I find myself disagreeing with both sides. OP is gatekeeping what a meme is and you have a very out of date definition and not even the guy who came up with the term.
As a true descriptivist, I think a meme is what people call a meme. If it’s posted and upvoted in a meme community, it is a meme. Let the language community decide on that. Later, you can analyze how the meme culture and the definition of meme has shifted.
But of cause, everyone is entitled to an opinion what a meme should define and make memes about it. Just don’t frame it as if you are right and everyone else is wrong.
I find myself disagreeing with both sides. OP is gatekeeping what a meme is and you have a very out of date definition and not even the guy who came up with the term.
As a true descriptivist, I think a meme is what people call a meme. If it’s posted and upvoted in a meme community, it is a meme. Let the language community decide on that. Later, you can analyze how the meme culture and the definition of meme has shifted.
But of cause, everyone is entitled to an opinion what a meme should define and make memes about it. Just don’t frame it as if you are right and everyone else is wrong.