122-455: Florida Man is an Internet meme first popularized in 2013, referring to an alleged prevalence of people performing irrational or maniacal actions in the U.S. state of Florida . Internet users typically submit links to news stories and articles about unusual or strange crimes and other events occurring in Florida, with stories' headlines often beginning with "Florida Man ..." followed by
244-505: A Fordham Law Review article with inadequate citations. He was required to repeat the course and passed with high marks. At Biden's request the Delaware Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility reviewed the incident and concluded that he had violated no rules. Biden has made several false or exaggerated claims about his early life: that he had earned three degrees in college, that he attended law school on
366-686: A Juris Doctor from Syracuse University in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and the U.S. Senate in 1972 . As a senator , Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act . He also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas . Biden ran unsuccessfully for
488-496: A University of Oklahoma law school professor, had accused Thomas of making unwelcome sexual comments when they had worked together. Biden had known of some of these charges, but initially shared them only with the committee because Hill was then unwilling to testify. The committee hearing was reopened and Hill testified, but Biden did not permit testimony from other witnesses, such as a woman who had made similar charges and experts on harassment. The full Senate confirmed Thomas by
610-487: A public defender and then at a law firm headed by a locally active Democrat, who named him to the Democratic Forum, a group trying to reform and revitalize the state party; Biden subsequently reregistered as a Democrat. He and another attorney also formed a law firm. Corporate law did not appeal to him, and criminal law did not pay well. He supplemented his income by managing properties. Biden ran for
732-685: A seminar on constitutional law at Widener University School of Law . He sometimes flew back from overseas to teach the class. Secretary of the Senate Francis R. Valeo swore Biden in at the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center in January 1973. Present were his sons Beau (whose leg was still in traction from the automobile accident) and Hunter and other family members. At age 30, he
854-474: A streaming television limited series titled Florida Man from showrunner (and Florida native) Donald Todd, starring Edgar Ramírez as a disgraced ex-policeman who is forced to return to his native Florida in search of a mobster's missing girlfriend. A Florida Man Games event took place in 2024 in St. Augustine, Florida . Becoming popular in 2019 and periodically resurfacing on social media sites like Reddit
976-521: A "mistake", but did not push for withdrawal. He supported the appropriations for the occupation, but argued that the war should be internationalized, that more soldiers were needed, and that the Bush administration should "level with the American people" about its cost and length. By late 2006, Biden's stance had shifted considerably. He opposed the troop surge of 2007 , saying General David Petraeus
1098-399: A 1976 passage by Hubert Humphrey . Biden responded that politicians often borrow from one another without giving credit, and that one of his rivals for the nomination, Jesse Jackson , had called him to point out that he (Jackson) had used the same material by Humphrey that Biden had used. A few days later, an incident was publicized in which, while in law school, Biden had taken text from
1220-814: A 52–48 vote, with Biden opposed. Liberal legal advocates and women's groups felt strongly that Biden had mishandled the hearings and not done enough to support Hill. In 2019, he told Hill he regretted his treatment of her, but Hill said afterward she remained unsatisfied. Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee . He became its ranking minority member in 1997 and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009. His positions were generally liberal internationalist . He collaborated effectively with Republicans and sometimes went against elements of his own party. During this time he met with at least 150 leaders from 60 countries and international organizations, becoming
1342-422: A Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in history and political science in 1965. Biden had a stutter and has mitigated it since his early twenties. He has described his efforts to reduce it by reciting poetry before a mirror. Biden married Neilia Hunter , a student at Syracuse University , on August 27, 1966, after overcoming her parents' disinclination for her to wed a Catholic. Their wedding
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#17327915221411464-576: A Democratic floor manager for the successful passage of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act in 1984. His supporters praised him for modifying some of the law's worst provisions, and it was his most important legislative accomplishment to that time. In 1994, Biden helped pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act , which included a ban on assault weapons , and the Violence Against Women Act , which he has called his most significant legislation. The 1994 crime law
1586-694: A class of 85 students. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969. Biden clerked at a Wilmington law firm headed by prominent local Republican William Prickett in 1968 and, he later said, "thought of myself as a Republican". He disliked incumbent Democratic Delaware governor Charles L. Terry 's conservative racial politics and supported a more liberal Republican, Russell W. Peterson , who defeated Terry in 1968. Local Republicans attempted to recruit Biden, but he registered as an Independent because of his distaste for Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon . In 1969, Biden practiced law, first as
1708-580: A cold day in hell" before another independent counsel would be granted similar powers. He voted to acquit during the impeachment of President Clinton . During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation sought by credit card issuers. Clinton vetoed the bill in 2000, but it passed in 2005 as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act , with Biden being one of only 18 Democrats to vote for it, while leading Democrats and consumer rights organizations opposed it. As
1830-590: A footprint in the media through which they propagate (for example, social networks) that renders them traceable and analyzable. However, before internet memes were considered truly academic, they were initially a colloquial reference to humorous visual communication online in the mid-late 1990s among internet denizens; examples of these early internet memes include the Dancing Baby and Hampster Dance . Memes of this time were primarily spread via messageboards , Usenet groups, and email , and generally lasted for
