memelets

Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

Is it possible to go into public spaces and not see bracelets on every wrist you see? I don't know why they are called bracelets anymore; to name them properly, they should be called memelets.
Everyone is carrying around a meme carved in colored rubber wrapped around their wrist. If you look at any given memelet, you can see that it is far more than a simple accessory. The bracelet invariably represents an idea or a cause, and has a word or name embossed upon it. The yellow "livestrong" memelet was the first (as far as I know) appearance of a bracelet that was meant for more than just fashion; it was intended and succeeded handily at making its meme fashionable.
Now we see celebrities routinely advertising the latest memelet, Jessica Alba or some other famous face asking you to wear their meme. My personal favorite is an ad campaign for the upcoming film, A Scanner Darkly; it is a simple, thick, black band of rubberised synthetic material that has inscribed upon it boldly in white the word DESERTION. (On the inside it has another inscription, the tag line for the film, "Everything is not going to be OK".) I love this memelet and wear it all the time. It suggests Baudrillard's desert of the real, yes, that's true, but more importantly it makes me look tough having this band of black hanging on my arm.
So, what is the meme moral of this story? Wear a memelet, yes, do it now, and look tough doing it, its the only way.