THE POLITICAL MEME AS A SOCIAL
ANESTHETIC: NORMALIZING THE EXTREME
THROUGH AMBIGUITY, IRONY, AND
ANONYMITY
Author: Anna Linda Tomp Supervisor: Afsoun Afsahi, PhD Second reader: Gordon Arlen, PhD June 2020
Summary
This thesis investigates how political memes could influence political views and potentially normalize the presence of extreme political views in public discourse. The author argues that the characteristics specific to memes – ambiguity, language, anonymity and spreadability – make political memes stand out from other political content and could potentially work as a “social anesthetic” for normalizing extreme views, by either working as a gateway to attract followers towards extreme views or by normalizing the presence of extreme views in public discussion. This, in turn, could pose a threat to democracy – the thesis will look into how this process could undermine political culture and encourage further polarization. The thesis is illustrated by various memetic genres, with a specific focus on memes of the alt-right online movement.
Table of Contents
Summary ... 2
Introduction ... 4
1. Theoretical framework ... 6
1.1. Political memes and their place in society ... 9
2. Normalizing extreme views in public discourse ... 16
2.1. Why political memes stand out ... 17
2.2. The political meme as a social anesthetic ... 23
3. Discussion: why memes matter ... 29
Conclusion ... 33
Introduction
November 8, 2016 – the day Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America. The unprecedented political duel between Trump and establishment candidate Hillary Clinton deepened the division between the people of the United States and shook up the foundations of political culture worldwide. Many continue to wonder what made such an outcome possible. After all, Trump was first and foremost known as a wealthy businessman frequently featured on reality TV, with little to no political experience. Yet, he became the unlikely “leader of the free world”.
As with most major historical episodes, there is no single explanation for such unanticipated events, especially in light of the blaring mediatic noise surrounding the 2016 campaign. Unjust accusations towards journalists and political opponents, strong suspicions of Russian interference during the elections, divisive slogans and controversial views, sexual misconduct allegations, Trump’s activity on Twitter, the Clinton email controversy, and the candidates’ intense campaigning style – all of this played a role in the elections. However, one element made this campaign stand out from any other electoral cycle before – it was the role of memes on social media.
Often wrongfully thought as something exclusively created and shared by young adults on social media, memes have quietly worked their way to the internet mainstream. There is reason to believe that memes should be taken as seriously as any other type of political content that is susceptible to impact political outcomes or to shape political views. Researchers like Limor Shifman (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017), Bradley E. Wiggins (2014, 2019) and author Angela Nagle (2017), among many others, have significantly contributed to shaping the landscape of meme studies and have helped decrypt the essence of memes in a broader societal context. This thesis will aim to contribute to existing research by taking a closer look into political memes, how
they have the potential to shape political views, what makes them stand out from other types of content and overarchingly, why memes matter.
More specifically, the author aims to investigate the way how memes can influence how their audience perceives political views seen as extreme or radical. The author suggests that the ironic, humorous, and ambiguous nature of political memes has the power to gradually change how the audience perceives certain political views. This could be problematic in case these memes represent radical and extreme views: its audience could become gradually insensitive towards ideas that would usually be considered as inappropriate or offensive in the political mainstream.
To achieve this goal, the thesis is composed of three parts. The theoretical framework first provides an overview of the history and main characteristics of the internet meme, followed by an attempt to define political memes. This will be followed by a chapter focusing on how political memes are different from other types of content online and a discussion on the specific features of the political meme that matter in the context of expressing political views, especially extreme views. The latter half of the second chapter discusses the power of the political meme to work as a social anesthetic, supported by the example of the alt-right. A third and final chapter will discuss how a society open to radical views present in public debate and everyday information feeds could affect the core principles of democracy, especially political culture, and how they could cause further polarization. As an illustrative case, the example of the alt-right and alt-alt-right memes on social media is used throughout the thesis.
1. Theoretical framework
To frame the discussion, an overview of research in the study of memes is more than necessary. This chapter provides the reader with a brief history of the meme; it attempts to define internet memes and looks into what distinguishes them from other content on the internet and finally; gives an account of the particularities of political memes, with a focus on alt-right memes and their specific characteristics.
Locating the birth of the internet meme on a timeline can be a difficult task. Some associate the surge of internet memes with the early years of the World Wide Web, others pinpoint the beginning of the internet meme to be somewhere around the early years of social media, when the format of choice was often the demotivational poster or the lolcat. Whenever the exact birth year of the internet meme was, it should be noted that the concept of the meme itself is not native to the internet era. The roots of the meme as a broader concept go back as far as 1976, when Richard Dawkins introduced in “The Selfish Gene” his concept of the meme as a unit of cultural transmission (Dawkins, 2006, 618). He intended it to be understood as a metaphorical equivalent for the gene in biological evolution (Wiggins & Bowers, 2014, 1889; Seiffert-Brockmann et al., 2018, 2864).