1952-411: A form of lived religion . Aguilar et al. of Texas A&M University identified six common genres of religious memes: non-religious image macros with religious themes, image macros featuring religious figures, memes reacting to religion-related news, memes deifying non-religious figures such as celebrities , spoofs of religious images, and video-based memes. Social media platforms can increase
2074-476: A full scholarship, that he had graduated in the top half of his class, and that he had marched in the civil rights movement . The limited amount of other news about the presidential race amplified these disclosures and on September 23, 1987, Biden withdrew his candidacy, saying it had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his past mistakes. After exploring the possibility of a run in several previous cycles, in January 2007, Biden declared his candidacy in
2196-521: A local food stand. The player can use this disguise to poison and eliminate their target. The character of Florida Man also makes an appearance in a level set in Berlin, Germany in Hitman 3 , where the player can again take his disguise. A play titled "Florida Man" by Michael Presley Bobbitt premiered July 31, 2019, at New York's Theatre Row Studios. On October 31, 2019, Donald Trump , then president of
2318-527: A longer time than modern memes. As the Internet protocols evolved, so did memes. Lolcats originated from imageboard website 4chan , becoming the prototype of the " image macro " format (an image overlaid by large text). Other early forms of image-based memes included demotivators (parodized motivational posters), photoshopped images, comics (such as rage comics ), and anime fan art , sometimes made by doujin circles in various countries. After
2440-624: A meme, which involved mutation by random change and spreading through accurate replication as in Darwinian selection. Dawkins explained that Internet memes are thus a "hijacking of the original idea", evolving the very concept of a meme in this new direction. Nevertheless, by 2013, Limor Shifman solidified the relationship of memes to internet culture and reworked Dawkins' concept for online contexts. Such an association has been shown to be empirically valuable as internet memes carry an additional property that Dawkins' "memes" do not: internet memes leave
2562-578: A middle-class lifestyle. At Archmere Academy in Claymont, Biden played baseball and was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team. Though a poor student, he was class president in his junior and senior years. He graduated in 1961. At the University of Delaware in Newark , Biden briefly played freshman football, and, as an unexceptional student, received
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#17327915221412684-413: A modern form of the political cartoon , offering a way to democratize political commentary. Among the earliest political memes were those arising from the viral Dean scream , an excerpt from a speech delivered by Vermont governor Howard Dean . Over time, Internet memes have become an increasingly important element in political campaigns, as online communities contribute to broader discourse through
2806-437: A new meaning by merging political and cultural references from distinct contexts. Internet memes can also function as in-jokes within specific online communities, where they convey insider knowledge that may be incomprehensible to outsiders. This fosters a sense of collective identity within the group. Conversely, some memes achieve widespread cultural relevance, being understood and appreciated by broader audiences outside of
2928-526: A new meme from scratch. Fashion house Gucci employed the former strategy, launching a series of Instagram ads that reimagined popular memes featuring its watch collection. The image macro "The Most Interesting Man in the World" is an example of the latter, a meme generated from an advertising campaign for the Dos Equis beer brand. Products may also gain popularity through internet memes without intention by
3050-510: A plot to prevent Black people from voting, portrayed by Kevin Waterman. On November 1, 2018, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show filed a report comedically investigating the phenomenon of "Florida Man". In 2018, IO Interactive released the stealth action video game Hitman 2 . In the game's second level, set in Miami, Florida, the players can disguise themselves as "Florida Man", an owner of
3172-570: A point of not resigning from the Senate before he was sworn in for his seventh term in January 2009. He cast his last Senate vote on January 15, supporting the release of the second $ 350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program , and resigned from the Senate later that day, after which Ted Kaufman took office as his successor. In October 2010, Biden said Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for
3294-479: A proposed constitutional amendment banning busing entirely. Biden supported a 1976 measure forbidding the use of federal funds for transporting students beyond the school closest to them. He co-sponsored a 1977 amendment closing loopholes in that measure, which President Carter signed into law in 1978. Biden became ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1981. He was
3416-462: A senator, Biden strongly supported increased Amtrak funding and rail security. In February 1988, after several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden underwent surgery to correct a leaking intracranial berry aneurysm . While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism , a serious complication. After a second aneurysm was surgically repaired in May, his recuperation kept him away from
3538-428: A significant aspect of Internet culture and are the subject of academic research. They appear across a broad spectrum of contexts, including marketing, economics, finance, politics, social movements, religion, and healthcare. While memes are often viewed as falling under fair use protection, their incorporation of material from pre-existing works can sometimes result in copyright disputes. Internet memes derive from
3660-421: A sister, Valerie , and two brothers, Francis and James . The Biden surname traces back to William Biden, an ancestor of his who emigrated from England to Maryland around 1820. Biden's father had been wealthy and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of Garden City in the fall of 1946, but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old, and for several years
