No one can deny that me_irl has revolutionized the modern meme market. Starting as a subreddit for “selfies of the soul” it steadily produced [diverse](http://i.imgur.com/82cRCgO.png) and [entertaining](http://i.imgur.com/p5Wa2WO.jpg) content not more than a year ago. Then [this](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BnVaKYxIAAAPvuK.jpg) happened. Socially awkward, funny and simple enough to rake in maximum karma with minimal effort, I believe “me too thanks” ushered in the new era of memetic evolution in me_irl.

As a result, in the last year the diversity of content in the subreddit has decreased markedly while users flood the market with highly derivative and cyclical content, or what I prefer to call Collateralized Meme Obligations (CMOs for short). These CMOs are highly rated (e.g. this recent [sub-prime bear meme](http://i.imgur.com/rCoF8D6.png) rated as nearly triple A with +5000 upvotes), but their longevity reveals the harsh truth: these are not top tier memes.

[Just look at the Google Trends -data of several of me_irl’s favorite memes compared to staples like pepe.](https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%2012-m&q=dat%20boi,pepe,Harambe) It is clear the memes most propagated by the subreddit do not retain their value for long.

As I see it, the problem is that the value of the memes is artificially inflated by the fraudulent, positive-feedback rating system employed in me_irl. The fact is that the people who create the protomemes cannot be involved in rating them as well, as evidenced by the housing market crisis in 2008. To me, the October meme war is just another sign that the market has become too volatile and will collapse on itself soon. I suspect some of the more stable memes like pepe will retain part of their value but even that is not certain.

Don’t ignore the writing on the wall. Short out all your me_irl stock (yes, including Bionicles) before its too late.