Do you want to translate a Greek phrase? The internet has got that covered. Do you want help tuning your guitar? There are thousands of Youtube videos to guide you (not to mention dozens of iPhone apps). Do you want a great recipe for spaghetti squash? No problem. The internet is a repository of an incredible amount of information--more than any one person can handle alone. It's also a repository of f@cking cat memes. The internet is neither good nor bad; it's a matter of how you use it. I hate cat memes, but not for their content. As cat memes, they are relatively benign. Nevertheless, wasting your time on cat memes is a little like admiring how clean the windows are at the Louvre--you're not only missing the point, you're losing out. Other memes are more nefarious, largely because they pose as information when they are no more accurate than the idea that a cat "can haz a hamburger". Case in point:
If you type "11 states have more people on welfare than employed" in Google, the first response is Politifact.com with an explanation of this chain mail meme.
They give it their worst rating: Pants-on-Fire. How did I know to look it up? Easy--it smells like bullshit on the surface (do you know the population of California?). Even so, I'd have looked it up anyway. Why? Because that is what the internet is for.
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