Two important elements that distinguish the internet meme from Dawkins’ concept is first, its relevance outside academic circles (the meme as understood by Dawkins can be identified through academic research, whereas the internet meme as a part of public discourse is something we can recognize in our everyday interactions), and second, the element of virality (Wiggins & Bowers, 2014, 1890). Among the many definitions of the internet meme, most scholars include the characteristic of being virally spread around the internet into even the most basic definitions. A straightforward definition understands the internet meme as “units of popular culture that are circulated, imitated, and transformed by individual Internet users, creating a shared cultural experience in the process” (Shifman, 2013, 367).
What exactly is a meme? Is it a picture online? Is it a joke? Or perhaps both? The answer to this is anything but straightforward, as describing the internet meme as just a “funny picture” doesn’t do justice to the complexity of the phenomenon. Furthermore, memes aren’t always still images, as they can also present themselves as quotes, GIFs, videos, cultural references, etc., nor are they necessarily humorous – some memes are truly morbid and dark. Another way to define the internet meme, which comes close to grasping its versatility and cultural significance is also by Shifman (2014, 41). In an attempt to tame the internet meme, she defines it as:
“a) a group of digital items sharing common characteristics of content, form, and/or stance, which b) were created with awareness of each other, and c) were circulated, imitated and/or transformed via the Internet by many users.”
This definition does not impose any restrictions on the format and sees memes as “digital items”. Though this approach at first may seem overly vague, it delimits the unit of research with precision. It understands the internet meme as a group of digital items, provides a short explanation of how a meme is a meme thanks to its reciprocity with others, and also shortly describes its spreadable and remixed nature (Shifman, 2014, 42). The inclusion of “stance” is also noteworthy – this confirms that memes are more jokes serving an entertaining purpose, they can also carry a broader message, view or represent a certain belief.
It is also important to note that not all viral content is necessarily a meme – a video, commercial or a hashtag can spread just as virally (a good example would be Psy’s Gangnam Style in 2012). This kind of viral content, along with memes, fits under the umbrella term “spreadable media” (Shifman, 2011, 190; Wiggins, 2019, 5). What differentiates the meme from other kinds of viral content is that memes include imitation and remix –viral content, however, remains in its original form. Following the example of “Gangnam Style” by South Korean YouTube sensation Psy, the original YouTube link to the song itself is not a meme, it is just a viral video.
However, if (a part of) the song or video as a template is taken and heavily edited; it refers to the lyrics, choreography, video or its virality; has an added punchline or is intended to be understood in a different context than the song itself, then, it could through the process of being remixed, become a meme.
This means that by definition, a meme has an audience. By processing this meme, this audience experiences something in common. Understanding that memes work as a cultural experience shared by an audience doesn’t necessarily bring to the conclusion that the shared cultural experience is what makes the political meme capable of changing how certain political views are perceived. However, acknowledging this element of shared experience provides a starting point for this thesis. If a meme is characterized by creating a shared cultural experience, then it could be suggested that its impact on its audience could be deeper. Of course, one meme will not be enough to turn one’s belief system upside down, but what is the possible impact of a systematic flow of similar memetic content in our information feeds? In other words – what happens when political memes repeatedly find their way into our Facebook or Twitter feeds over a longer period? Could exposure to political memes change how we think about a political issue in the long run?
According to meme researchers Katz and Shifman (2017), memes contain in themselves three distinct features of online interactions: a) memes are strongly related to the digital communities they are addressed at (requiring some relevant literacy to understand and recreate the sentiment expressed in the community); b) memes are highly tied to remix culture and imitation (it’s the act of recreating and reproducing the meme that defines the meme itself); c) memes are centered on communicating the message using visual tools (Katz & Shifman, 2017, 834). Though these three aspects might at first seem like just an expansion for defining the internet meme, they can also be useful in specifically looking into the impact of the political meme in
changing how we perceive political views; especially focusing on the two first aspects: memes being tied to their digital communities and memes being heavily built on remix culture. Figures 1 and 2 are an example of a meme format that illustrate these criteria. Created based on a screenshot of a campaign video of Bernie Sanders, they a) require some relevant background knowledge on the cultural reference; b) endless variations are circulating on social media platforms and finally, c) the format is highly visual, as the reference to the video is the essence of the meme.
Figure 1 (left): a popular meme format using a screenshot from Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign video (found on Reddit, posted by user DatGameGuy).
