this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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Memes

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Post memes here.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.


Laittakaa meemejä tänne.

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[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I've seen it around Africa. Usually related to where there's a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses. It dovetails well with scattered cultural prohibitions on anything to do with messing with the blood. No blood donations, no transfusions. Likely related to decades of HIV/AIDS concerns.

Edit: it's also why a lot of polio vaccines are oral in Africa. Less stigma.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

People in Africa have every reason to be suspicious of white men coming in and injecting them with shit.

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medicine-empires-and-ethics-colonial-africa/2016-07

https://news.uoregon.edu/content/medical-researchers-africa-must-learn-past-prof-finds

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/4/8/medical-colonialism-in-africa-is-not-new

So yeah, it is frustrating to see when they push against things like vaccines, but it's entirely understandable given the history of what has been done to these people again and again.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

Oh, for sure. The way the British came in and told everyone to put their boobs away because it's immodest, and use formula made with well water to give your baby diarrhea early and maybe kill it, just breathtakingly idiotic.

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’ve seen it around Africa. Usually related to where there’s a bunch of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

So it's USA again. Usual bullshit colonialism.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

Oh no, it's locals that are JWs. But there's plenty of non-JW cultural reasons that push the idea of no injections.

Did you really just ignore the entire second half of the comment? The JW folks just have a more coherent "it says no in this book" logic.