3782-445: A social media-based approach to marketing that was initially met with success (resulting in an almost 50% profit growth that year), but received criticism after sharing a controversial Pepe meme that was negatively perceived by consumers. Meme stocks are a phenomenon where stock values for a company rise significantly in a short period due to a surge in interest online and subsequent buying by investors. Video game retailer GameStop
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3904-449: A time when most draftees were sent to the war. Based on a physical examination, he was given a conditional medical deferment in 1968; in 2008, a spokesperson for Biden said his having had " asthma as a teenager" was the reason for the deferment. Biden defeated Republican incumbent J. Caleb Boggs to become the junior U.S. senator from Delaware in 1972. He was the only Democrat willing to challenge Boggs and, with minimal campaign funds, he
4026-568: A variety of people but a single prolific suspect. Before the creation of the meme, the state of Florida had already garnered a colorful reputation on the Internet , with the social aggregation site Fark hosting a "Florida" content tag in the years before the Twitter account @_FloridaMan appeared. After the creation of the account in January 2013, and its ensuing popularization on social media sites such as Reddit and Tumblr , initially through
4148-656: A well-known Democratic voice on foreign policy. Biden voted against authorization for the Gulf War in 1991, siding with 45 of the 55 Democratic senators. He said the U.S. was bearing almost all the burden in the anti-Iraq coalition . Biden became interested in the Yugoslav Wars after hearing about Serbian abuses during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Once the Bosnian War broke out, Biden
4270-476: Is Biden gonna say something stupid?", he asked. Obama campaign staffers called Biden's blunders "Joe bombs" and kept Biden uninformed about strategy discussions, which in turn irked Biden. Relations between the two campaigns became strained for a month, until Biden apologized on a call to Obama and the two built a stronger partnership. As the 2007–2008 financial crisis reached a peak in September 2008, and
4392-478: Is Pepe the Frog, which has been used as a symbol for the alt-right political movement, as well as for pro-democracy ideologies in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Internet memes can be powerful tools in social movements, constructing collective identity and providing platform for discourse. During the 2010 It Gets Better Project for LGBTQ+ empowerment, memes were used to uplift LGBTQ+ youth while negotiating
4514-468: Is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet , primarily through social media platforms like YouTube , Twitter , and Reddit . Internet memes manifest in a variety of formats, including images , videos , GIFs , and other viral content . Key characteristics of memes include their tendency to be parodied , their use of intertextuality , their viral dissemination, and their continual evolution. The term " meme "
4636-411: Is a variation of the meme, dubbed the "Florida Man Birthday Challenge," in which people search the date of their birthday followed by "Florida Man" on a search engine with the goal to find bizarre news reports involving a "Florida Man" on that date. The meme has widely been seen as a confirmation of the association between the state of Florida and bizarre or humorous activity, and has been compared to
4758-409: Is disputed whether the use of memes constitutes copyright infringement. Fair use is a defence under U.S. copyright law which protects work made using other copyrighted works. Section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act outlines four factors for analysis of fair use: The first factor implies the secondary use of a copyrighted work should be "transformative" (that is, giving novel meaning or expression to
4880-561: Is recognised as the first meme stock. r/WallStreetBets , a subreddit where participants discuss stock trading , and Robinhood Markets , a financial services company, became notable in 2021 for their involvement in the popularisation of meme stocks. "YOLO investors" are a phenomenon that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic , who are less risk averse in their investments compared to their traditional counterparts. Additionally, memes have developed an association with cryptocurrency with
5002-535: Is reinterpreted to suit the specific needs and desires of those communities, often diverging from the creator’s original intent. Modifications to memes can lead them to transcend social and cultural boundaries. Memes spread virally, in a manner similar to the SIR (Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered) model used to describe the transmission of diseases. Once a meme has reached a critical number of individuals, its continued spread becomes inevitable. Research by Coscia examined
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5124-483: Is responsible for a large number of news articles. A CNN article on the meme also suggested that the breadth of reports of bizarre activities is due to a confluence of factors, including public records laws giving journalists fast and easy access to police reports , the relatively high population of the state, its highly variable weather, and gaps in mental health funding. The meme originated in February 2013 with
5246-636: Is the "E" meme, a picture of YouTuber Markiplier photoshopped onto Lord Farquaad from the film Shrek , in turn photoshopped into a scene from businessman Mark Zuckerberg 's hearing in Congress and captioned with a lone 'E'. Elizabeth Bruenig of the Washington Post described this as a "digital update to the surreal and absurd genres of art and literature that characterized the tumultuous early 20th century". Many modern memes make use of humorously absurd and even surrealist themes. Examples of
5368-405: Is the source of memes such as the "Renegade" dance. In 2022, the term brain rot became used to reflect a shift in how memes, particularly TikTok videos, were being interacted with. The term describes content lacking in quality and meaning, often associated with slang and trends popular among Generation Alpha , such as " skibidi ", " rizz ", " gyatt ", and " fanum tax ". The name comes from
5490-474: The 1988 and 2008 Democratic presidential nominations . In 2008, Obama chose Biden as his running mate, and he was a close counselor to Obama during his two terms as vice president. In the 2020 presidential election , the Democratic Party nominated Biden for president. He selected Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence . He became
5612-421: The 2012 presidential election , but with Obama's popularity on the decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley conducted some secret polling and focus group research in late 2011 on the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. The notion was dropped when the results showed no appreciable improvement for Obama, and White House officials later said Obama himself had never entertained
