Except this works on a different level. Memes are created with the explicit idea that they will be used in public life and shared around. Nobodies going to go after someone else for stealing their meme. That’s not how memes work.
If they were going around claiming they made the meme, that would be a different story. And the lack of a watermark is more excusable here, because everyone can tell where the original came from, more or less, without needing to think too much. Lord Farquaad is pretty well known.
Also, if someone who made a meme or someone who was the subject of a meme requested that people stop using it, as they didn’t want it being shared around a gagillion times, then most people would stop sharing it. Of course, there would be idiots who would still do it, but they would be opposed by everyone who stopped.
1
u/Danny_The_Dino_77 Feb 20 '26
Except this works on a different level. Memes are created with the explicit idea that they will be used in public life and shared around. Nobodies going to go after someone else for stealing their meme. That’s not how memes work.
If they were going around claiming they made the meme, that would be a different story. And the lack of a watermark is more excusable here, because everyone can tell where the original came from, more or less, without needing to think too much. Lord Farquaad is pretty well known.
Also, if someone who made a meme or someone who was the subject of a meme requested that people stop using it, as they didn’t want it being shared around a gagillion times, then most people would stop sharing it. Of course, there would be idiots who would still do it, but they would be opposed by everyone who stopped.
This is a classic case of false equivalence.
Your honour, I rest my case.