The Crowd Sourced Self

The Crowd Sourced Self

There is a guide available for anyone who wishes to learn how to be a better person. One that explains, in detail, what the greater population thinks is nobel, strong, and good. It also clearly illustrates the behaviors and traits that our society looks down on as weak and evil. If one were to follow the examples in this guide, one would make more friends, be more loved and trusted, and have more opportunity in life. It also shows why some people, perhaps unaware of this guide, are destined to be considered pariahs of society, doomed to a life of broken relationships, challenges and limits. I'm not talking about the bible. I, of course, am talking about the dueling memes, Good Guy Greg and Scumbag Steve.

Created primarily as humorous, even juvenile, expressions of modern character archetypes, together these memes are actually far more than that.Together, these two memes illustrate the way to be. A surprisingly true, topical, crowd sourced opinion on what makes someone the best possible modern person and what makes someone a scumbag.

Good Guy Greg is a kind of ideal. The slacker Jesus of our disaffected generation. Good Guy Greg is the friend everyone wishes they had. A kind of righteous, loyal, non-judgmental, buddy superhero who always, without question, under any circumstances, can be counted on to do exactly the right thing by his friends. A self-less action hero of modern morality. The spirit of Good Guy Greg is your "do" list.

Scumbag Steve is Greg's opposite. In case a guide for what the modern internet generation wants in a friend is not enough, Scumbag Steve illustrates how not to be. His archetype is so painfully recognizable - his behavior, normally hidden from scrutiny by the confounding impermanence of real-time interaction and his subsequent denial, is exposed here, red-handed, for reflection and analysis. We now recognize you Steve, and no one likes you.

Good Guy Greg and Scumbag Steve are seething with relevant, contemporary trivialities which make their lessons completely identifiable and practical.In a way, through the humor, the world has created these Memes for exactly this reason - to show you the way to be.