👾 Lesson 4: Privacy Meme Archetypes

Your privacy meme starter kit

Not all memes are created equal — especially when it comes to privacy.

Over time, certain characters and formats have emerged as privacy meme MVPs. They show up again and again because they’re:

• Emotionally recognizable
• Visually simple
• Easy to remix
• AND… they strike at the core tension: comfort vs control, convenience vs freedom.

This lesson is a vibe check: which archetype are you memeing with?

🧍‍♂️ 1. The Paranoid-but-Right Guy

• Looks unhinged.
• Says something that seems absurd.
• Turns out to be exactly correct.

Great for:

• Predicting things that already exist (e.g. “What if your vacuum is spying on you?” ← oh wait, it does that.)
• Visualizing “dystopia-as-normal”

Meme energy: “They called me crazy… until the AirPods started whispering back.”

🧠 2. The Galaxy Brain

• Starts with mild privacy takes
• Ends with full anarcho-cypherpunk enlightenment
• Perfect for onboarding normies into radical thoughts

Great for:

• Showing levels of understanding (e.g. “Incognito Mode hides your browsing from YOU”)
• Humorously escalating solutions: VPN → Tor → Burn your phone

🧍‍♀️ 3. The NPC

• Gray-faced, blank-eyed digital citizen
• Doesn’t question anything
• Represents mainstream indifference

Great for:

• Critiquing apathy
• Contrasting with privacy-aware characters
• Memes like: “I have nothing to hide, so I don’t care about privacy”

Use this one to punch up — not down.

😎 4. The Chad (or GigaChad)

• Confident, stoic, possibly shirtless
• Uses Signal
• Carries a Faraday pouch “just in case”

Great for:

• Showing the cool side of caring about privacy
• Meme logic: “Privacy isn’t paranoia — it’s power”

🤡 5. The Clown

• Represents corporate hypocrisy or dystopian absurdity
• Often paired with slogans like:

“We care about your privacy 🥰 – [click here to accept all cookies]”

Great for:

• Satirizing tech companies
• Highlighting the mismatch between words and reality

🧩 How to Use Archetypes

• Remix them into formats (Drake, Gru, Wojak, etc.)
• Create your own versions — original visuals always welcome
• Subvert expectations — use them in weird new ways

Remember: the most powerful memes feel both new and familiar.

These archetypes are like meme Lego bricks. Use them to build something nobody expects.

🧠 TL;DR:

Meme characters are tools. They speak to emotional truths behind privacy culture:

• Fear
• Denial
• Power
• Awakening

Don’t just copy templates. Remix archetypes to tell a story.

Ready to move to Lesson 5: Tools of the Trade? That one’s all about meme creation tools, fast formats, and workflow tips 🔧