Figure 2 (right): the same meme format, this time with the visual content itself modified as well (found on Know Your Meme, author unknown).
1.1. Political memes and their place in society
Following the overview of internet memes in general, the thesis will proceed by focusing on political memes in particular. This section will attempt to define political memes, how they work, and what they can achieve. A brief explanation of the choice of the case– the alt-right – which will be used to illustrate the claim of memes enabling extreme views to become increasingly acceptable in public discourse, is also provided.
The greater part of meme research has been focusing on its cultural and social nature. While semioticians look into the possible signs and symbols that memes communicate, folklore studies often concentrate on how, by being passed on, memes become (digital) folklore, similarly to tales, jokes, or proverbs. While memes offer us a broad specter of research angles, the humor encompassed in the meme is mostly studied by linguistics. Other research fields having worked with memes include psychology and anthropology.
As soon as the meme became the internet meme, media and communication studies joined the conversation and began looking into it as a subject of research (Shifman, 2013, 363). If media studies joined the discussion on memes only when the online aspect of memes was introduced, then political scientists are even further behind. The political meme on the internet is a recent subject of research in the field, with most political meme related research still carried out under cultural and media studies, or concerning disinformation and propaganda studies.
Before the United States presidential elections in 2016, both the importance and the possible impact of political memes were overlooked. Obama was the first US president to whom online presence played a vital role. However, in 2008, “online political presence” largely meant signaling one’s political preferences by using the blue and red HOPE stencil on Facebook profile pictures. In the lead-up to Trump’s election, the atmosphere surrounding the 2016 presidential race in the United States was much more of a pandemonium. Angela Nagle (2017, 3) accurately summarizes the stark difference between 2008 and 2016.
“Compare the first election won by Obama, […] to the bursting forth of irreverent mainstream-baffling meme culture during the last race, in which the Bernie’s Dank Meme Stash Facebook page and The Donald subreddit defined the tone of the race for a young and newly politicized generation, with the mainstream media desperately trying to catch up with a subcultural in-joke style to suit two emergent anti-establishment waves of the right and left. […] As old media dies, […], notions of popular taste maintained by a small creative class are now perpetually
outpaced by viral online content from obscure sources, and culture industry consumers have been replaced by constantly online, instant content producers. The year 2016 may be remembered as the year the media mainstream’s hold over formal politics died. A thousand Trump Pepe memes bloomed and a strongman larger-than-life Twitter troll who showed open hostility to the mainstream media and to both party establishments took The White House without them.”
Understanding that politics online was more than a filter on a profile picture, political memes have moved towards gaining the academic attention they deserve, with the US presidential race in 2016 – as described earlier – being a turning point. Nagle (2017, 11) grasps this general sentiment as follows:
“After the election of Trump, everyone wanted to know about a new online right-wing movement whose memetic aesthetics seemed to have infiltrated sites from the popular The Donald subreddit to mainstream Internet-culture. In the lead-up to the election, the most famous common imagery was of Pepe the Frog. The name given by the press to this mix of rightist online phenomena including everything from Milo to 4chan to neo-Nazi sites was the ‘alt-right’.”
Though Nagle specifically describes the rise of the alt-right, the important element to mark here is the process of this somewhat reserved corner of the internet seeping into mainstream
internet culture. Though the alt-right is a remarkable example, the same process can be
observed for several online subcultures, such as Leftbook (a portmanteau term designating the political left on Facebook), whose distinctive communication style and initially limited Facebook groups have, similarly become a part of the mainstream.
As the thesis does not simply examine the way niche internet subcultures become mainstream, but the way extreme views could become increasingly accepted in public discourse thanks to political memes, the thesis will focus on the alt-right specifically. There are two important
reasons for this – in the context of achieving concrete political goals, the role of the alt-right internet subculture in recent political events has been thoroughly researched and its potential to achieve political change is increasingly evident. This offers thus a real-life case to use as an example. Second, for clarity, a consistent focus on one example also helps paint a clear picture of it to successfully illustrate the discussion. In section 2.1. on the particularities of the political meme, the examples used will also help to outline an understanding of alt-right activities on social media. As with all online subcultures, the alt-right uses distinct language and methods to spread messages. These distinct features will be taken into account and will be divided into parts through the course of the analysis. The assumption that the alt-right holds extreme views is based on existing research. Among others, the Data & Society Research Institute has classified the alt-right online as a hate group, which spreads messages of racism, misogyny, white supremacy, Islamophobia, and general hostility towards social change (Marwick & Lewis, 2017).