5734-419: The COVID-19 pandemic and his handling of domestic and foreign affairs. American classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult referred to the phenomenon in the song "Florida Man" on their 2020 album The Symbol Remains . The maintainer of the Twitter account @_FloridaMan stated in 2019 that he had "retired" from creating tweets at that account. Republican U.S. Representative from Florida, Matt Gaetz has embraced
5856-561: The Darwin Awards . The meme was criticized by Columbia Journalism Review , which called it "one of journalism's darkest and most lucrative cottage industries," where "stories tend to stand as exemplars of the mythical hyper-weirdness of the Sunshine State, but more often simply document the travails of the drug-addicted, mentally ill, and homeless." Internet meme An Internet meme , or meme (/miːm/, "MEEM"),
5978-590: The Defense of Marriage Act , which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, thereby barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law and allowing states to do the same. In 2015, the act was ruled unconstitutional in Obergefell ;v. Hodges . Biden was critical of Independent Counsel Ken Starr during the 1990s Whitewater controversy and Lewinsky scandal investigations, saying "it's going to be
6100-534: The Democratic primaries , became the party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election . Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his first term, with renewed scrutiny after his performance during the first presidential debate on June 27. On July 21, he withdrew his candidacy , becoming the first U.S. president to decline to seek reelection after securing enough delegates to win renomination. Biden endorsed Vice President Harris to be
6222-435: The U.S. invasion of Iraq . As chair of the committee, he assembled a series of witnesses to testify in favor of the authorization. They gave testimony grossly misrepresenting the intent, history, and status of Saddam and his secular government, which was an avowed enemy of al-Qaeda , and touted Iraq's fictional possession of weapons of mass destruction . Biden eventually became a critic of the war and called his vote and role
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#17327915221416344-725: The oldest president in U.S. history and the first to serve with a female vice president. As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession . He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing . He proposed the Build Back Better Act , which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to
6466-500: The subreddit "r/FloridaMan" and the Tumblr blog "StuckInABucket", the meme was featured in numerous news articles and stories throughout February 2013. 'Florida Man' was also referred to in the opening episode of Season 2 of the FX show Atlanta as a sinister entity, referred to by Darius as an " alt-right Johnny Appleseed " who commits a variety of strange crimes in Florida as part of
6588-542: The 2008 elections . During his campaign, Biden focused on the Iraq War , his record as chairman of major Senate committees, and his foreign-policy experience. Biden was noted for his one-liners during the campaign; in one debate he said of Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani , "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11 ." Biden had difficulty raising funds, struggled to draw people to his rallies, and failed to gain traction against
6710-604: The 46th and current president of the United States since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party , he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania , Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware in 1965 and
6832-437: The 4th district seat on the New Castle County Council in 1970 on a liberal platform that included support for public housing in the suburbs. The seat had been held by Republican Henry R. Folsom, who was running in the 5th District following a reapportionment of council districts. Biden won the general election, defeating Republican Lawrence T. Messick, and took office on January 5, 1971. He served until January 1, 1973, and
6954-834: The Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware . In 1981, the couple had a daughter, Ashley Biden . She is a social worker and married to physician Howard Krein . Jill helped raise her stepsons, Hunter and Beau, who were seven and eight respectively at the time of her marriage. Hunter has worked as a Washington lobbyist and investment adviser; his business dealings, personal life , and legal troubles have come under significant scrutiny during his father's presidency. Beau became an Army judge-advocate in Iraq and later Delaware attorney general ; he died of brain cancer in 2015. From 1991 to 2008, as an adjunct professor , Biden co-taught
7076-474: The Democratic presidential nominee. Harris lost the presidential election to Trump. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania , to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden ( née Finnegan ; 1917–2010) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. (1915–2002) The oldest child in a Catholic family of mostly Irish descent, along with English and French; he has
7198-637: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's objections. He received considerable attention when he excoriated Secretary of State George Shultz at a Senate hearing for the Reagan administration's support of South Africa despite its continued policy of apartheid . In a congressional hearing in 1984, he objected to the Strategic Defense Initiative plan to construct autonomous systems of ICBM defense. In
7320-542: The Senate for seven months. Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary . He chaired it from 1987 to 1995 and was a ranking minority member from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1997. As chair, Biden presided over two highly contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings. When Robert Bork was nominated in 1988, Biden reversed his approval—given in an interview
7442-507: The Senate, but the idea failed to gain traction. Biden formally declared his candidacy for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination on June 9, 1987. He was considered a strong candidate because of his moderate image, his speaking ability, his high profile as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the upcoming Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings, and his appeal to Baby Boomers ; he would have been
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#17327915221417564-640: The Supreme Court . He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling . In his foreign policy , Biden restored America's membership in the Paris Agreement . He oversaw the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that ended the war in Afghanistan , leading to the collapse of the Afghan government and
