Meme Victims

Internet meme or commonly known as “meme” is an activity, concept, word of expression or piece of media that spreads from person to person via internet.

Memes are normally jokes, hearsay, viral recordings and funny pictures. Memes today has a huge impact on our daily living. Even though it’s just a piece of picture and funny text, meme still has a bug impact, it can use as source of information and stress reliever but the negative side is meme can also be cause of anxiety and depression.

Lizzie Velasquuez, She was born with a rare inherited condition which means her body is unable to store fat and she also suffers from another serious health condition called Marfan Syndrome but despite of her condition and her unique physical appearance, many people used her picture/s as funny memes and as a cyber bullying victim she used her voice and post something motivational and inspirational, and after that she become and inspiration for many people who experiencing cyberbullying.

Here in the Philippines there are also a lot of victims of cyber bullying through the use of memes and most of them are being made fun because of their appearance and mistake they did. One of them is Nico and he has Down Syndrome. A video of him spread across Facebook and people started making fun of him, they made memes with really offensive captions. They started to discriminate not only him but people with the same condition as him and people called him a lot names like " taph taph" and mongoloid. Famous people are also prone to this kind of bullying. Jake Zyrus are being made fun because of his gender and appearance. Xander Ford who received harsh comment about his appearance, undergoes through plastic surgery to change his appearance but people still makes harsh comments and memes about him after the surgery. Even kids like Lyca Gairanod and Bimby Aquino received this kind of treatment.

People especially Filipinos need to know when to stop and when it is offensive. They need to learn to respect others no matter what they look like, where they from, and what their gender is. A simple meme can make a person suffer and feel bad about themselves. We have to make social media be a positive experience to everyone and be free from toxic post. This article is not encouraging you to stop sharing or making memes, just know the information behind a meme and be sensitive.