Pinpointing what makes a political meme, what it contains, what its role in political discourse is, and why it matters is as challenging as defining the internet meme in general. This is because the political meme is not just a format serving a single purpose. A political meme can be, as described by Katz & Shifman (2017), an essential element for digital communities, requiring digital literacy to understand and participate in the community. A good example would be far-right forums on 4chan, Discord, or 8kun, where a great share of the communication is done using memes. Memes are however not exclusive to closed communities that require background knowledge on them (“literacy”), though they might often originate from there. They often find their way out of these communities and go on to spread on mainstream social media, where they are publicly shared, reposted, and remixed on social networks like YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.
Another way to understand political memes is by how they differ from other meme genres. Shifman (2014, 120) describes political memes to be about “making a point – participating in a normative debate about how the world should look and the best way to get there”. Similarly, Wiggins (2019, 65) describes the political meme as a “sub-genre of the internet meme that addresses some aspect of political philosophy and ideology”. To bring us closer to what political memes can do, Limor Shifman’s “Memes in Digital Culture” (2014) offers an interesting set of functions, all analyzed through a prism of political participation. Written in a time before Trump, but in an awareness of the power of online communities and mass protests fueled by online activities (starting with the Arab Spring in 2011), Shifman suggests that political memes on the internet fulfill three tasks. She understands:
a) “memes as forms of persuasion or political advocacy”, b) “memes as grassroots action”,
c) “memes as modes of expression and public discussion” (Shifman, 2014, 122).
In the context of this thesis, taking into account a), the potential of memes to persuade people is particularly interesting, as it could give valuable insight to understand what memes can do for persuading an audience to accept political views previously deemed as radical or extreme. The same applies for c), understanding memes as a tool for public debate – the more social media consolidates its role as a platform for political discussion, the more political memes play a role in these debates.
In light of the George Floyd / Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in June 2020, not only have news feeds been flooded with footage of global protests and calls to reform the police; memes were there as well. Some examples:
Figure 3 (left): a meme mocking Democratic Party leaders wearing Kente cloth to show support to BLM protesters (source unknown).
Figure 4 (right): a meme mocking corporate social media accounts that express (according to critics, insincere) solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protesters, with a second reference to June being an opportunity to express support for LGBT pride (found on Reddit, posted by user 696969696969E).
Though these two memes may seem like a drop in the ocean of protest-related content, they are good examples of how political memes can carry messages that are oriented towards all three criteria listed by Shifman (2014, 122). In a situation of political turmoil, grassroots-level memes like these can help inform audiences of a political issue (e.g. Figure 4, which influences the viewer to think of large corporations’ messages of solidarity as insincere and insufficient); they can contribute to help a movement gain momentum, and they can also tell us what the person who posts or shares the meme believes in. In the context of the BLM protests, there are possibly just as many memes from “the other side” of the protests: memes discrediting the
protests or that try to get across their message (e.g. the All Lives Matter or Boogaloo movements1).
In connection with the aforementioned example, some valid questions might be raised – why do political memes matter? Why should they be seen separately from political cartoons, jokes, satire, or caricatures that portray the movement? Indeed, satire headlines such as “Police Officer Expected to Make Full Recovery from Being Teased” (Reductress, 2020) or “Sweatshop Worker Devastated to Hear Jacket She Worked so Hard on Looted” (The Onion, 2020) can work as tools for prompting political discussion just as well. However, some core elements differentiate political memes from the aforementioned genres. The following chapter will shed light on these particular elements.
1 The former is a movement criticizing the Black Lives Matter for its focus on police brutality towards black
anti-2. Normalizing extreme views in public discourse
After this overview of existing definitions and research on internet memes and particularly political memes, the second chapter will focus on two questions. The first part of the chapter discusses the particularities of the political meme in comparison to other genres, such as political humor or general political content on social media. The discussed elements will be illustrated with the case of alt-right meme culture, aiming so to introduce the upcoming discussion. The second half of the chapter will focus on how memes on social media can contribute towards the increasing insensitivity towards extreme views, or in other words, how political memes can work as a social anesthetic.
The alt-right2, used as an illustrative example in the following discussion, deserves a brief
introduction. The alt-right is an online movement originating from the early 2010s, very loosely united as a political force against multiculturalism, feminism, left-wing politics, political correctness, Islam, and is generally characterized as racist and misogynist (Wendling, 2018, 3, Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 4). As a politically inclined internet subculture, it is composed of many different smaller interest (sometimes overlapping) groups and has little to no formal coordination – those characterized by the generalization “alt-right” are rather recognized by their characteristic language, (often unclearly ironic) beliefs and methods, like trolling (Wendling, 2018, 3, Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 11). Among those fitting under the common denominator, the alt-right can include different groups, which range between white supremacists and neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, men’s rights activists (“meninists”), internet trolls, ordinary skeptics of mainstream politics, ironic followers, etc. (Wendling, 2018). The
2 Abbreviation of alternative right. The term “alt-right” was introduced by far-right activist Richard Spencer in
2008, to describe views that are conservative, but that do not fit within the mainstream conservative establishment (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 9).
motivations behind joining alt-right online discussion forums are varied and may in some cases overlap.
