Where Do You Fall On the Meme Compass?

Ever wonder where you fall on the memer's alignment chart? Are you a Wholesome Normie? A Dank Edgelord? Sure, you may self identify as one of these labels, but have you ever been told what kind of memer you are… by science?

Well, we may be a ways away until hard science can quantify a memer's dankness, but that doesn't mean pseudoscience can't try! Enter Redditor MartensCedric, the creator of Meme Compass. On the website, you can fill out a two-page survey and find out where your taste in memes stand on a two-axis coordinate system, similar in concept to the famous Political Compass, only instead of discovering one is "libertarian right" or "authoritarian left," you can find out whether you are a “wholesome dank” or “edgy normie.”

Like any good meme scientist, MartensCedric offers a concrete and elaborate definition for each attribute:

• Dank: Dank memes is an ironic expression to describe memes that are intentionally bizarre. In the meme culture, it often describes innovative or higher quality memes. These memes often require a deeper understanding of the context, they are often understood by a smaller group rather than the masses.

• Normie: Normies are people unaware of meme culture. Being a normie is not bad, it infact normal (sic). Normies are will often like memes that are considered low quality or "dead" due to the exhaustion of their comedic value.

• Edgy: An edgy meme challenges social norms. It reveals a dark side to memes and will often shock people.

• Wholesome: A wholesome meme promotes health of mind and/or soul. It supports positivity, compassion, love, understanding and affection. It displays empathy and has no sarcasm.

As for the test itself, it’s fun, if imperfect. First, the survey asks where the subject usually go to browse memes, along with a list of popular meme-sharing sites.

Upon making the final selection, the survey then goes into a series of questions related to the subject's preferences on certain meme phenomena. Here is where the methodology gets a little off though: while a lot of questions in the survey offer a fair chance for insightful answers, such as “What does Pepe the Frog represent?”, some questions sound rather conspicuously leading:

Considering the survey has been posted on various meme-centric subreddits, it’s difficult to imagine anyone answering the above question with a choice other than “strongly disagree." Other questions involve asking the user to judge whether a specific meme is “good.” The poor definition of what constitutes a “good meme,” compounded by the simplicity of accompanied examples, render these questions highly susceptible to biased or inaccurate results.

Nevertheless, Meme Compass is definitely a fun way to sink five minutes. As for me, I ended up about where I figured I would: a bit wholesome, a bit dank. Where do you stand?

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