GameStop Meme Stock, Godzilla Vs. Kong, And This Week's Other Best Memes, Ranked
Here at Digg, we try our best to cover the most important and confounding memes that come across the timeline. But the web is littered with tons of great memes that never quite hit the mainstream and instead just bounce around the weird corners of Twitter or Reddit.
Enter our recurring feature, Memes, Ranked. This week, we've got GameStop meme stock, when COVID is over, Godzilla vs. Kong, I am not smarter than… and Joe Biden signing executive orders.
5. I Am Not Smarter Than
The meme
On January 21, a day after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's inauguration, Twitter user @SilentAmuse posted this tweet, urging people to trust Democratic officials and not to presume to know more than leaders in charge.
Many Twitter users took issue with the message and proceeded to parody it, coming up with their own versions of "I am not smarter than" tweets that reference such ridiculous pop cultural figures as Ronald McDonald and Scooby Doo.
Examples
BJ Pang-Chieh Ho
4. Joe Biden Signing An Executive Order
The meme
Joe Biden isn't wasting any time, signing 22 executive orders in his first week and setting things in motion on all fronts. This might be the first meme from the new administration, and given its relative tameness, we can only hope the presidential memes get better from here on.
Examples
Adwait Patil
3. Once COVID Is Over
The meme
A year ago tomorrow, January 30, the World Health Organization declared a "global health emergency of international concern" in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus in China. Little did we know, the pandemic — officially declared as such on March 11 — would completely upend our lives, not only for a few months, but for years.
Indeed, here we are, a year later, and the world remains shutdown. Governments around the world have approved multiple COVID-19 vaccines, which were developed in record time, but their rollout has been chaotic and sluggish. New infections in the United States are falling, having decreased by 34% in the last two weeks, but new, more infectious coronavirus variants threaten to reverse the trend and claim more lives. For every piece of good news, there's a piece of bad, or at least possibly bad, news that dims the light at the end of the tunnel.
At least we have the dark humor of Twitter. Over the last week, people have been comparing the end of the pandemic to other seemingly unlikely or distant possibilities, such as Rihanna finally releasing a new studio album. I'm not holding my breath.
Examples
Jon-Michael Poff
2. Godzilla Vs. Kong
The meme
The heavily anticipated "Godzilla vs. Kong" trailer dropped over the weekend, with much more monster-on-monster action expected when it's released this spring on HBO Max.
In one corner, a radioactive reptile, and in the other corner, a giant gorilla:
Some netizens breathlessly pondered who would come out the victor of this epic matchup.
Others enjoyed adding captions to the clash between the two behemoths that reflected their current emotional state.
Examples
James Crugnale
1. GameStop Meme Stock
The meme
As you are likely aware, GameStop has been a trending topic this week thanks to a group of Redditors working together to drive up its share price and screw over a bunch of hedge funds that were betting against it. Here's a little background and explainer on all of this.
Today, popular trading app Robinhood joined a few other trading platforms in imposing restrictions on GameStop's stock and a few other meme stocks, preventing users from buying more stock and driving the price up further. This has infuriated many who are not involved in a hedge fund, given that the trading platforms' actions seem just as manipulative of the market as the manipulation that they're allegedly trying to curb.
Long story short, people are mad about that, but still glad that hedge funds are suffering, and generally having a blast watching the tables turn and power change hands, however briefly. And then some of us are still just struggling to keep up, which was the main theme of the meme roundup we put together yesterday on this same subject.
So please, enjoy yesterday's memes along with new ones we've since gathered.
Examples
Molly Bradley
And if you're hungry for more memes, here's last week's "The Week's Best Memes, Ranked" article, where we rank Joe Biden and Lady Gaga, the vaccine announcement vs. the vaccine rollout, Donald Trump's note for Biden and Bernie Sanders at the inauguration.