7686-778: The Taliban seizing control . He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing civilian and military aid to Ukraine . During the Israel–Hamas war , Biden condemned the actions of Hamas as terrorism, announced military support for Israel and sent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip . His administration brokered a ceasefire agreement in the Israel–Hezbollah conflict . In April 2023, Biden announced his reelection campaign and, after
7808-665: The United States , was reported as changing his main residence from New York City to Palm Beach, Florida , the location of the Mar-a-Lago resort he owns and frequently visits. Sources joked about Trump becoming "Florida Man", including The Daily Show , which released an extension for Google Chrome and Firefox that changed all instances of Trump's name to "Florida Man". On October 24, 2020, during his rally for presidential candidate Joe Biden in Florida, former President Barack Obama mocked Trump, saying, " 'Florida Man' wouldn't even do this stuff", referring to Trump's handling of
7930-631: The ability of a meme to spread, is promoted by factors such as humor (such as the comically translated video game line " All your base are belong to us "), intertextuality (as in the various pop culture-referencing renditions of the " Star Wars Kid " viral video), and juxtaposition of seemingly incongruous elements (exemplified in the Bert is Evil meme). Finally, longevity is essential for a meme’s continued circulation and evolution over time. Internet memes can either remain consistent or evolve over time. This evolution may involve changes in meaning while retaining
8052-461: The adaptation and transformation of a meme through imitation or parody, either by reproducing the meme in a new context ("mimicry") or by remixing the original material ("remix"). In mimicry, the meme is recreated in a different setting, as seen when different individuals replicate the viral video " Charlie Bit My Finger ." Remix, on the other hand, involves technological manipulation, such as altering an image with Photoshop , while retaining elements of
8174-440: The application Vine , a format of memes emerged in the form of short videos and scripted sketches. An example is the "What's Nine Plus Ten?" meme, a Vine video depicting a child humorously providing an incorrect answer to a math problem. After the shutdown of Vine in 2017, the de facto replacement became Chinese social network TikTok , which similarly utilises the short video format. The platform has become immensely popular, and
8296-402: The blog Get Digital for publishing the "Socially Awkward Penguin" meme without permission. Under United States copyright law, copyright protection subsists in "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device". It
8418-560: The community's collective identity. In 2014, the viral Ice Bucket Challenge raised money and awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neurone Disease (ALS/MND). Furthermore, internet memes proved an important medium in the discourse surrounding the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. Internet memes have also been used in the context of religion . They create a participatory culture that enable individuals to collectively make meaning of religious beliefs, reflecting
8540-455: The copyright holders) have made money through sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in auctions . Ben Lashes, a manager of numerous memes, stated their sales as NFTs made over US$ 2 million and established memes as serious forms of art. One example is Disaster Girl , based on a photo of Zoe Roth at age 4 taken in Mebane, North Carolina , in January 2005. After this photo became famous and
8662-428: The debate overall. On November 4, Obama and Biden were elected with 53% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes to McCain and Palin's 173. At the same time Biden was running for vice president, he was also running for reelection to the Senate, as permitted by Delaware law. On November 4, he was reelected to the Senate, defeating Republican Christine O'Donnell . Having won both races, Biden made
8784-428: The development of meme currencies such as Dogecoin , Shiba Inu Coin, and Pepe Coin. Meme cryptocurrencies have suggested comparisons between meme value and monetary markets. Internet memes are a medium for fast communication to large online audiences, which has led to their use by those seeking to express a political opinion or actively campaign for (or against) a political entity. In some ways, they can be seen as
8906-467: The earliest examples of internet memes, specifically the smiley emoticon ":-)", introduced by Scott Fahlman in 1982. The concept of memes in an online context was formally proposed by Mike Godwin in the June 1993 issue of Wired . In 2013, Dawkins characterized an Internet meme as being a meme deliberately altered by human creativity—distinguished from biological genes and his own pre-Internet concept of
9028-505: The election, Biden trailed Boggs by almost thirty percentage points, but his energy, attractive young family, and ability to connect with voters' emotions worked to his advantage, and he won with 50.5% of the vote. A few weeks after Biden was elected senator, his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping in Hockessin, Delaware , on December 18, 1972. Neilia's station wagon
9150-513: The factors contributing to a meme’s propagation and longevity, concluding that while memes compete for attention—often resulting in shorter lifespans—they can also collaborate, enhancing their chances of survival. A meme that experiences an exceptionally high peak in popularity is unlikely to endure unless it is uniquely distinct. Conversely, a meme without such a peak, but that coexists with others, tends to have greater longevity. In 2013, Dominic Basulto, writing for The Washington Post , argued that
9272-518: The family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents in Scranton. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work. Beginning in 1953 when Biden was ten, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware , before moving to a house in nearby Mayfield, Delaware . Biden Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman , maintaining the family in
9394-411: The former include "they did surgery on a grape", a video depicting a Da Vinci Surgical System performing test surgery on a grape, and the "moth meme", a close-up picture of a moth with captions humorously conveying the insect's love of lamps . Surreal memes incorporate layers of irony to make them unique and nonsensical, often as a means of escapism from mainstream meme culture. After the success of
