US federal government dedicates $1 million to wage a war on memes

• Yoorah wrote on 2014-08-31 19:45

  It’s never too late to wage a war on something you deem terrifying – if you’re the government. A recent report has highlighted the obvious: Washington has no idea of what to do with all the easy taxpayer cash it has access to.
  
  It’s almost as if bureaucrats aren’t good at spending your money wisely!
  
  According to The Week, the federal government is using a grant offered to the National Science Foundation to target memes. That’s right; Washington has used about $1 million of your money to finance a database of memes they deem suspicious. Officials, following instructions that tell them to single out any “suspicious memes” or any “false and misleading” political ideas that may have turned into memes, hunt for these images by browsing through social media websites.
  
  The Indiana University is the official headquarters for the special “war on memes” department. The official title of the program is “Truthy.” It’s reportedly inspired on Stephen Colbert’s “truthiness” concept.
  
  And what do officials do while browsing for potentially life-threatening memes?
  
  They look for the origin of the memes so they may identify the source as a professional political activist or just a good old Internet user like you, for an instance.
  
  While the program seems harmless enough on the surface, one million dollars thrown at an effort to catalog memes and identify their sources so that the federal government can put up a web service offering the public info on suspicious meme trends seems eerily close to what a thought police would look like. Or am I just seeing things here?
  
  According to the National Science Foundation, the service “could mitigate the diffusion of false and misleading ideas, detect hate speech and subversive propaganda, and assist in the preservation of an open debate.”
  
  Right.
  
  Could this be another way the government has found to target political dissent? I’ll leave the answer up to you.

  
  http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/18558-thought-police-alert-federal-government-dedicates-1-million-to-wage-a-war-on-memes
  
  This feels like something that can't possibly be real. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to find this hilarious or disturbing.
  
  :llama_what:
• Sepia wrote on 2014-08-31 19:49

  Quote from Yoorah;1244121:

  I'm not sure if I'm supposed to find this hilarious or disturbing.
  
  :llama_what:

  
  
  Hilariously disturbing works.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2014-08-31 19:53
  Oh look. 1 cent of my taxpayer money.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-08-31 19:55
  Okay are people still not onto the US government being paranoid about everything since 9/11?
  
  It's obviously not about preserving a healthy debating culture.
  

  Quote from Aubog007;1244123:

  Oh look. 1 cent of my taxpayer money.

  
  The US has more than 300 million inhabitants. That makes LESS THAN a third of a tax cent.
• EphraDaMan wrote on 2014-08-31 20:44
  To the (Memecenter.com) bunkers,ASAP!
  
  ...seems people will attack anything. Reminds me of PETA attacking Pokemon in a way. Now the government Vs Memes? I'm sure there's something more resourceful that can be done instead of...this.
  
  ...I really can't even take this seriously. XD
• Osayidan wrote on 2014-08-31 21:06
  But isn't the US doing their "war on X" a meme of its own by now?
• Chiyuri wrote on 2014-08-31 21:31
  sounds like a waste of time. oh well, Free job for some people I guess?
• Syliara wrote on 2014-08-31 21:37
  Not sure if trolling or serious....
• Chiyuri wrote on 2014-08-31 21:48

  Quote from Nui;1244141:

  Not sure if trolling or serious....

  
  
  That gouvernement is Seriously Trolling people
• Hanna wrote on 2014-08-31 22:29
  is this why they cut food stamps
  
  

  [Image: https://36.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfsvrxjTBL1qec7mso1_500.jpg]
• Elleanior wrote on 2014-08-31 22:53
  Your taxpayer's dollars at work.
  
  Welcome to the US government. A "democracy" if it ever existed.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2014-09-01 09:55

  Quote from Campylobacter jejuni;1244124:

  Okay are people still not onto the US government being paranoid about everything since 9/11?
  
  It's obviously not about preserving a healthy debating culture.
  
  The US has more than 300 million inhabitants. That makes LESS THAN a third of a tax cent.

  
  
  I was more or less rounding and making a statement about taxes in general.
  
  Also. Population =/= tax payers. You got married couples, and children.
• Odin wrote on 2014-09-01 19:19

  Quote from Osayidan;1244134:

  But isn't the US doing their "war on X" a meme of its own by now?

  
  
  This.
  
  Also there needs to be a meme about the US Government declaring war on memes.
  
  They want to take away our memes?
  
  We'll go meta on them.