“Memetic Warfare” is a term often used when discussing the circulation of memes to spread certain ideologies and combat others, but the association of comical memes with propaganda and divisive campaigns is not an easy one to recognize. Then you take a closer look at instances like the United States’ 2016 presidential election, where the conversation around the candidates was often centered around popular internet memes and one could begin to see a memes ability to spark discussion. While at times comical and lighthearted, internet memes facilitated political discussion during tense political elections and movements in the nation. The question is whether internet memes are fully capable of swaying election ballots and sparking civic unrest. Throughout this paper, I plan to prove the answer to this question is yes; and more specifically, that memes have been used during U.S. political elections and activism movements in the United States to influence the nation’s discussions and actions.
First and foremost, it is important to define what an internet meme is. The term “meme” was coined by an evolutionary biologist named Richard Dawkins in his book, “The Selfish Gene.” In it, Dawkins defines a meme as “units of replicators in human culture, just like genes are in evolution.” This meaning memes, like genes, stem from existing material, copying and referencing ideologies already in pop culture. Memes can exist in a variety of formats, presented through word of mouth interactions and shared imagery. The meme format that is most popularly used is a combination of imagery and text, and that is the meme format that will be evaluated in this paper. Unlike GIF’s, animated imagery, this meme’s format is primarily “a static form of visual entertainment which gains influence through online transmission” (Zhang, 4). And the meme’s construction is calculated, with the words and imagery working in unison to effectively communicate with the viewer. According to Xinyao Zhang, “Internet memes intrinsically contain the interaction of text and image, where the image in the Internet memes shows the main characters of the inside joke, and the text emphasizes the content that it intends to express.”
Considering the fact that memes are a calculated form of communication, the purpose of a meme is primarily to spread an idea, message, image, joke, etc.. This can play out in a variety of manners, serving as a vehicle for the creator’s intentions. According to Xinyao Zhang, “Internet memes have already become one of the most widespread modes of online communication in 2012, and their evolution has led to several new perspectives on society, culture, and technology” (6). Leading to new perspectives present in societal or cultural references is not alway intentional, but a popularly distributed meme inevitably circulates specific frameworks presented in the dynamic image and text combination. This where the term Memetic Warfare comes in with GieSea describing it as a “competition over narrative, ideas, and social control in a social-media battlefield. One might think of it as a subset of ‘information operations’ tailored to social media” (71). Memes are used to spread a narrative, and are often utilized to direct and invoke ideas on social media platforms.
And this circulation of information becomes so ‘widespread’ due to its uncanny ability to be shared and translated through different formats. “Internet memes” are memes spread through internet channels, but that far exceeds 21st century social media platforms. A meme can originate on Twitter, and then be transferred to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. While simultaneously being shared through emails, texts, and messaging apps. And to take it one step further, once a meme has reached a certain notoriety, has become well known in popular culture, it can be shared through word of mouth as people reference the meme in their daily conversations and adapt it to their personal situations. Images, like memes, are constantly shared according to the authors of ‘Exploring the Utility of Memes for U.S. Government Influence Campaigns,” who say that images are “liked and shared three times more frequently than other types of online content” (13). This enables memes to go viral, being shared, replicated, and personalized by billions of users who connect with the content of the meme.
Meme’s efficiently spread an idea, and they work so well for a multitude of reasons beyond their ease in shareability. The structure of a meme, image and text, is scientifically attractive for the viewer, appealing to cognitive functions within the brain that process information. “They communicate information beyond the composition of the image itself. This intuited, or connotatively conveyed, information means that images take less time to consume than text and allow us to communicate complex concepts quickly” (Zakem, 12). A Meme’s intuitive nature plays towards a user’s emotions, and “the stickiness of emotionally evocative information and the effectiveness that images produce in eliciting these emotional responses creates a message efficacy that textual means of communication lack” (Zakem, 13). Also, the anchoring imagery of a meme is universally understood, body language, facial expression, pop culture references, etc that are familiar to a majority of people. “In general, memes refer to all imitated behaviors or ideas that are transmitted online or offline, such fashion, language, religion, etc” (Xinyao Zhang). Zakem references this as a “shared cultural language” that often transcends the internet, ensuring that broad parts of the general population understand what is being communicated” (8). And memes are adaptable, allowing each user that shares the image to reproduce it with personalized text that matches the imagery. According to Zhang, “people are able to replace the text on a meme with many new creative pieces of text that convey the similar meaning, and as a result of fast spreading by more and more people, a new Internet meme is formed” (4). So long as the meme conforms to the idea the image references, users can continuously adapt the message. This emotional connection and ability to understand and personalize aids in the meme’s ability to spread to more people.
