I have been meaning to do this for a while but it kept slipping my mind until right now. It is no longer possible to simply dismiss memes on Facebook and Twitter as insignificant pieces of entertainment that have no real meaning. People all over the world are starting to believe memes and many unstable people (and there are a lot of unstable people in this world) are using memes as the basis of their political and personal beliefs. So what I want to do is to talk about a few popular meme subjects and hope that, after this is done, you will be better informed on how to not look like a belligerent psychopath on social media.

 Impeachment

There are thousands of memes created about impeaching the sitting president and there are even Facebook pages dedicated to impeachment as well. Impeachment has become one of those Internet buzz words that gives angry people a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. When some uninformed person yells out “Impeach the bum!” they instantly feel like they have made a viable political statement.

Impeachment means nothing. It does not remove a president from office and it will not give you the result you are looking for. President Clinton was impeached two years into his second term and he was still very much in charge for the remainder of his time. Stop insisting that impeaching the president is the answer to your misguided anger, because it is not. Impeachment is a buzz term that essentially means nothing. If the president is convicted by the Senate, then you have something. But impeachment by itself is pointless.

Hitler

As someone who has studied Hitler for years, and continues to study Hitler, I find the memes comparing Hitler to American politicians to be extremely funny. I see Hillary’s smiling face and a snippet of something she said taken out of context placed next to Hitler’s picture and a quote of something he said taken out of context and thousands of people on the Internet think they have found the next great political criminal.

Unless you actually plan on doing research on Hitler, stop posting memes comparing American politicians to Hitler. Seriously, you look like idiots to people who actually know what Hitler did and how he did it. When Obama gets Congress to sign over emergency dictatorial powers to him and then disbands Congress, then we can talk about the American president being “just like Hitler.” Uninformed people have absolutely no idea how it would be impossible for an American president to do what Hitler did. Even if the president had Hitler-esque tendencies, there is absolutely no way an American president can turn the United States into Nazi Germany. So stop.

Guns

I do not want to have a big debate about guns because I believe that people should be allowed to own guns to protect themselves. However, I am a little leery about people who think that they need an AK-47 to go hunting for deer. But one thing I am sure of is that no government entity is planning on knocking on your door tomorrow to take your guns away from you. It isn’t happening, so stop insisting that it is.

The Onion

The Onion is SATIRE!! I love reading the comments on Onion Facebook posts because so many people think that the Onion is real news. The Onion has inspired a rash of satirical websites that are flooding the Internet with fake news, but none of them do it as well as the Onion. I have always felt that there should be a federal law that forbids any website aside from the Onion from doing satire because the others are so bad at it.

Before you go crazy about an article you read on the Internet, ALWAYS check to see if the website is satirical first. The Onion is the most famous satirical website in the world, but it is not the only one. Check for satire before you start believing that Bernie Sanders is really “in the pocket” of a teacher who donated $300 to his campaign.

So there you go. A guide to some of the most common mistakes people make on social media. I hope that this helps you all enjoy the Internet more and complain less. The world would be a much better place if people would stop insisting that memes are facts and actually looked up facts to back up their arguments. If that happened, then Donald Trump’s campaign for president would have never gotten off the ground.

+George N Root III is a Lockport resident and social media addict. Follow him on Twitter @georgenroot3 or send him an email at georgenroot3@gmail.com. And for the love of God, get your facts straight before posting something online.

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