Forced Meme

Definition

A forced meme can be commonly defined as something that a person or group attempts to force into internet culture. Many forced memes never become embraced by the communities they are forced upon, but some have successfully become a part of Internet culture.

Notable Examples

Milhouse

When 4chan users attempted to force the Simpsons character Millhouse as a meme, a new catchphrase, “Milhouse is not a meme”, was formed simply out of denial of the status of Millhouse being a meme.

While “Millhouse is not a meme” is still thoroughly based in the controversy over the forced meme, posts regarding Millhouse have become popularized because of this controversy.

Fuck Yeah Seaking

“Fuck Yeah Seaking” originated on /b/ as a forced meme similar to Milhouse. Now, F* Yeah Seaking is popular not only on /b/ but many other websites, commonly seen interacting with other memes. People still note the fact that it is a forced meme, but that particular history has faded through use of the meme.

Common examples of forced memes can be found as “gets” on 4chan. There will be a time when a person posts a picture, followed by “(#) get and this is a meme.” If the get is a fail, people are happy that they won’t have to deal with the implications of the get had it been gotten.

Where’s this going?

It’s very possible that there are many other forced memes than most may think. Because of the anonymous nature of the internet, there’s a lot of room for a single person or group to carefully manipulate the masses into accepting a certain thing as a meme.