CSULB memes page spars with CSUF

For many students at commuter schools like Cal State Long Beach the only source of school pride may be Facebook pages like Brandon Osborn’s Csulb memes.

Osborn, a CSULB sophomore nursing major, started Csulb memes on Feb. 9 and since then the page has gone viral — attracting more than 2,500 likes in a little over a week.

“Memes can be images, videos, or jokes that spread primarily via blogs and social networking sites,” Osborn said. “They are usually made to show humor and wit. A lot of memes can have a personal spin and relate to a variety of concepts.”

The word meme, which predates the Internet itself, was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” Dawkins intended to use the word to describe cultural evolution. Memes, he wrote, are a single unit of culture — akin to genes — that a sort of natural selection can act on.

And, this — over 30 years later — is exactly what happens with Internet memes: People post a funny picture, video or blog and it spreads — retaining some characteristics but changing in others.

The interesting thing about Osborn’s page, though, is its CSULB-specific. All the memes originating on Csulb memes have to do with The Beach.

Take this one for example. Posted by CSULB nursing major Chelsea May Perez, it pokes fun at the University Bookstore checking backpacks during the first week of school. The meme reads, “Tries to walk into the bookstore on the first week of school with a backpack” and includes a picture of a smiling college student.

Or this one, posted by CSULB student Drew Pulig, after the Daily 49er discovered Csulb memes. “I liked Csulb memes before the EIC of the Daily 49er saw them,” the meme reads, including a picture of a cat, wearing hipster clothing.

But university-specific memes are not the only thing happening on Osborn’s page.

In a show of just how unpredictable a meme can become, the Facebook page has developed a rivalry with Cal State Fullerton, one that Csuf memes, CSUF’s memes page, isn’t backing down from.

“I noticed when people on the CSULB meme page were starting to post memes about CSUF,” said Garret Shiver, a freshman nursing major who helps Osborn administrate the page. “Then I took a look at the CSUF meme page and they were posting stuff too. It was going back and forth and it’s pretty funny because Long Beach is superior in every single way.”

Osborn, like Shiver, is quick to declare the superiority of CSULB’s memes page.

“The online rivalry is intense [with] each school poking fun at one another,” Osborn said. “I find it hilarious! We are definitely more original than they are though.”

Take this meme posted by Ryan Romeos, a CSUF communications major, for example. Plastered on a picture of Dos Equis’ most interesting man in the world character, are the words, “I don’t always talk to CSULB graduates, but when I do, I order fries.”

A quick toggle through Csulb memes and one finds similar posts like this one posted by Zach Katona, a human development major at CSULB. On the same Dos Equis most interesting man in the world picture, Katona wrote, “I don’t always feel pity, but when I do, it’s because I’m sitting near CSUF fans in the Pyramid.”

These two memes are of course a reference to the Dos Equis marketing campaign starring Jonathan Goldsmith, where the actor ends television commercials and radio spots portraying him as the “most interesting man in the world” by saying, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.”

Memes portraying Goldsmith can be found all over the Internet. Although they poke fun at different things, they all retain the same “I don’t always…” structure.

The university-specific memes page is not unique to CSULB or CSUF, though, and Osborn says he got the idea for his memes page from a friend at the University of California, Riverside.

“My friend from UCR sent me a meme from UCR’s meme page that I thought was hilarious,” Osborn said. “So I tried searching to see if someone had made one for our school. Our school didn’t have one, which was disappointing … so I figured why not create the page myself.”

According to knowyourmeme.com, a semi-official website that documents Internet memes, the first university-specific meme Facebook page was created for Florida International University in Miami in October 2011.

The meme website also ranks NYU memes, which had 5,582 likes on Feb. 9, 2012, as the most liked university-themed meme page on Facebook.

Csulb memes may not be up to 5,000 likes but its administrators say it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

“[Our page] will continue to attract likes as long as memes are funny and they are specific to the daily struggles [and] joys of a CSULB student, which is a very long time,” Shiver said.