As a result of a meme’s efficacy in spreading messages and communicating information, meme’s attract a plethora of creators. And to be a creator of a meme requires little qualification other than access to an electronic device like a computer or smartphone and access to the internet. Since anyone can create a meme, this opens the door for anyone to project and spread ideas. Memes break down any existing hierarchy that would dictate who can spread information to the masses. Douglas Haddow echoes this sentiment in his article for the Guardian, “The reason why it is now possible for Darryl from Accounting who hates “social justice warriors” to have the same communicative power as a television network is down to the DNA of the medium: speed and lack of gatekeepers.” This is a problem within itself, as misinformed or falsified ideas can spread without hindrance. But internet platforms give rise to another problem, anyone can make an account under a false identity. The ability for anyone to spread a meme matched with the ability to do so under a fake name allows users to spread information without taking responsibility.
The ability to post under a pseudonym and the meme’s ability to spread information quickly and efficiently played towards the interests of people outside of the realm of simply wanting to spread comical ideologies. Meme’s could spread political ideologies, in turn becoming a new method for political campaigns. Campaign methods serve a singular purpose, to further a particular candidate. This is not a new idea, as political forces, who have notoriously used slogans, posters, commercials, lobbyists etc. to launch influence campaigns in the past. All “campaign communications, whether they are paid advertisements, direct mail letters, speeches given by the candidate, or press releases sent to local news outlets, have a singular purpose: to get your candidate closer to winning the election” (Joe Garecht). Knowing that memes have the power to reach a large audience and influence ideologies, forces invested in politics could use the power of memes to launch political influence campaigns. Except, unlike traditional offline influential tactics,a meme offers new advantages including its informality, connectivity, and lack of regulation. Hypothetically, a political force, an individual with stakes in a political matter like elections, could create a fake account perpetrating as a civilian, and proceed to spread a political idea to the masses. The masses being a group of people also responsible for major decisions like voting elected officials into government offices.
This plays into a subsect of internet memes, political memes. Political memes circulated across internet channels are internet memes that spread political ideologies, messages, and references. According to an article on news outlet Salon, Deidre Olsen explained that political memes “are merely another form of propaganda, albeit one that looks nothing like the propaganda that preceded them.” While relatively new in appearance, political memes do accurately fit into the already existing definition of propaganda that Merriam-Webster defines as “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.”
Political memes serving as propaganda through online channels are often at an advantage when considering their receptiveness, as users often accept ideas and messages they want to believe. This is often called motivated reasoning, a cognitive phenomenon that Psychology today says people engage in “as a way to avoid or lessen cognitive dissonance, the mental discomfort people experience when confronted by contradictory information, especially on matters that directly relate to their comfort, happiness, and mental health.” According to a memetic study done by Heidi E. Huntington, “Participants whose own political ideology matched that of the political memes they saw, as well as those who stated they agreed with the ideas presented by the memes, rated the memes as being more effective as messages and engaged in less argument scrutiny than did participants whose ideology differed from that of the memes” (iii). If a political candidate or political ideology is presented that the user has preconceived notions about, users with matching ideologies present within their mind will continue to spread the political meme without questioning its validity or where or why it originated.
