This "Keeping In Touch" friendship meme tugged at someone's heartstrings so much that they junked up an article on the Daily Mirror, and a blog entry by posting and praising it.
🧐Meme: Dear friend do u know how friendship breaks ?
👩🚀BP: Whoa, there, pally. Friend? Who says I'm your friend? And besides, friendship can break in lots of different ways. There's not some special magic way to end all friendships.
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: There are a million different reasons, but the one being addressed here is this: Memes! They are one of the biggest causes of friendship break-ups on the net.
🧐Meme: Both friends will think the other is busy
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Which is why I prefer to use email or internet post over the telephone to get in touch with people, though I always make sure what I'm sending actually comes from me and not a stupid meme preaching about how to supposedly not kill friendship.
👩🚀BP: Yeah, well, people get busy sometimes! That's why it's nice to know the best way to contact your friend, be it e-mail, which I rather enjoy, texting, a phone call, Skype, whatever! Even writing letters! Ah, I do so love getting actual mail from people! The point is, any personally crafted message will do the trick!
🧐Meme: And will not contact thinking it may be disturbing Time passes
👩🚀BP: Uh, maybe if what you have to say is disturbing! Maybe you meant awkward. Sometimes it can be awkward trying to get back in touch, but hey, you never try, you never accomplish anything. I tell ya one thing, Your little cookie-cutter meme isn't gonna get you anywhere!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: It isn't disturbing, unless it's disturbing news, or the annoyance of getting some meme that other friends have already sent, thinking it was really "getting in touch."
🧐Meme: Both will think let the other contact
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Think or let what?
👩🚀BP: Yeah, yeah, whine, whine. *rolls eyes*
🧐Meme: After that each will think why should I contact
👩🚀BP: *yawn*
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: So never fear, this meme will take away all your doubts and hesitation by guessing at and playing on your deepest desires to get in touch, use well-placed pretty words and sentiments so you don't actually have to say anything for yourself, and all you have to do in turn is pass it on so that it may dupe the next recipients down the meme into the belief that you were seriously thinking about them, and now they must do the same by spreading this meme on to still other people.
Rubbish.
🧐Meme: first?
👩🚀BP: Dump the meme and write an actual e-mail! It doesn't take long! Just a quick 'Hey, what's up?'. Tell 'em about your day, stuff like that. It really isn't hard!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: First, don't send this meme to your friends. If this and other memes have suddenly got your wistful feelings of longing for contact with friends up, that was the whole idea, you have just been heart-yanked by an impersonal meme trying to use you as a vector for propagation.
What can you do about it?
Ditch the meme and send your friends a personally written note.
🧐Meme: Here your love will be converted to hate
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Only if you and your friends keep spreading memes. When you never hear from someone unless they send you some stupid thing they didn't write, and it doesn't ring true, and, you've already seen it coming from other people, it can really make you wonder why you even have internet.
👩🚀BP: Pssh! You know what, lots of people seem to assume love and hate are polar opposites, and you know what, in a way, I guess they are. But the ultimate opposite of love isn't hate...it's indifference. You show you're really quite indifferent about your so-called friend if you don't even take the time to write a few genuine words to him/her! Come on, people! You don't suddenly start hating your friends. You might grow apart or lose touch or whatever, but last I checked, that isn't hate.
🧐Meme: Finally without any contact the memory becomes weak
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Wrong. The memory doesn't become weak, the emotions may fade, not the memory. Yes, I think most of us are probably afraid of this happening, but you are certainly not going to rekindle old times and make friendships feel closer with this meme.
👩🚀BP: H'm! That's a laugh! Memories of good friends always stay with you, even if you lose touch with that friend. I have memories of a good friend clear back from first grade. Haven't seen her since, but I can still enjoy the memory of the good times we had.
🧐Meme: They forget each other
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Yeah, like 5 seconds after sending this meme…
👩🚀BP: Whatever! What kind of friends do YOU have? Sheesh! I don't forget about my friends! You forget about people you don't really care about, and last I checked, you care about your friends!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Actually, friends never forget friends. People don't stay in contact a lot of the time, that's unfortunately life, and you can't just keep trying if other people are too lazy to be bothered sending a personal note back in reply to your own. Neither does that excuse spreading memes as a poor substitute for staying in touch. The majority of people I've lost contact with on the net, were lost because they thought spreading this sort of meme was friendship and keeping in touch.
🧐Meme: So keep in touch with all and pass this to all your friends . . .
👩🚀BP: Oh, give up, already! This is not the way to keep in touch!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: I'll keep in touch with people when and where I can, but not by sending them this heart-pulling little piece of manipulative spam.
🧐Meme: I don`t want to one of this kind
👩🚀BP: Uh, what? You might have missed a verb or something in there, 'cause you're not makin' any sense!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: You don't want to BE, or do you just "not want one of this kind?" Your sentence didn't make sense. If you don't "want to be" one of this kind, it's too late for that since this is a meme. If you "don't want one of this kind" no problem! I'm not sending it to you, even if I knew how to contact you, which I don't, since I don't even know who you are, whoever originated this insipid thing.
🧐Meme: So here I’m sending a mail to everyone to say “hello”
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: So here I'm zapping this meme and warning anyone who thinks it's a "hello" will get a permanent goodbye to communication from me if they send it my way.
👩🚀BP: You say hello, and I say goodbye. Hrm...have I heard that somewhere? Wait, I think I got that backwards... *hums a familiar tune* You say yes- I say no. You say stop, and I say go, go, GO! *continues humming*
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Hehehehe!
🧐Meme: I’m fine here
👩🚀BP: H'm, what? Oh, sorry, did you say something? I couldn't hear you over the roar of stupidity.
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: LOL @ BP, eye-rolling at meme originator: Well good for you, try being more than just fine, rise above the urge to spread this meme, and do something truly caring and great by sending a friend you miss a personally written note.
🧐Meme: Please keep in touch with me !
👩🚀BP: Yeah, not likely! If this is what you consider keeping in touch, then count me out!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Send me your contact info and a promise you will swear off spreading memes, and you got a deal. Otherwise, I'll keep up my end of things and do my best to stay in touch with my friends. The rest, 50% of this staying in touch thing is up to them, and if they don't live up to that, there's nothing I can do about it.
Over and out.
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