The Memes You Need, Vol. 3: Responding to Posts on Social Media

An ongoing meme-archive series at Retro that supplies readers with pithy, effective, and engaging memes to use on special occasions.

Apr 30, 2024

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Introduction

I’ve written many articles about memes on Substack—e.g., this one over at Proof—and Retro already has a Memes section in which I regularly discuss the topic, so this series probably needs little introduction. It’s exactly what it says it is: a series of archives of memes from different categories that are all eminently usable by anyone who likes to instrumentalize memes as part of their online-discourse practice.

You can find the first and second entries in this new, ongoing Retro series here and here; they cover “Trump, Musk, and Putin” and “TV, Film, and Culture”, respectively.

I studied and taught memes when I was a professor at University of New Hampshire—yes, really—so I curate an archive like this one very mindfully. The best memes, whatever their general theme, are ones that have high production values, are easy to read and understand, and make a point that one doesn’t need much or perhaps even any specialized knowledge to empathize with. They’re effective vehicles for trolling and pleasing and commiserating in equal measure, and moreover offer the sort of iconic visual aesthetic that allows them to be instantly recognizable every time they appear anywhere and, just as importantly, be readily remembered. A meme is far more likely to be used and responded to if it’s one that an internet user has seen before (up to a point, of course; the “law of diminishing returns” certainly does also apply here).

Retro is, of course, not a political substack. But most Retro subscribers understand that I’m a progressive and that, with this in mind, some of the memes I find most useful and humorous are those that skewer, usually in mild ways, would-be authoritarian figures like Elon Musk or Donald Trump—as well as those who support their most anti-social excesses.

I suspect no one will be shocked by any of this, but in any case, for those who worry that Retro could turn in a political direction, please don’t—I’ve no intention of that. I like Retro to be largely apolitical, with just a few exceptions, and I expect that future entires in this ongoing meme-archive series will be even less indirectly connected to hot-button political issues than this one. This said, do know that some of the memes below contain mild profanities (though to be clear, the overwhelming majority of the very best memes available employ no such rhetorical crutch, in this author’s view, and in fact one of the greatest utilities of a meme is that it can defuse or side-step entirely an online interaction that could otherwise become heated, protracted, and unhelpful).