There has recently been a craze for people posting pictures of a Syrian refugee next to a snap of the same guy dressed in Isis uniform two years back, showing that they are on their way to destroy us. It was nonsense, inevitably.
But then they always are. The same goes for the photos of overcrowded migrant boats doing the rounds, which are actually of an Albanian ship from 1991 (an interesting story in itself, told here).
As a rule never trust a meme, especially one that makes some profound point, because it’s almost certainly untrue. Among the most popular is an image of a matador sitting down next to a bull with a little story about how the animal spared his life and he realised the futility of violence. All made up.
Last year Isabel Hardman discussed a trend where people would post a picture of an empty House of Commons with something to the effect of ‘this is MPs voting on whether to save a children’s hospital’ next to one of a full House with ‘this is MPs debating whether to stuff their fat faces with oysters and champagne’ or similar.
Many memes also like to make rather vacuous historical comparisons, usually involving the Nazis and Iain Duncan Smith, such as this.
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