Question: [![lotr meme](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SsEzO.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SsEzO.jpg)
i know smeagol and gollum are basically the same person, but what does it mean in this meme?

Answer: 
When somebody is standing in front of a crowd and they say *left* or *right*, it's almost always in reference to the perspective of the crowd that is being addressed.

A teacher may turn and point to the blackboard, indicated something to the left or right as they are *now* facing.

In theatre, if an actor or director wants to talk about things from the perspective of people *on the stage facing the audience*, they use the phrases [**stage left**](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stage%20left) and [**stage right**](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stage%20right) (from Merriam-Webster). Note that that is not spoken to the audience; it's for stage direction behind the scenes and during rehearsals. The audience uses the normal words.

So, the assumption is normally the perspective of the audience.

But if it's unclear, clarifying language can be used.
In that case it should be clear it is the left as seen by the audience.

Why?

Because when having a look at the diagrams, which are on a 2D surface, there is no difference between the speaker perspective and the audience perspective. 

This is clearly an other matter when designing elements which are in the 3D world, as the perspective might be different. But the speaker should instinctively refer to the same side, because of this.