Daum: Memed, and proud of it

Say what you will about the latest Internet video sensation — in which someone lampoons one group of humans or another based on certain conversational proclivities — but if nothing else, we can credit it with bringing mainstream awareness to the word "meme." That's the term coined by Richard Dawkins for the way evolutionary principles can be used to explain how cultural ideas take hold. It's now basically turned into a fancy way of talking about things that are popular on the Internet. This includes cats with funny captions inserted below them.

Meghan Daum

February 1, 2012