Posts tagged u mad

You know what I really hate? The meme “U MAD?”

It is a horribly detrimental thing to come out of 4chan memedom; at its core, it’s a non-rebuttal to an argument, which KnowYourMeme.com defines as being:

“used by netizens in discussion forums and comment threads to imply that someone (usually the previous poster) is losing temper during the course of an argument. It’s a form of debate tactic that casually dismisses someone’s counterargument, thus further feeding the rage fuel upon the receiving end. Due to the incendiary nature of the phrase, it is also considered a form of trolling.”

It’s that last bit that really gets to me. In its original context, the phrase was used by rapper Cam’ron (skip to 6:00 in the video below) to call out Bill O’Reilly for not letting a fellow rapper speak/defend himself. 

However, the message was distorted as it was spread around imageboards and comment threads (as the Internet tends to do), leading to where it is today: a catch-all response that’s meant to completely derail a conversation and make it seem like it’s bad for a person to care about something.

It’s now thrown around in blog comments, video game trash talk and even casual conversation; I’ve seen it used in an ironic “Hey guys, look how Internet savvy I am” sense, or even worse, a way to completely shut down a completely logical discussion.

The phrase has almost become a shield for users, as if to say “Hey man, I don’t know why you got so worked up. I’m sitting over here and being cool and not caring.”

It means you, as a user, no longer have to put any effort into argument rebuttal. If something isn’t going your way, you can always just say “U MAD, BRO?”

To receive it means you are being shamed from expressing oneself through words; how dare you show emotion on the Internet? How dare you care about anything besides leaning against your Ford Fiesta, foot propped up on the wheel-well, looking over your Wayfarer sunglasses while you talk to me?

This kind of came to a head last night when I was at a house party with some friends. I think I was talking about PS1 games or something trivial when the argument became a little heated; the moment my voice raised above a drawl, two of the people I was talking with instantly spouted “U mad?” repeatedly, chuckling to themselves like they won some prize.

Were these people assholes? Yes.
Did they look like idiots? Oh, most definitely. 

However, it didn’t change the fact that I was made to feel bad about expressing my opinion. I was made to feel bad about speaking up. I wasn’t making absurd points, nor was I presenting them in a way that warranted that response. But the fact I thought different from them was enough to just derail the whole conversation.

And really, do we want that on the Internet? I mean, I thought the whole point of comment systems was to foster discussion. When I can expect that 95% of the comments on this blog entry will be some form of “U MAD” in an attempt to:

a) be ironic
b) try to incite some type of rage

there’s a problem there. 

I’m not saying this meme doesn’t have its uses; obviously, when people are being absolute asshats, its original function is fulfilled. However, you’ve got to think: where is that line drawn?

When does it stop being funny and start saying “Man, you stopped being apathetic! GET HIM!”