In recent times the internet as a whole and social media in particular has seen a burgeoning rise in the creation of ‘MEMEs’.

What is a MEME?

An Internet meme is a concept that spreads from person to person via the Internet. The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book ‘The Selfish Gene’, as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads; internet memes are a subset of this, specific to the culture and environment of the internet.

An Internet meme may take the form of an image, hyperlink, video, picture, website, or hashtag. It may be just a word or phrase, including an intentional misspelling. These small movements tend to spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, or news sources. They may relate to various existing Internet cultures or subcultures, often created or spread on sites such as 4chan, Reddit and numerous others.

Though this definition tries to include various types of content, that is created and disseminated through popular social media websites, internet memes are evolving as you read this.

So chances are, if you have been active on any of the social media websites, that you would’ve caught a glimpse of these popular memes by now. However, if you have been living under a non-digital rock and are mystified by this new phenomenon, I would suggest you go here.

The focus of this particular post is on some of these memes/images; that I have stumbled across while surfing the vast ocean of user-generated content on the internet.

Personally, I found some of these memes/images to be a tad bit extreme. Now by extreme I mean that, some of these are a gross exaggeration, some are meant to induce guilt and some are just downright ridiculous.

Presenting, my treasured collection of EXTREMEMEs!

1. Don’t lose your pen, you will die:

This. This is the exact reason why I took up this task of listing ridiculous and over-the-top images which I came across.

Remember folks, images like this one do not suddenly appear from thin webspace-air! It has been created, i.e. someone has invested precious time and thought to come up with this gem. I do not want to meet the guy who created this. Ever.

The reason why I harbor so much negativity is due to the fact that the ‘Devil is in the detail’.

Skinny = Ugly? Okay.

Ugly = No love? I see a pattern here.

Depression = sickness = death? Wow, infallible logic wouldn’t you agree?!

And the culprit, the PEN! I think I lost a few thousand brain cells trying to understand what-how-whyinthenameofgod!!

A bit extreme, yes?

2. Mother’s love is selfless love:

Firstly, no one likes to be told what to do. So meme creators, please refrain from this habit of adding footnotes asking people to “share” or “like” any particular post. No we won’t.

This is pretty much the shoddiest piece of work I have laid my lazy eyes upon. For the record, I love my mum! And I completely agree with the message portrayed above. The execution however, leaves much to be desired.

For goodness’ sake the woman has a catheter and an intravenous drip attached but continues fanning her son (who seems to have had one too many a drink)?

I’m just livid at the fact that to show how selfless a mother can be, the creator of this particular image, chose this style. I mean, come on!

3. Importance of teeth- Proud Dentist

So when I chanced upon this beautiful collage of Indian actresses, I was both disgusted and shocked for a terrifyingly long minute! The caption that went with this image was “Importance of teeth- Proud Dentist”. That is when I decided, that I had another entry for my collection of extrememes.

Icon comedian George Carlin once said, “Pride should be reserved for something you achieve or obtain on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth. Being Irish isn’t a skill… it’s a genetic accident. You wouldn’t say I’m proud to be 5’11”; I’m proud to have a pre-disposition for colon cancer.”

Adding to that wise snippet, can we try the same logic and show these actresses without eyes?! Then we can see the importance of Opthamologists?

I rest my humble case.

4. Iron Man = Fe Male

Now folks, here we have an example of what happens when a person with software skills of a 20 year old but the IQ of a 6 year old decides to create a meme.

Enough said.

5. I hate cancer:

So if this isn’t extreme, I do not know what extreme is.

Seriously, I just fail to understand what the motive/objective is behind this hideous piece of work!

The only motive seems to be, to scare people into sharing this morbid meme.

“Ignore if you want your parents to die of it”- I started a clap routine just after reading that line.

It takes special skills and an absolute disregard for feelings, to come up with such heartwarming copy.

To the person who created this ghastly oddity- You sir, are an abomination!