, I personally believe it also created awareness, and gave gay individuals a voice to speak about how they felt. By having Lady Gaga’s fans simply putting a #hashtag, @mention/reply or putting a URL in there statuses, the Google ranking began to rise and this topic was looked at even more often. Just by doing such a simple task, millions were made aware of McCain’s lack of openness to the gay community. It was the truth that became publicized and talked amongst many, just by flagging ‘dubious trending memes’ as Page put it in his article.

Although that was an example of the truth being spread through an internet meme there are many instances where internet memes have horrendous effects on politicians and other individuals they are made about. Mainly, some internet memes project lies into society. Just because the hits for the number of views are high it does not summarize how true or not the internet meme is. Personally, I believe that search engines should be able to detect false internet memes and get rid of them. Killing all internet memes would just be wrong, because many of them are used as tools in understanding media, politics and as modes of entertainment. It would be impossible to make internet memes extinct. But by deleting false memes, the society will be protected from false accusations. With that understood, I believe that the article gives insight on the effect internet memes have on the society and to not always believe what you see on the internet. But wouldn’t that to not believe everything you hear or see is something obvious? Just as when your parents would say ‘don’t always believe what you see on TV’, when you were a child. It is ultimately up to the audience of the internet meme; they must decide whether or not believe the internet meme or to just brush it off as something in comparison to a tabloid.