Their main sources of information and platforms of discussion include blogs and websites like Infowars (followed by conspiracy theorists), Return of the Kings (targeted to men’s rights activists), the Daily Stormer (represents neo-Nazi followers), and milder news platforms like Breitbart News (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 24). Discussion platforms include 4chan3, comment
sections of thematic blogs, various (and mostly now defunct) subreddits on Reddit4 (such as
the_Donald and theredpill), and 8kun (formerly called 8chan5). The messages of the alt-right
are not exclusive to closed, inward-directed communities. Alt-right militants are also present on mainstream outlets like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, using them as channels for spreading extreme views among a broader public. There, messages are often carried through memes, which are spread on social media, in private conversations, group chats, and personal timelines and feeds (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 26).
This brief overview gives a background to a controversial online group notorious for both their far-right views and communication skills, which include spreading memes online.
2.1. Why political memes stand out
As mentioned in the previous chapter, it might be difficult to understand what differentiates political memes from political satire, cartoons, jokes, and posts on social media. Most importantly: why does this distinction matter in the context of political memes helping extreme views gain ground? The previous chapter has attempted to define the political meme, how it
3 As described by the website, “4chan is a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments
and share images” (4chan.org, 2020). Divided into specific themes (called “boards”) is a website popular among the alt-right and notorious for chaotic threads, anonymity, uncensored content, its ability to nest internet subcultures and as a birthplace of many iconic memes and internet references
5 Similar to 4chan due to its functioning as an image-based board, 8kun is a little-moderated website composed
works, and what it can achieve. A first example – memes on the Black Lives Matter protests from June 2020 – was introduced to understand political memes in general and to pave the way for the upcoming discussion.
Though political memes are not synonymous with satire and political humor, they share common features. Political memes show similar mechanisms as political jokes created under repressive conditions (Tufekci, 2017, 45). The common element between political jokes and political memes is often the use of sarcasm and irony, which in the case of repressive regimes, is used to criticize the forbidden; is a way to cope with the reality; offers micro-resistance through every joke and serves as a way to express opinions and attitudes (Oring, 2004). The same mechanism, which can be generalized to be an expression of political opinion, can be identified in political memes created in democratic contexts. If citizens of repressive regimes use humor to criticize the uncriticizable; then in democracies, memes can serve a similar purpose, but with an important difference – as true democracies do not restrict who can be criticized, then an important aim of memes is to rather shape opinions, debates and help the viewer pick a side (Bayerl & Stoynov, 2014, 1008). A good example of memes used as a tool to criticize, express opinions, and shape debates would be the use of memes in the BLM protests or the pepper-spray cop meme (Bayerl & Stoynov, 2014) – both having played a part in drawing attention to police violence.
Ambiguity
An important element that political memes make use of is ambiguity. The language of the meme can be ambiguous, as a way to escape condemnation, censorship from social media moderators, or in more extreme cases, to escape the attention of state agencies (e.g. in the case of violent white supremacy or memes created in authoritarian regimes) (Brockmann et al., 2018, 2868). This means that the message of the meme is not clear and has to be read between the lines, which is helpful if the message of the meme is too risky to be explicitly stated. In the
case of the alt-right, ambiguity is used in a way that the audience can never be certain of the intentions of the message, yet still allowing to promote the messages of the alt-right (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 7, 11). In the case of expressing extreme views, the 2017 Data & Society report on media manipulation describes this to be the Poe’s Law: “Without a clear indication of the author’s intent, it is difficult or impossible to tell the difference between an expression of sincere extremism and a parody of extremism” (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 5).
Language
Another noteworthy element is language. As noted in an earlier section, memes are tightly related to their communities and require relevant literacy to be understood and recreated (Katz & Shifman, 2017, 834). In the context of alt-right memes, memes are often covered in a thick layer of irony, combined with vocabulary specific to the alt-right (Wendling, 2018, 11). In the notorious hotbed for alt-right views, the /pol/ board on 4chan, many users describe their “racism and misogyny as ironic”, which makes it difficult to understand the intentions of the posts and also allows those who are “ironically racists” to be easily converted into true racists (Wendling, 2018, 54). As this makes it impossible to determine what the intentions of alt-right memes are, this layer of irony also works as a defense shield. As Mike Wendling describes in his 2018 book,
“Their sense of irony acts as a weapon and a shield. They may make jokes about Nazis, but if anyone accuses an activist of actually being a Nazi, they can turn around and mock the opponent for their lack of a sense of humor.” (Wendling, 2018, 75)
Fortunately, posting an extreme meme and then claiming it to be ironic is not a free pass to be a racist, misogynist, bigot, fascist in public. However, coming up with the appropriate reaction to a borderline extreme statement becomes more difficult in case the message is combined with ambiguity and symbols, in addition to being covered in a layer of irony.
