- Memes have become a vital form of communication on the Internet. What types of memes do you like sharing? How do you use visual communication in your daily life? In what contexts are memes simply better than text? If for some reason you do not share memes, why not? Is this a conscious decision?
The memes I like to share generally depend on the person I am sharing them with but for the most part, my algorithm’s memes and reels that I see and end up sharing are a mix of nerdy memes like music theory, math, computer science, guitar videos, but also flirtatious thirst traps, and fringe nonsensical memes. I actually use these visual communication in daily life in a variety of ways. On a day-to-day basis, I use these visual communication media to communicate ideas, share announcements, tease friends, share what I find funny, and share what I think the other person would think is funny. In many cases some memes are simply better than text or even spoken speech when there are simply no words that would make the situation any more humorous than if a meme was applied to the situation. For instance, if a very attractive woman passes by and I catch my friends’ eyes and head lock into this woman mid-conversation as if possessed by a different entity, I’d usually pull out the ”Neuron Activation” meme from my phone after he’s done.
We’d usually laugh out loud pretty intensely as a consequence. I think that memes are just too inescapable to not share, or at least not consume because in almost every facet of Gen Z life in 2024, most people own the devices like phones and computers by which these memes are propagated. It has almost become its own language to the point where they communicate certain nuances and inside jokes for most every subculture that even the previous generation cannot understand many of what certain memes mean. Memes are so rife with symbolism, layers and layers of hidden meaning that they can communicate the many intricate details of human life through artfully constructed images and words.
- Since the dawn of social media, memes have increasingly been used in political discourse. This has happened across different political orientations and geographic regions. Do you think memes used in a political context serve a useful purpose?
If by useful you mean help spread propaganda, or poke humor at candidates, I think memes can help serve that purpose. By nature, I think, memes generally err on the side of humor. I don’t think they’d be good tools for spreading proposed political platforms, or anything serious when it comes to political campaigning. At that point, if you were intending to create a “meme” to help with your campaign efforts, you might have as well created a campaign poster, an infographic, or any such thing of the like. If on the other hand you intend on slandering your political opponents and poke/make fun of them in the process, I think memes are the de facto best option in doing so. I’ve seen a lot of memes that try to poke fun at both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris where said memes poke fun at any of the mistakes they’ve done at public events that purport to make them seem like less fitting candidates for president. At a cultural level, however, I see something more dangerous happening right now. Like most everyone, I cannot support the killings and deaths of hundreds of civilians in Gaza in the fight against Hamas terrorism, I just find a concerning amount of genuinely antisemitic memes and reels floating around on very public Instagram that make fun of Jews using very old stereotypes that even the Nazis used when they were trying to justify their extermination. Irrespective of whether or not you hate Israel as a country and/or are not a fan of the violence happening in that region brought by both the Israeli Government and Hamas, the fact that I am seeing blatantly anti-semitic sentiments, memes, propaganda on vanilla social media of the likes that were used during the time of the Holocaust being shared and liked 100K+ times is just insanely reprehensible to me that there are no words I can say besides “are these people fucking retarded?” (excuse my language). Have people forgotten very recent history? The problem with memes sometimes is that they’re very powerful and that, like how funny small humorous ideas can spread to thousands of people, so can very dangerous and genocidal ideas.