At the beginning of this year, a "nihilistic penguin" went viral. The short clip shows a penguin on the ice leaving its colony and waddling off alone into a seemingly endless frozen expanse — behavior that is highly atypical from a biological standpoint. The scene presents a tragicomic allegory open to multiple interpretations. The footage comes from a 2007 documentary by filmmaker Werner Herzog . Memes are now a permanent fixture of online culture that's here to stay. They also play a growing role in political discourse — shaping people's perceptions and even opinions.…