If there’s one thing that you can count on at present-day university, it’s this: there’s definitely a page for memes, and it’s probably in the middle of some drama. As memes become an increasing, ever-present part of our culture, the “U of T Memes for Edgy Teens” page on Facebook has been gaining more and more members (as of writing, it is sitting at a comfortable 14,697). Taking a look at the page right now, most posts are about common U of T woes: A student’s (slowly dropping) GPA, increasingly difficult PoSTs, and general complaints about the amount of stress and pressure this school puts on us.

Let’s face it – these posts are an easy way to get likes, even though there is an underlying truth to them. Meme-ing about depression is another conversation entirely, but you can see the psychology behind why they’re the page’s biggest hits. In this writer’s opinion, nothing tops seeing a great meme being properly rewarded, or a nice and pure shout-out to the brown food truck.

The ‘U of T Memes for Edgy Teens’ page had its first internally developed copypasta last month, bringing a new dawn to an old page. A student named Jessica Smith posted a complaint to the page about how many of the memes were “ignorant and hurtful,” referring specifically to memes joking about other universities such as Ryerson or York. As an aside, it is unknown if Smith attends U of T or another university.

The thing is, Jessica Smith is right: U of T students often do act elitist towards other Ontario universities, when really the difference between schools is likely less than it’s imagined to be. In the end, however, the degree of her sincerity and the fact that this is, make no mistake, a page full of bored university students trading memes was probably her downfall.

At this point, the meme took off. People combined her post with other popular posts, made parodies of it, and “straight up ignorant and hurtful” became a popular catchphrase. The number of students who defended Smith were far outweighed by those who posted about and mocked her. In all honesty, I don’t quite understand what was so special about her post and the subsequent retaliation that made it spread like wildfire, but I think among other factors, the page was waiting for a breakout post and latched onto the first thing that came around. And, well, it was finals season.

In the end, as these so-called ‘Jessica Smith’ memes wind down and I am tasked with reflecting on them, what leaves a bad taste in my mouth is just that: referring to them as “Jessica Smith memes”. By having her name still attached to it, they’re ironically proving her point—we are quick to mock and judge those outside of this institution. I don’t know much about Jessica Smith (though I am inclined to believe she might be a dummy account made by someone from another school—a conspiracy theory for another day), but the meme definitely did veer into the bullying range, as Smith was the butt of a joke that made up most of the content on a page with 14,000+ members for no less than two or three weeks.

In the end, I do wish the best for “U of T Memes for Edgy Teens”. In a space consisting of thousands of university students, some jokes will go too far. In no way did Jessica Smith deserve the treatment she got, but as any good millennial knows: no meme lasts long, and everyone is sure to move on in no time.