Memes are everywhere.

They make us laugh and they make us roll our eyes, but sometimes they also do something else: they inform us. Unfortunately for those who would gather news or information from funny pictures they found on the internet, they do not always inform us correctly. 

The term “meme” itself goes back decades to its use by Richard Dawkins in his book “The Selfish Gene.” Dawkins used the term to refer to “… a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation” in the context of comparing human cultures to genetics.

Strangely enough, Dawkins’ original definition still fits fairly well with what we now regard as memes, though he could never have pictured the goofy captions now adorning every corner of the Web. Like the genes he was really talking about, the memes of today are endlessly replicated and passed on, whether or not they actually do what they are supposed to do.

For most memes, their intended effect is simple: make someone laugh. Sometimes, though, these silly creations are made with actual motives. For instance, numerous memes maintain patently false information about Phil Robertson’s recent controversial remarks, while others contain untrue statistics about government programs.

To be sure, there are so many unique memes in existence that the presence of a few falsehoods should not be so surprising. On top of that, aren’t memes just jokes? Can we really be expected to take them seriously in any sense?

Ultimately, yes.

Memes are, by definition, the most basic level of cultural transmission. Just because they are propagated with a spirit of humor does not mean that they are without a message. Maybe no one actively looks to memes to gain real information about the world around them — at least we would hope not — but they still carry information. 

Perhaps it is only subconsciously kept around, but false information gathered from a meme is just as bad and just as untrue as false information gathered from any other source. In fact, it could very well be easier to unwittingly collect untruths from a meme than from, say, a news headline. By their very virtue of being silly jokes, memes can lull their audience into a state where information presented is not questioned at all.

By way of example, if a comedian tells a story that involves a red blazer and being mistaken for a Mountie in Canada with hilarity ensuing, your average audience member will not seriously question the truth behind the joke. Those same audience members may, at some point in the future, conjure up a recollection of the anecdote, and forget the part about it only being a comedian’s joke 

In this way, small lies told for the sake of humor can be accidentally taken for truths. Imagine what audiences can be made to think if the so-called joke is actually created specifically to spread a falsehood. That is not to say that the internet is being overwhelmed with untrue memes, or that there is some conspiracy afoot, but the danger remains.

Memes are, after all, an almost perfect vehicle for spreading false information. They are virtually untraceable. They are extremely easy to spread. They are simple and direct. They have absolutely no oversight or regulation. There is no reputation to be tarnished by being proven wrong. Verification of information is easy, yes, but unlikely given the context in which it is presented. 

It can be very, very easy to write memes and the like off as simple, sometimes funny internet oddities. It can also be very, very easy to underestimate the negative effects such simple, sometimes funny units of information can have.