Anonymity
A characteristic that allows political memes to successfully function is anonymity. Though this also applies to political jokes, the same can’t be said about political cartoons, much of viral content, and social media posts in general. The author of a meme on social media is almost impossible to determine6 – and if it is unveiled, then usually the information provided is merely
an online identity. But the aim of a meme isn’t necessarily to set its author forward, as the goal of a meme isn’t to be acknowledged as a piece of art. It’s a unit belonging to a larger group of texts that are endlessly shared and recreated (Shifman, 2014, 56). Indeed – the relevance of discussing the author of a meme would be similar to attempting to credit the author of a piece of folklore. As with the elements of ambiguity and irony, anonymity also contributes to the efficient use of political memes. An anonymous meme seen on the internet is not necessarily associated with an identifiable person or a company, which, especially in case of controversial, extreme content, allows the meme to easily be spread among a larger audience.
To illustrate this, it would be helpful to imagine a tangible situation – for example, a political meme that a self-proclaimed racist public figure claims to have created. It is unlikely that this meme, posted by a well-known racist, will be welcomed by a public that does not identify (or at least not in public) with the views represented by said poster. However; if that same political meme were to reach the Facebook feed of an average social media user, who tends to be wary of liberal immigration policies and hesitant of political correctness they fear to be at the expense of free speech; and the meme comes without any indication of who created or originally shared it; there would be much less guilt in approving and perhaps even sharing said meme. Especially, if the message of the meme is not explicitly racist, it contains considerable ambiguity and offers room for doubt and to be discredited as a harmless joke.
6 This has proven extremely difficult even for memes used in this thesis – it is difficult to find an author or poster
Sharing, recreating and remixing
Endless remixing and recreating have been mentioned throughout this thesis as an essential characteristic of memes. In the context of political memes, this provides interesting possibilities for circulating a political message. As memes are created on an existing meme template, a great part of the entertainment value of a meme is often witty use of a popular meme format. This is to suggest that political memes, that are created to carry an alt-right message, can also work towards expressing a political message by inserting it into a popular meme format. This way, the message is more likely to be accepted, shared, and in case the message is criticized, is easy to be dismissed by referring to the comical value of the meme format, and not the message itself.
In the case of alt-right memes, two main types of memes can be distinguished – those that rely on pre-existing, already popular meme formats; and memes created in formats that are specific to the alt-right, using characteristic imagery and/or language. This difference is shown in two examples, Figures 5 and 6. The first makes use of the widely used Distracted Boyfriend meme format, which became popular in 2017 and is still in widespread use as of 2020 (Romano, 2017). In this meme, the alt-right creator of the meme claims that left-wing activists pay disproportionate attention to Islamophobic attacks in comparison to Islamist attacks. Figure 6 is a meme that depicts the Wojak character (also known as the Feels Guy) increasingly disappointed in being blamed for being a white male from the West. Though the Feels Guy is not an original character, it is extremely widespread on 4chan and in the alt-right universe in general (Feldman, 2017; De Cristofaro, 2018).
Figure 5: a meme claiming that left-wing activists pay disproportionate attention to Islamophobic attacks, as opposed to Islamist attacks (posted by user altright_memes on Twitter).
Figure 6: a meme using the Wojak (also known as the Feels Guy) reacting to unjust accusations (posted by user altright_memes on Twitter).
Not all of these elements – ambiguity, language (irony), anonymity, and remixing – are necessarily simultaneously present nor is it just one enough to determine the nature of the political meme. This means that the presence of e.g. ambiguity on online content or memes is not always enough to claim that a) this is a political meme or b) that this is necessarily an extreme political meme. These criteria are rather general characteristics observed in memes,
and a combination of these elements, depending on the situation, allows the meme to carry a political message.
2.2. The political meme as a social anesthetic
By taking into account the previous discussion on the elements of ambiguity, language, anonymity and remixing in political memes, this section will explore how these features, and political memes as a format in general, could contribute towards extreme views becoming increasingly present and tolerated in public discourse, supported by the example of alt-right activity on social media.