9516-400: The formulation on previous occasions, but did not on two occasions in late August. Kinnock himself was more forgiving; the two men met in 1988, forming an enduring friendship. Earlier that year, Biden had also used passages from a 1967 speech by Robert F. Kennedy (for which his aides took blame) and a short phrase from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address ; two years earlier he had used
9638-469: The high-profile candidacies of Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton . He never rose above single digits in national polls of the Democratic candidates . In the first contest on January 3, 2008, Biden placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses , garnering slightly less than one percent of the state delegates. He withdrew from the race that evening. Despite its lack of success, Biden's 2008 campaign raised his stature in
9760-500: The increasing influence of memes; as part of the 2020 US presidential campaign , Michael Bloomberg sponsored a number of Instagram accounts (with over 60 million followers collectively) to post memes related to the Bloomberg campaign. The campaign was faulted for treating memes as a commodity that can be bought. Beyond their use in elections, Internet memes can become symbols for various political ideologies. A salient example
9882-419: The main event of the story. Because of the way news headlines are typically written , they can be creatively interpreted as implying that the subjects of the articles are all a single individual known as "Florida Man". The Miami New Times claimed that freedom of information laws in Florida make it easier for journalists to acquire information about arrests from the police than in other states and that this
10004-427: The medium to disseminate information on the virus and its vaccine . Since many memes are derived from pre-existing works, it has been contended that memes violate the copyright of the original authors. However, some view memes as falling under the ambit of fair use in the United States. This dilemma has caused conflict between meme producers and copyright owners: for example, Getty Images ' demand for payment from
10126-491: The meme’s structure, or vice versa, with such transformations occurring either by chance or through deliberate efforts like parody. A study by Miltner examined the lolcats meme, tracing its development from an in-joke within computer and gaming communities on the website 4chan to a broader source of humor and emotional support. As the meme entered mainstream culture, it lost favor with its original creators. Miltner explained that as content moves through different communities, it
10248-609: The mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate's strongest opponents of race-integration busing . His Delaware constituents strongly opposed it, and such opposition nationwide later led his party to mostly abandon school integration policies. In his first Senate campaign, Biden had expressed support for busing to remedy de jure segregation , as in the South, but opposed its use to remedy de facto segregation arising from racial patterns of neighborhood residency, as in Delaware; he opposed
10370-616: The mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" related to foreign policy. In 1999, during the Kosovo War , Biden supported the 1999 NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia . He and Senator John McCain co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over Yugoslav actions toward ethnic Albanians in Kosovo . Biden
10492-501: The moniker "Florida Man" for himself, including in his Twitter bio, and with his "Florida Man Freedom Tour" in 2021. On November 16, 2022, the New York Post reported Trump's 2024 presidential campaign announcement on the front page as "Florida Man Makes Announcement", proceeding to mock the former president on page 26 referring to Mar-a-Lago as containing his "classified-documents library". In March 2023 Netflix announced
10614-405: The now abandoned Twitter account @_FloridaMan, which quoted notably strange or bizarre news headlines containing the words "Florida man", such as "Florida man run over by van after dog pushes accelerator" or "Police arrest Florida man for drunken joy ride on motorized scooter at Walmart ". The account referred to "Florida Man" as the "World's Worst Superhero" jokingly implying the headlines are not
10736-797: The original concept of " memes " as units of cultural transmission, passed from person to person. In the digital realm, this transmission occurs primarily through online platforms, such as social media . Although related, internet memes differ from traditional memes in that they often represent fleeting trends, whereas the success of traditional memes is measured by their endurance over time. Additionally, internet memes tend to be less abstract in nature compared to their traditional counterparts. They are highly versatile in form and purpose, serving as tools for light entertainment, self-expression, social commentary, and even political discourse. Two fundamental characteristics of internet memes are creative reproduction and intertextuality . Creative reproduction refers to
10858-492: The original meme. Intertextuality in memes involves the blending of different cultural references or contexts. An example of this is the combination of U.S. politician Mitt Romney ’s phrase “ binders full of women ” from the 2012 U.S. presidential debate with a scene from the Korean pop song “ Gangnam Style .” In this case, the phrase "my binders full of women exploded" is superimposed on a frame from Psy ’s music video, creating
10980-435: The original work); many memes fulfil this criterion, placing pieces of media in a new context to serve a different purpose to that of the original author. The second factor favours copied works drawing from factual sources, which may be problematic for memes derived from fictional works (such as films). Many of these memes, however, only use small portions of such works (such as still images), favouring an argument of fair use per
11102-483: The originating subculture. A study by Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear examined how Richard Dawkins' three characteristics of successful traditional memes—fidelity, fecundity, and longevity—apply to internet memes. It was found that fidelity in the context of internet memes is better described as replicability, as memes are frequently modified through remixing while still maintaining their core message. Fecundity, or
11224-431: The perceived negative psychological and cognitive effects caused by exposure to such content. The practice of using memes to market products or services has been termed "memetic marketing". Internet memes allow brands to circumvent the conception of advertisements as irksome, making them less overt and more tailored to the likes of their target audience. Marketing personnel may choose to utilise an existing meme, or create
