INTERNET NONSENSE: Is This What Our Children Are Looking At?

The Degradation of Digital Discourse: A Look Back at… Whatever This Is

Folks, I’ve been asked to write about “old Newgrounds memes.” Now, I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure what a “meme” is in the first place. My grandson, bless his heart, tries to explain these things, but it usually involves a lot of flashing lights and strange noises. Apparently, it’s some sort of…digital joke? Shared understanding? Honestly, sounds a lot like gossip, if you ask me, and gossip rarely ends well.

But, being a dedicated journalist, I’ve done some digging. And what I’ve found is… troubling. Apparently, back in the early days of the internet – when a man could connect without needing a supercomputer in his pocket – this “Newgrounds” was a hotspot for animated shorts and… well, frankly, nonsense.

And from this nonsense sprang these “memes.” They seem to involve crude animations, often featuring stick figures, making… odd gestures. There’s something called “Homestar Runner,” which, from what I can gather, is a poorly drawn cartoon with a nasal voice. Apparently, people enjoyed this.

I’ve seen references to something called "Strong Bad Email." Sounds like someone needs to check their spam filter. And then there's a revolving cast of characters with bizarre names – Marzipan, The Cheat, Strong Sad. It's all very… chaotic.

What I find particularly concerning is the lack of substance. These aren’t witty political cartoons, or insightful commentaries on the human condition. It’s just… silliness. It's the digital equivalent of kids drawing on bathroom walls.

Now, I’m not saying people shouldn’t have fun. A little levity is good for the soul. But this "Newgrounds" culture seems to glorify a kind of low-effort, attention-seeking behavior. It’s a race to the bottom, folks, a slow erosion of standards.

Back in my day, entertainment had value. You had Jack Benny, Bob Hope, proper comedians with well-crafted jokes. These “memes” are just… flashes of color and sound. No effort, no artistry, just… fleeting moments of internet ephemera.

It's a symptom, I believe, of a larger societal problem. We’re losing our respect for tradition, for quality, for anything that requires actual work. We're celebrating the trivial and the absurd.

This “Newgrounds” and its “memes” might seem harmless on the surface, but I fear they represent a deeper decay in our culture. A degradation of digital discourse, if you will. It’s a worrying trend, and one we should all be paying attention to.