We, as a generation, have a unique ability to throw shade.
It's almost magical.
When someone commits a social crime, whether it be a lapse of judgement or an offhand comment, we will roast, flame, and sauté our closest friends, family, and pets.
Nothing is forgiven, and no one goes unnoticed. We keep receipts, and we judge. Openly and aggressively.
This new year brought something we've all been waiting for--a new meme, and like most memes it needs to die quickly and end painfully.
The meaning of the meme is based on judging the social media habits of others. Calling out the girls who post pictures of their Starbucks coffee, the boys who post long, grammatically incorrect rants on Facebook, the aunts who share Fox News articles on their feeds, and the teens who Snapchat pictures of the temperature, utterly destroying the need for The Weather app.
And at first glance it's funny. After all, these statements are true. Too many people break social media etiquette. That comes with the territory. I mean, my mom still "likes" her own statuses. In 2016. But I still love her.
However, this "Be Like Bill" meme comes from a place of extreme pettiness and hypocrisy.
What gives you the right to judge what's acceptable to do on social media when you were throwing up peace signs in photo shopped selfies in middle school? You used "your" in place or "you're" several times over the years, but I still favorited your Tweets. That's right; I remember.
Ironically, the first boy on my Facebook feed who shared this passive-aggressive meme was someone who chronically and constantly shares bigoted articles (with a slightly misogynistic tone, but I digress.) In my opinion (which is what really matters in this world,) he has some of the worst social media habits on my feed. And I have Facebook friends who are Trump supporters.
Now, admittedly, I am a very well-seasoned person, often bitter, but even I know that this meme is a little too salty.
It's one thing to call out people for their bigotry or hatred, but "Be Like Bill" is sorta promoting a kind of hatred. Why are we making everyone self-conscious about their social media habits? What if I want to take a picture of my salad and use #blessed? Why are shaming our Facebook friends?
Perhaps I'm being overdramatic (and I'm usually overdramatic,) but we pride ourselves on tolerance for others, right? That's what separates us from generations before: our ability to accept people as the come. But if we can't even tolerate a little bit obnoxious social media behavior what does that say about what we preach?
This meme (which hopefully becomes more and more unpopular every day) showcases millennial hypocrisy.
We've all filled out the personal meme generator, right? (if you have not, here it is: http://en.blobla.com/bla/be-like-me-be-like-bill.) And what do we do after we've successfully made a passive-aggressive meme with our name inserted? We share it on Facebook, clogging everyone else's newsfeeds with the same damn link.
And there's nothing wrong with that. Except for the fact that we're shaming other people for being annoying on social media BY BEING ANNOYING ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
It does't make sense, and I really don't like it.
That being said-
