Death to Memes and A Meme (Quick and Dirty Politcal Survey)

saeva pointed me to a meme over at fernwithy's journal. It's called the Where I Stand meme and focuses on what are commonly positioned as the Big Questions in current social and political debate (really American electoral issues) - pay attention to what questions aren't asked; meme-maker your bias is showing! It's presence in fandom is particularly interesting, considering the lengths most fen go to, to appear to be apolitical.

One of things I dislike about memes is the way it encourages one to read random quiz answers, which would likely vary, depending on the day the meme is filled out, as intimate knowledge. It reduces lj communication to a series of interactive first dates, one inane paragraph of uncontextualized miscellany after another, and trivializes the experience of the journalist and the reader. It's like gumball machine journaling.

This meme in particular seems like an easy out. So you feel uncomfortable writing about political issues. No prob. This meme lets you speak out on a number of issues, all in one post! One stop shopping.

There's also safety in memes. On the whole, memes seem far less likely to cause flamewars because their very randomness makes it difficult to actually take them seriously, and in a sense, it's acceptable to be opinionated when asked, and the circulation of a meme is like a question we're all being invited to answer.

That said, here are my answers to the Where I Stand meme:

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