Throughout the past few years, memes have been the basis of humor on the internet. Social media and text conversations have filled with these videos and images. Finally, the seal between schools and memes has been broken. Placer, Del Oro, Colfax, Rocklin, and Foresthill have broken out into an all out “meme war.” Originator of the account @placermemes, Dawson Gutierrez, posted the first two memes on Placer’s representative in the conflict as a way to test Del Oro. “I wanted to challenge Del Oro, as I can’t afford to let them one up us as a school… I also wanted to assert dominance… The actual fighting started with innocent fighting, then turned into pretty bad cyberbullying,” Gutierrez stated. The war is quite appealing
to students, as it gives them an outlet to talk down to other schools online. “Everyone has social media, but not everyone plays sports. Since everyone has a phone, it gives everyone the opportunity to trash talk other schools with no consequences,” Gutierrez stated. Gutierrez was on a road trip during the main conflict, so he made the decision to pass on the account to another student, who in turn gave control to someone else. Preferring to stay anonymous, the owner of @deloromemes claims they made their account “to make people laugh at common issues or bring attention to common issues, such as vaping, in a humorous way.” “Del Oro… made a meme account, and shortly after, Placer Memes made a video stating they were better than Del Oro Memes. It kinda started with Colfax, but Placer and Del Oro are the main relevant schools,” the Del Oro account owner stated. Del Oro Memes does not think that the meme war should be considered a “sport,” stating “… it’s certainly entertaining to see how each school can express their own creativity in battling other schools.” School interference has also been an issue in this conflict, as Del Oro has forced the anonymous owner to take down one of their memes. “One of my memes was taken down due to it being considered offensive and putting others at risk. Because it is associated with a school, you can’t say whatever you want and don’t have complete freedom of speech… it’s just part of going to any public school,” the meme account owner stated. Del Oro memes proudly believes that the “edginess” of the memes posted on their account should not be censored, stating, “… at the end of everything, schools can have fun and roast each other, and they can be however filthy they want… just at the end of the day, remember that they are making memes… and memes don’t define interpersonal school interactions.” Gwin Floyd, sophomore at Colfax High, is the administrator of Colfax’s meme account. Floyd believes that in some aspects, the conflict has gotten out of hand, stating, “I think some schools have taken it way too far. Cough cough* Foresthill.” @foresthillmemes, being arguably the most edgy and perhaps thought provoking meme account of all, declined to give an interview. Most of the memes Foresthill’s representative posts are just stolen from other schools with a low effort text layed over the image, usually taking shots at a neighboring school. When they are not taking shots at other high schools, they are repeatedly posting the same image of a dog smiling or the bee from the “Bee Movie,” both supposedly posted to make the viewer uncomfortable. While proving effective, these abstract images add to the mystique of the account with an unidentified owner. With the comradery that comes with any interschool meeting, it begs the question: should the “meme war” be considered a sport? Students of representative schools have created yet another outlet for students to relay the message that their respective school is best, something usually seen in sporting events. Whatever it is, there is no doubt that the contest has been entertaining, and the local high school community is better off since conflict arose.