Ignorance is Not a Virtue

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How an image is cropped affects its meaning. The topic of this book is how in the internet's meme culture, humor is often associated with an image while the audience remains unaware (or perhaps even ignorant) of its original context.

Disclaimer: all images used are found via internet and National Geographic magazines. This book is purely for educational purposes and not for commercial use.

"Hitting your toe against the couch leg be like"

"Hearing mom pull into the driveway and realizing you forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer"

"When your girlfriend breaks up with you because you're 'too nice'"

"Winging that 10K word essay the night before submission"

"Walking into the exam hall knowing damn well you're gonna fail this one"

"Listening to that weird aunt tell the same story for the 30th time"

"When nobody finds out the source of the fart #sleuth100"

The pages flip vertically instead of horizontally to simulate the experience of scrolling through social media feeds. As the reader goes further, the images start to gain color and smiles appear on their faces. There is irony here – the reader gradually feels worse while the images 'laugh' at them.

Glossy white paper is used for the social media captions while rough yellowish paper is used for the actual images. This symbolizes the contrast between the polished, innocent 'memes' on our phones compared to the harsh reality of these images.