11346-432: The phrase reaching mainstream prominence around 2014 and referring to deliberately zany or odd memes with features such as oversaturated colours, compression artifacts , crude humour, and overly loud sounds (termed "ear rape"). The term "dank", which refers to cold, damp places, has been adapted as a way to describe memes as "new" or "cool". The term may also be used to describe memes that have become overused and stale to
11468-527: The point of paradoxically becoming humorous again. The phenomenon of dank memes sprouted a subculture called the "meme market", satirising Wall Street and applying the associated jargon (such as "stocks") to internet memes. Originally started on Reddit as /r/MemeEconomy, users jokingly "buy" or "sell" shares in a meme reflecting opinion on its potential popularity. "Deep-fried" memes refer to those that have been distorted and run through several filters and/or layers of lossy compression . An example of these
11590-473: The political world. In particular, it changed the relationship between Biden and Obama. Although they had served together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , they had not been close: Biden resented Obama's quick rise to political stardom, while Obama viewed Biden as garrulous and patronizing. Having gotten to know each other during 2007, Obama appreciated Biden's campaign style and appeal to working-class voters, and Biden said he became convinced Obama
11712-458: The press devoted far more coverage to the Republican nominee, Alaska governor Sarah Palin . Under instructions from the campaign, Biden kept his speeches succinct and tried to avoid offhand remarks, such as one he made about Obama's being tested by a foreign power soon after taking office, which had attracted negative attention. Privately, Biden's remarks frustrated Obama. "How many times
11834-468: The previous year—of a hypothetical Bork nomination. Conservatives were angered, but at the hearings' close Biden was praised for his fairness, humor, and courage. Rejecting the arguments of some Bork opponents, Biden framed his objections to Bork in terms of the conflict between Bork's strong originalism and the view that the U.S. Constitution provides rights to liberty and privacy beyond those explicitly enumerated in its text. Bork's nomination
11956-416: The producer themselves; for instance, the film Snakes on a Plane became a cult classic after creation of the website SnakesOnABlog.com by law student Brian Finkelstein. Use of memes by brands, while often advantageous, has been subject to criticism for seemingly forced, unoriginal, or unfunny usage of memes, which can negatively impact a brand's image. For example, the fast food company Wendy's began
12078-477: The proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 became a major factor in the campaign, Biden voted for the $ 700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 , which passed in the Senate, 74–25. On October 2, he participated in the vice-presidential debate with Palin at Washington University in St. Louis . Post-debate polls found that while Palin exceeded many voters' expectations, Biden had won
12200-476: The release of YouTube in 2005, video-based memes such as Rickrolling and viral videos such as " Gangnam Style " and the Harlem shake emerged. The appearance of social media websites such as Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram provided additional mediums for the spread of memes, and the creation of meme-generating websites made their production more accessible. "Dank memes" are a more recent phenomenon,
12322-467: The second-youngest person elected president, after John F. Kennedy . He raised more in the first quarter of 1987 than any other candidate. By August his campaign's messaging had become confused due to staff rivalries, and in September, he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock . Biden's speech had similar lines about being the first person in his family to attend university. Biden had credited Kinnock with
12444-480: The speed of dissemination of evidence-based health practices. A study by Reynolds and Boyd found the majority of participants (who were healthcare staff) felt that memes could be an appropriate means of improving healthcare worker's knowledge of and compliance with infection prevention practices. Internet memes were also used in Nigeria to raise awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic , with healthcare professionals using
12566-484: The strategy behind the choice reflected a desire to fill out the ticket with someone with foreign policy and national security experience. Others pointed out Biden's appeal to middle-class and blue-collar voters. Biden was officially nominated for vice president on August 27 by voice vote at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver . Biden's vice-presidential campaigning gained little media attention, as
12688-410: The third factor. With regards to the fourth factor, most memes are non-commercial in nature and thus would not have adverse effects on the potential market for the copyright work. Given these factors, and the overall reliance of memes on appropriation of other sources, it has been argued that they deserve protection from copyright infringement suits. Some individuals who are subjects of memes (and thus
12810-701: The use of memes. For example, Ted Cruz 's 2016 Republican presidential bid was damaged by Internet memes that jokingly speculated he was the Zodiac Killer . Research has shown the use of memes during elections has a role to play in informing the public on political themes. A study explored this in relation to the 2017 UK general election , and concluded that memes acted as a widely shared conduit for basic political information to audiences who would usually not seek it out. They also found that memes may play some role in increasing voter turnout . Some political campaigns have begun to explicitly taken advantage of
12932-465: The widespread use of memes, particularly by the marketing and advertising industries, has led to a decline in their original cultural value. Once considered valuable cultural artifacts meant to endure, memes now often convey trivial rather than meaningful ideas. The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain how aspects of culture replicate, mutate, and evolve ( memetics ). Emoticons are among
13054-413: Was "dead, flat wrong" in believing the surge could work. Biden instead advocated dividing Iraq into a loose federation of three ethnic states. Rather than continue the existing approach or withdrawing, the plan called for "a third way": federalizing Iraq and giving Kurds , Shiites , and Sunnis "breathing room" in their own regions. In September 2007, a non-binding resolution endorsing the plan passed
