memes

On memes.

I am yet to write a 2025 year review, but I said let me compose this short piece as a ‘reference’. This is a reference because I need something to share with new people I meet to explain the memes I post on my WhatsApp status. Since I got to Canada, I have been meeting all kinds of new people. In Naija, the new people I met were mostly mates, and at that time, we would have been thinking similar things so no need to explain jokes etc. But now, doing grad school in another country, I might meet someone at a conference or in a class, and they may have an entirely different background or worldview from me.

Anyone I meet may, on the outside and even after months of knowing each other, think I am a well-regulated, ‘normal’, 20-something-year-old Nigerian guy. Unfortunately for both of us, this is not the case. I always feel bad when they realize I may not be who they thought. Because after we exchange numbers and I add them to my WhatsApp, they are instantly exposed to my periodic but regular stream of WhatsApp status memes.

I post memes a lot. Each meme says something about me. I am not just collecting memes, I am, as one meme puts it, “microdosing my manifesto”. I search for them, I collect them, I rarely try to make any, but I adore and sometimes study them. My taste in memes doesn’t change that much. The topics of interest change, but the style seldom does. I love reading Nigerian memes, history memes, pro and anti-capitalist memes, memes about men, memes about women, memes that are so stupid, they make you laugh, political memes, memes about love, memes about growing up. I love memes about memes, too; the meta-meme. The Nigerian genre of memes, called WhatsApp memes are a special delight. A guilty pleasure, in fact. On average, I like any meme that is absurd or ironic.

I am writing this post primarily because many of the memes I share will be shocking if you only know a slice of me. And I suspect that people that just know me here and only interact with me in professional settings will not expect my flavour of comedy. See, it’s nothing crazy or illegal. For instance, some memes may take you aback with how self-deprecating they are. Just last week, I was posting memes about unemployment. Well, because I am functionally unemployed! I wouldn’t joke about this even last year, but omo, I don’t care anymore. Having a job is not sacred lol (but email me abeg for opportunities :)). Those shocking, self-deprecating kinds of memes are my bread and butter.

But why are you like this?

Did someone say coping mechanism? Probably. I won’t joke about insecurities I am still dealing with. Past insecurities, like being unemployed, are good fodder for comedic material. I think it feels good to play around with something that used to cause fear and anxiety. It is like a victory dance. I read somewhere that “if you can’t joke about it, you’re not taking it seriously enough”. This quote is not 100% true, hell, is it even 15% true LOL. But like many of the memes I share, it helps challenge your thinking while being funny at the same time. Maybe when you stop being afraid of something, you can face it head-on with a clear mind, not motivated by fear. When you are secure enough about an issue, you feel safe to make jokes about it. You are not minimizing the issue, nor are you amplifying it; you are seeing it for what it is: a problem to be solved. I might have understood that quote backwards initially. You don’t make jokes in order to take things seriously. Rather, when you are serious about something, you are not driven by anxiety, and it is within that sense of security that you feel comfortable making jokes. So, in other words, joking about something could be an indicator that you’re taking it seriously.

I love satire for this reason. Satire is one brand of comedy that talks about serious topics. Satire helps me understand and criticize complex ideas. I might be lowkey too simple-minded that I need a satirical lens to think about race relations or globalization. For example, communism memes, “the market will regulate itself” memes and late-stage capitalism memes challenged my views about free-market capitalism.

I do have my limits to what I joke about or find funny. I don’t like comedy that targets innocent individuals or groups. Things that touch on tragic events or sensitive subjects, I generally don’t enjoy. I still find my sense of humour to be a gift. It has been refined and expanded since being surrounded by hilarious family members. Everyone in my family is funnier than I am. But I think I have the most range in terms of what I find funny.

I don’t know if this is ironic, but I do not enjoy being the butt of jokes at all. Can I “take what I dish out”? Absolutely not. I tease a lot, but please don’t tease me or I will feel bad and cry.

So why do I post memes? For you to laugh.

Notes:

I am using the word “meme” loosely to refer to funny pictures on the internet. Technically, for a picture to become a meme, it must have been reused/remixed by others.