What does it mean to just 'just'?
Philosophers have debated this particular matter for decades, for the word 'just' is polysemous in having several related meanings with very little connection. To have 'just' done something is to refer to an action in the immediate past; to feel 'just' okay is to signify further feelings of discontent beneath the appearance of satisfaction; to be 'just' in one's actions is to behave according to what one perceives as morally right and fair terms. A 'just' action, furthermore, might be one regarded as deserved or appropriate within certain circumstances, such as a lengthy prison sentence for a dangerous criminal. Is Gentlepanda asking his readers how they feel? If they have done anything recently? If they believe themselves to be following an upstanding moral code? No matter the interpretation, the meaning is unclear.
Few of these proposed definitions, then, seem able to answer the eternal question: just what IS Gentlepanda talking about?
There are varying theories. Dr. Gregor Hielscher of Heidelberg University, for instance, has proposed that Gentlepanda's unusual question is simply filler; a way of bypassing the Ultimate Social Thread's 10-character limit in order to post an amusing photograph or 'meme' (herein defined as an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users), and argues that the 'question'--if it can be called such--holds no further meaning. Dr. Erika Johnsen of Aarhus University, meanwhile, believes somewhat differently; that the question, in attempting to relate the accompanying image to a certain mood or experience potentially understood by the reader, can attribute much of its success to the shared communal feeling it creates. Some academics even believe, similarly to Dr. Hielscher, that the question's lack of meaning IS its meaning: in attributing such a provocative question to such a nonsensical image, the post delights in the absurd, and derives much of its humor from this nonsensical nature.
The debate rages on. For now, however, it seems as though those studying the mysterious Gentlepanda, as well as his legacy of Edeaposting and Kasumemes, must be content to remain without an answer for a good while longer.
Gentlepanda
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