13176-419: Was "the real deal". Shortly after Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Obama privately told him he was interested in finding an important place for Biden in his administration. In early August, Obama and Biden met in secret to discuss the possibility, and developed a strong personal rapport. On August 22, 2008, Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate . The New York Times reported that
13298-519: Was a strong supporter of the War in Afghanistan , saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it." As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said in 2002 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security and there was no other option than to "eliminate" that threat. In October 2002, he voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq , approving
13420-465: Was among the first to call for the " lift and strike " policy. The George H. W. Bush administration and Clinton administration were both reluctant to implement the policy, fearing Balkan entanglement. In April 1993, Biden held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević . Biden worked on several versions of legislative language urging the U.S. toward greater involvement. Biden has called his role in affecting Balkan policy in
13542-675: Was filled with anger and religious doubt. He wrote that he "felt God had played a horrible trick" on him and had trouble focusing on work. Biden met teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs in 1975 on a blind date . They married at the United Nations chapel in New York on June 17, 1977, and spent their honeymoon at Lake Balaton in the Hungarian People's Republic . Biden credits her with the renewal of his interest in politics and life. The couple attends Mass at St. Joseph's on
13664-501: Was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000. As of 2024 , he was the 19th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. During his early years in the Senate, Biden focused on consumer protection and environmental issues and called for greater government accountability. In a 1974 interview, he described himself as liberal on civil rights and liberties, senior citizens' concerns and healthcare, but conservative on other issues, including abortion and military conscription . Biden
13786-532: Was held in a Catholic church in Skaneateles, New York . They had three children: Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III , Robert Hunter Biden , and Naomi Christina "Amy" Biden. Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. In his first year of law school, he failed a course because he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote, but the failing grade was later stricken. His grades were relatively poor, and he graduated 76th in
13908-446: Was hit by a semi-trailer truck as she pulled out from an intersection. Their sons Beau (aged 3) and Hunter (aged 2) were in the car and were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Beau with a broken leg and other wounds and Hunter with a minor skull fracture and other head injuries. Biden considered resigning to care for them, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield persuaded him not to. Biden contemplated suicide and
14030-615: Was originally introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1972 to describe the concept of cultural transmission. The term "Internet meme" was coined by Mike Godwin in 1993 in reference to the way memes proliferated through early online communities, including message boards, Usenet groups, and email. The emergence of social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook , and Instagram further diversified memes and accelerated their spread. Newer meme genres include "dank" and surrealist memes, as well as short-form videos popularized by platforms like Vine and TikTok . Memes are now recognized as
14152-409: Was rejected in the committee by a 5–9 vote and then in the full Senate, 42–58. During Clarence Thomas's nomination hearings in 1991, Biden's questions on constitutional issues were often convoluted to the point that Thomas sometimes lost track of them, and Thomas later wrote that Biden's questions were akin to " beanballs ". After the committee hearing closed, the public learned that Anita Hill ,
14274-552: Was succeeded by Democrat Francis R. Swift. During his time on the county council, Biden opposed large highway projects, which he argued might disrupt Wilmington neighborhoods. Biden had not openly supported or opposed the Vietnam War until he ran for Senate and opposed Richard Nixon's conduct of the war. While studying at the University of Delaware and Syracuse University, Biden obtained five student draft deferments at
14396-421: Was the seventh-youngest senator in U.S. history . To see his sons, Biden traveled by train between his Delaware home and D.C. —74 minutes each way—and maintained this habit throughout his 36 years in the Senate. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 , Biden was reelected in 1978 , 1984 , 1990 , 1996 , 2002 , and 2008 , regularly receiving about 60% of the vote. He was junior senator to William Roth , who
14518-599: Was the first U.S. senator to endorse Jimmy Carter for president in the 1976 Democratic primary . Carter went on to win the Democratic nomination and defeat incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election . Biden also worked on arms control . After Congress failed to ratify the SALT II Treaty signed in 1979 by Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter, Biden met with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko to communicate American concerns and secured changes that addressed
14640-564: Was thought to have no chance of winning. Family members managed and staffed the campaign, which relied on meeting voters face-to-face and hand-distributing position papers, an approach made feasible by Delaware's small size. He received help from the AFL-CIO and Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell . His platform focused on the environment, withdrawal from Vietnam, civil rights, mass transit, equitable taxation, health care and public dissatisfaction with "politics as usual". A few months before
14762-428: Was unpopular among progressives and criticized for resulting in mass incarceration; in 2019, Biden called his role in passing the bill a "big mistake", citing its policy on crack cocaine and saying that the bill "trapped an entire generation". Biden voted for a 1993 provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gay people from serving in the armed forces. In 1996, he voted for
14884-422: Was used hundreds of times without permission, Roth decided to sell the original copy as an NFT for US$ 539,973 (equivalent to $ 607,146 in 2023 ), with agreement for a further 10 percent share of any future sales. Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. ( / ˈ r ɒ b ɪ n ɪ t ˈ b aɪ d ən / ROB -in-it BY -dən ; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who has been
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