Now that a clear image of what a meme is has been established and its capability on internet channels has been explained, I will now explore the uses and distributors of some popular political memes:
2016 U.S. Presidential Election: “Basket of deplorables”
During the 2016 presidential election, democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called a large portion of Donald Trump’s, Republican presidential candidate, supporters “a basket of deplorables” during a speech at a fundraiser in New York. Immediately political memes were created depicting Clinton’s statement. Often comically featuring Pepe the frog, an image commonly used to reference white nationalists.
The imagery, spread by thousands of users, made fun of Trump supporters. And casually spread the phrase ideology to people who would not have heard the remark Clinton made at the fundraiser otherwise. To take it one step further, Donald Trump’s son readapted the meme and posted it to his instagram. This readaptation makes sense when you realize that “both camps have embraced certain memes as a shorthand way to share inside jokes with supporters, spread campaign messages or deliver rhetorical gut punches to their opponent, while distancing themselves from the most hateful” (Chmielewski). The new meme featured the heads of well-known Donald Trump supporters and that of Pepe the frog on the bodies of the cast from the Dependables, comically attempting to take control of the meme frenzy surrounding the term.
Whether or not users sided with Hillary or Trump, the most prevalent point is that both sides of political supporters circulated their own memes in an attempt to spread an ideology and control the conversation.
2016 U.S. Presidential Election: Crooked hillary
During a 2016 political rally, Donald Trump referenced Hillary Clinton as “Crooked Hillary,” referencing her past scandals. His supporters picked up this phrase and translated it into a meme, circulating the message and consistently bring up Hillary’s scandals during the election to smear the candidates reputation.
In an effort to redirect conversation, Clinton supporters began circulating memes that counteracted the scandals with accomplishments. In fact, “Clinton’s campaign, with its well-organized fundraising apparatus and digital team, has crafted many of its own memes to parry her rival’s political barbs” (Chmielewski, USA Today). Both sides, circulating memes, reached a large audience of people, and due to “motivated reasoning” users chose to reshare and circulate the meme that went in accordance with their preexisting beliefs.
Foreign Countries creating memes to stroke political divides in the United States
The authors of ‘Exploring the Utility of Memes for U.S. Government Influence Campaigns’ explained how Russian influences created fake accounts on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in an effort to stroke divisive topics, stating that “the activity seems to have been designed to disrupt the American political process by infecting the public discourse” (29).
The foreign perpetrators circulated memes that sparked anger and resentment amongst social media users throughout the United States, touching on ideologies that divided citizens on topics like race and immigration. Which in turn led to greater controversy and uproar in the United States, especially during the 2016 presidential election. In her article on Motherboard, Samantha Cole said Russian influencers attempted to stroke discussion around Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric “by promoting anti-Black hate speech, creating fake Black Lives Matter Facebook accounts, and stoking fears about Muslims, immigrants, and queer people.”
Similarly Iranian influences have been caught doing a similar thing with memes, as displayed by Facebook’s recent announcement that the company took down a plethora of accounts, pages, and groups that circulated divisive memes to targeted group in the United States. The accounts had originated in Iran, and posted memes that aimed to incite anger and debate over issues regarding the anti-racist Black Lives Matter Movement, The #MeToo Movement for sexual assault, and controversial lawmaking processes.
Meme’s, calculated combinations of text and image, are easily spread and communicated, and as a result of this they are able to reach large audiences and spread ideas. This is a powerful medium of communication, and inevitably attracted the attention of political forces, people invested in political matters like elections and activist movements, because they too sought to spread ideas to large groups of people for a variety of reasons. Domestically, this can be seen in instances like the 2016 presidential election, when candidates and their supporters spread memes that would advance their campaign and tarnish the campaigns of their competitors. Internationally, countries like Iran and Russia utilized memes to spark political divides in the United States, creating memes that stroked hot button topics on discrimination, immigration, and flawed government structures. Whether created domestic or internationally, memes served a purpose as their creators used the text-image combo to introduce and circulate political ideologies into commonly used internet channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.