Outsiders might look at the same image and see nothing but noise, while the right audience sees an entire inside joke condensed into one frame. That kind of context heavy humor rewards fast recognition and cultural fluency, which is exactly why it can feel alien to anyone outside the loop.
Some who study internet humor also point out that memes function as a coping tool. Dark or self-deprecating humor lets people acknowledge stress or bad news without having to sit in it directly, which is probably why so many memes lean into bleak topics while still managing to feel light. Wrapping something uncomfortable in a joke makes it easier to swallow, and sharing that joke makes the discomfort a little less isolating.
So when a meme page leans all the way into chaos and refuses to make sense, it is not a glitch. It is tapping into a handful of very real psychological reasons people click, laugh, and immediately send it to a group chat. Different brains chase different flavors of that reaction, and that is exactly why the internet has room for both wholesome memes and the ones that feel like they were made in another dimension entirely.
