If you’ve been following my Daily Ink, you’ll know that I’ve been using meme images to accompany my daily blog posts.

(Images below link to the posts.)

Why have I been doing this? I like adding images to posts, but this daily blog is something that I want to do really quickly. So, by using meme images, I can simply find an image related to the topic, quickly add a few words, if needed, and I don’t need to worry about giving the image creator credit. Searching for the right image, adding text, and making it the featured image on my blog, will usually takes less than 5 minutes.

This is great because I’m starting back at school and need this process to be fast if I want to maintain the daily habit. However, yesterday I used this ‘Change my mind’ meme image that I’ve seen used many times before:

I have this blog set up to automatically tweet, add to my Pair-a-Dimes Facebook Page, and post on my LinkedIn profile, accompanied by the featured image on the post.

Yesterday I got a comment response on LinkedIn from Stephen Downes:

“I’m not sure I would have been comfortable using a ‘Louder with Crowder’ photo for this.”

I googled ‘Louder with Crowder’ and got to Steven Blake Crowder’s Wikipedia page, which said this:

“In June 2019, Crowder’s YouTube videos were investigated over his repeated use of racist and homophobic slurs to describe [a] journalist.”

My response to Stephen:

Just looked him up and totally agree. I have been using meme photos with my Daily Ink posts and admittedly am guilty of not paying attention to the stories behind them. Thanks for letting me know.

I then changed the image featured in the post to the more innocuous puffin meme, generally used to convey opinions that are unpopular:

Both images work for the post, but one doesn’t have a ‘charged’ connection to it. Since changing this image last night, I’ve been thinking about my use of memes. This post was educational in nature and adding the ‘Louder with Crowder’ meme image definitely did not add any value to the post, and for at least one reader was deemed inappropriate, (and I certainly appreciate Stephen bringing this to my attention).

So what now? Do I stop using memes? I’m certainly not going to attempt to check the background of every meme image I use, that would totally undermine my attempt to add images without adding significant time to my posts. So, I’ll be more cautious, use more generic images, with animals, cartoons, and famous/iconic people…

And I will make mistakes. When I do, I’ll own up to them, change them if I see fit, learn, grow, and move on.

This has made me think about some people who might have their image ‘memed’ without them liking how the image is used, and also about cultural or racial appropriation of memes. These are things I should think about before using an image. Now I will be more thoughtful, but again I will openly admit that I might make some mistakes. If I do, I’m hopeful someone will let me know so that I can address the concern and continue to learn and grow… while still having fun with memes. 😃