In the context of the alt-right, the desire to spread far-right messages online is motivated by a wish to increase the visibility of their views, and to oppose “liberal left-wing” views spreading online and in the public sphere (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 28). As much of what the far-right is critical of can be found online (e.g. in left-wing activist discussion groups), the alt-right and white nationalist groups use this same online sphere to create a counter-narrative and fight against multiculturalism, feminism, political correctness, globalism, and other perceived threats (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 28).
The communication style of the alt-right is thoroughly described in Marwick & Lewis’ 2017 report, where they consider alt-right online activities to fall under general media manipulation. Among the methods vital for media manipulation, Marwick & Lewis (2017, 34-39) describe:
a) participatory culture: in internal alt-right discussion boards, participants are encouraged to contribute to the discussion or simply observe to understand the culture, participants mutually educate each other on various subjects, including social engineering, media exploitation, psychology, etc.;
b) networks: the alt-right is successful in quickly mobilizing groups and using them to achieve different goals – infiltrate and identify members of enemy groups (e.g. the Antifa), carry out trolling and online hijacking campaigns, etc.;
c) memes: “The milder images are intended to work as “gateway drugs” to the more extreme elements of alt-right ideology” (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 36). Alt-right groups are extremely productive in creating memes that carry their political messages, which range from mild to deeply disturbing – the most successful among mass-produced memes go on to circulate on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Not only is the way to produce memes productive. The way they are spread around is also strategic – they are often posted by small, “grassroots-level” accounts and go on to spread through interpersonal links (likes, shares, retweets, reposts), as opposed to a hierarchic structure of communication, coming from official sources, top-down.
d) bots: programmed to create and spread content and interact with social media users – they are highly capable of spreading propaganda, influence political discourse, increase the number of followers on political accounts, etc.;
e) strategic amplification and framing: this is the process of collaborating with media outlets by providing smaller news outlets (that are too understaffed or underfinanced to fact-check every story) with often fake, distorted, controversial stories, and increasing so the coverage of the desired subject. By the time a story is debunked, it has already gained more attention than it initially would have gotten without any coverage.
As stated earlier, the alt-right has very little formal organization and is a very loosely delimited group, yet their activists are highly successful in spreading memes, amplifying their messages, creating bots, and making use of their networks. This is possible thanks to their participatory culture, as explained earlier. They share views with each other, meticulously study strategic communication techniques, and also learn from each other. However, their scope and power
aren’t endless and all-encompassing – the loosely united alt-right proudly exaggerates its role in having helped Donald Trump become president, and happily claims any power that the media attaches to it (Wendling, 2018, 9). The best example of the media attaching credibility to the alt-right is Pepe the Frog. In 2016, during the presidential campaign in the United States, the Anti-Defamation League declared Pepe, a green, sad-looking cartoon frog that was often used as an inside joke on 4chan and internet forums, a hate symbol, which resulted in Hillary Clinton’s team issuing a background note on Pepe. The sole act of addressing a meme frog popular among 4chan users validated alt-right activities and provided it with a platform on mainstream media as a legitimate opponent (Marwick & Lewis, 2017, 36).
In a situation where a movement is pleased to exaggerate its role in societal processes but is not a concretely measurable force such as a political party or organization, it is difficult to accurately estimate the scope and power of the alt-right. However, this situation of chaos makes it all the more interesting to research the phenomenon, their communicative tools, and the power each of these tools has.
To come back to political memes representing extreme views – the memes spread by the alt-right, in combination with their ambiguity, irony, anonymity, and endless reproduction, create a situation of lack of accountability and plausible deniability. The first, lack of accountability, indicates that since memes are anonymous content, no-one has to take responsibility for creating it and for expressing controversial views in public, unlike statements by politicians, or even political cartoons and political satire on parody news outlets that have a known author or publisher. As the message is often to be read between the lines and ambiguous, it might not be moderated, and can thus be published without worrying about ruining its creator’s reputation. The concept of plausible deniability is tightly related to the lack of accountability. If the anonymous creator doesn’t have to be responsible for creating a controversial meme; then
joke”, its controversial nature can be denied, thanks to its ironic and/or ambiguous nature, it can be claimed to be misunderstood, etc. As memes are an extremely popular genre and an inevitable part of scrolling a social media feed, extreme views can easily be nested between other posts, among millions of other memes.
Online subculture researchers Whitney Phillips, Jessica Beyer and Gabriella Coleman refute the claim of the right achieving significant political goals alone, rejecting so what the alt-right calls “meme magic”. If the alt-alt-right were capable of such deeds, this would only be possible in case politics happened in a vacuum where other factors do not matter, adding that in the context of the 2016 elections, the media played a great role in amplifying the role of the alt-right (Beyer et al., 2017). However, this does not offer insight into the alt-right’s capability to influence political views through one of their most important tools for communicating their views, memes.
