Comment by krapp
1 day ago
Maybe, and maybe I'm just out of touch with the memes and falling victim to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, but it isn't even that common a word, and all of a sudden everyone it seems like everyone using it. And Google Trends definitely shows a spike in usage[0]. It's probably my own paranoia but when I see the exact same phrase (like "roaring economy") being used by a lot of people it seems like propaganda, especially given how deeply manipulated and controlled every form of media and communication is nowadays.
For instance.. why did everyone all of a sudden care so much about the price of eggs during the last election? There's no way that was entirely organic.
[0]https://trends.google.com/trends/explore/TIMESERIES/17492196...
>why did everyone all of a sudden care so much about the price of eggs during the last election?
That seems like a prime example of a small-talk item that many people could relate to, and it just happens to reach viral proportions. I'd say it would be similar to "Polar Vortex":
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=P...
> it isn't even that common a word, and all of a sudden everyone it seems like everyone using it
In this particular case, it is a very unique word. I don't know of any that even come close to meaning the same thing. People with a desire to express their observations may find only a single word to do so. FWIW, I was familiar with the word already and I've similarly notice a seeming uptick in use on this site.
> For instance.. why did everyone all of a sudden care so much about the price of eggs during the last election? There's no way that was entirely organic.
I see your point and I think you're on the right track. It's memetics. Egg prices being high is a meme. The public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk being a kayfabe performance is a meme. Neither is necessarily an engineered meme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics#Applications
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetic_engineering