“Actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism” was one of the finest memes of 2014, taking the phony Gamergate talking point and mocking both its ubiquity and the haughty way its proponents would repeat it in every possible venue. Turns out this is a meme that can osmote across Internet subculture membranes, this time targeting 9/11 Truthers. This new memetic vaccine? “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams.” As with “Actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism,” the “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” meme targets one of 9/11 Truth’s most cherished and oft-repeated arguments, reducing it to obnoxious cliché with each repetition.

"Jet Fuel" vs. "Ethics in Game Journalism"

While the sentiment has been around for years, it takes polishing for a meme to settle on a final phrasing and become the reflexive reply to 9/11 Truthers who would wield the sentiment seriously. But how does something like “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” achieve ubiquity? A recent confluence of events may have something to do with the growing popularity of “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams.”

The Viral Vectors for "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" Meme

Like with many internet culture memes, Reddit is a possible breeding ground. “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” appeared in this webcomic (modified from an original comic by Jim Benton) that became popular on one of the Reddit default subreddits, r/funny.

Another possibility is renewed attention on conspiracy theory circles thanks to outrageous quotes from anti-vaccination politicians like Chris Christie and Paul Ryan. Unlike 9/11 Truthers, who have no mainstream advocate (Roberto Orci, writer of Star Trek Into Darkness, is what you get, Truthers), pretending that vaccinations are dangerous has become a requirement for professional pretend-to-be-stupid-to-attract-the-stupid politicians. And while anti-vaxxers and 9/11 Truthers are not the same (though there’s overlap), a new mainstream fascination with mocking conspiracy theorists is bound to spread beyond the original targets.

The most likely candidate is the NFL. Deadspin’s article pinning Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll as a 9/11 Truther (Pete Carroll confronting a Four-Star General who lost friends during the 9/11 attacks is both one of the biggest Truthertunities ever, and a perfect demonstration of what’s so offensive and despicable about 9/11 Truth) brought the concept of 9/11 Truth out of the Internet fringes and inserted it into one of the year’s most popular topics: the Super Bowl.

The emergent popularity of “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” is due to more than the three scenarios outlined above, but all three contributed to its widespread deployment in social media circles.

Unlike Gamergate and “Actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism,” spreading “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” is more about non-sequitur absurdity than a criticism directed at 9/11 Truthers in particular. While Gamergate is a dangerous movement that targets individual women for threats and harassment, 9/11 Truth is viewed as more silly than sinister. Regardless of intent, the spread of “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” has the effect of pre-empting Truther arguments, disarming tirades from bungling inside job hucksters before they’re launched (of course it rarely works in reality; Truthers are shameless unshutupables).

"Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" Meme - What do the 9/11 Truthers Think?

So how does the conspiracy theorist wellspring of this new meme feel about “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams”? Subreddit r/Conspiracy originally theorized that the uptick in “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” memes could be attributed to the younger generation “just now starting to realize that 9/11 wasn’t what the media portrayed.” While some members in the thread are aware that the meme is more at their expense than evidence of new allies in the war against reality, most of the thread is spent outlining future strategies to deal with this massive new “movement of the public acknowledging that 9/11 was a false flag attack.” One user went so far as to dub it the “Rational Truth Movement.” The targets of “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” imagining their popularity swelling may be funnier than the meme itself.

"Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" and the Lifecycle of a Meme

As with doge, sentences ending with “because reasons,” and “Keep Calm and Do Something,” memes become stale with overuse, even as they evolve into new forms. “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” has a sped-up life cycle, like mayflies or Tamagotchis. “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” too shall pass. Enjoy "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams" while it lasts.

The real lesson of memes like “Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” and “Actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism” is the utility of disdain. On the Internet the most repetitious voice often wins, as people are badgered out of debate until only the most ranting and extreme are left standing on the speaker’s podium. This is not to say disdain is a replacement for constructive debate (scientists are only now realizing that their disdain for global warming deniers only ceded the floor to the anti-science cretins), rather that dismissing a noxious and unscrupulous subculture by reducing their best talking point to a meme is the best way to prove the frailty of their position.

It's hard to imagine a postion with less supporting evidence than 9/11 Truth, but that hasn't hampered the movement in the slightest. While memes can be reductive, their ability to pinpoint weakness, like a conniving sibling, is limitless. When appeals to evidence fail, a meme can step up. "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams" is far from the final nail in the coffin of 9/11 Truth, but its certainly a good start.