In this thesis, there are two imagined definitions for social anesthesia, both compatible with each other:
a) The first way to understand social anesthetic, in the context of political memes normalizing extreme views, would be in the situation where the meme is a “gateway drug”, similarly to the quote (cited page 24) from Marwick & Lewis’ (2017, 36) report on describing how mild alt-right memes can work as gateway drugs to expose to and convince of more extreme views. An example of a situation where a political meme could work this way would be, a young social media user who is online and subculture-aware gets acquainted with alt-right memes through online interactions on Reddit, common acquaintances on Facebook or topical forums, regarding video games, for example, where political discussion is mostly held through memes.
b) A second way to interpret social anesthetic, in the context of political memes normalizing extreme views, would be in a situation where extreme views are so
common on social media that viewers, regardless of their political preferences, become used to them and begin interpreting extreme views part of normal political discourse. One way to describe such a process, perceiving political views as a scope of acceptable and unacceptable views, would be through the Overton window. This concept sees politics as a window of views that is capable of shifting or expanding (Mackinac Center, 2019).
One study on political memes’ effectiveness to persuade showed that political memes are subject to scrutiny and their capability to persuade depends on the viewers' ideology (Huntington, 2017, 153). This meant that agreeing with a political meme depended on whether its audience’s views were compatible with the memes; and if a meme was funny and matching with the political positioning of the viewer, it was even more effective (Huntington, 2017, 153). Though agreeing with a political meme is not quite the same as the power to influence political views, this finding could suggest that political memes are indeed capable of carrying effective political messages, in case it reaches the appropriate audience.
Heidi E. Huntington’s study (2017) suggests that political memes are subject to less scrutiny if the message reaches the fitting audience (Huntington, 2017, 153) – for example, a meme supporting Donald Trump would, according to this study, be subject to little scrutiny as to the quality of the argument if it reaches a Trump voter. The political meme is also likely to be effective in getting the message across. However, the opposite applies, too – a Trump meme is likely to be subject to high scrutiny and is likely to be ineffective if it were to reach someone who opposes Donald Trump as a political candidate.
This finding does not support the idea that political memes could effectively convince anyone to take over the political views they represent, just viewers who already agree with those views. However, this study does not address whether political memes could work as a social anesthetic
as described above in section b), becoming used to the presence of a political view, no matter how controversial the view.
Both Marwick & Lewis’ (2017, 36) account of how alt-right memes work in convincing people already prone to these views and Huntington’s study (2017) that finds that political memes have a potential to work effectively in conveying political messages among people whose political positioning matches with the content of the memes, could support the claim of political memes potentially working as a social anesthetic, as understood in section a), page 26 of this thesis. There is insufficient evidence to assert that political memes are capable of working as a social anesthetic in making extreme views become a common part of public discourse.
However, taking into account the particularities of the contemporary public debate, where political opinions can take the virtually any form – tweets, comments, memes, videos or even sponsored content – differentiating the intentions behind content which might present as ambiguous, controversial, sarcastic, and probably anonymous, is increasingly difficult. In a context of disorienting mediatic noise, the pace at which new political stances could become normalized, and how different types of online content might increase insensitivity towards new standpoints might be different than with societal processes in the past, or offline.
By considering the particularities of the political meme, analyzed in the first part of this chapter, and a changed context of public political deliberation, there is reason to believe that the potential of such content in providing a platform for extreme views in public discourse, is worth studying.
3. Discussion: why memes matter
The potential of political memes should not be underestimated – the possible impact on core democratic values is, without a doubt, worth studying. Political memes working as a social anesthetic of extreme views (either by working as a gateway to more extreme views; or as content that normalizes extreme views in political discourse as something inevitable or as part of everyday political diversity) could undermine several democratic core elements, including, but not limited to political culture, civil liberties and pluralism.
As the scope of the thesis does not allow for a thorough analysis of hindering democratic values, a brief discussion on the implications to general political culture and polarization will follow. The discussion will combine how political memes, their characteristic elements (ambiguity, language, anonymity, fast spread, and remix culture), and extreme views possibly gaining platform could change political culture and bring about polarization.
Though assessing the importance of a healthy political culture in democracies is more difficult than considering other, more obvious elements vital for democracies (like free and fair elections, for instance), the importance of political culture in well-functioning democracies has nevertheless been widely studied. In a cross-level analysis, Inglehart & Welzel (2003, 74) find that first, in societies where interpersonal trust and life satisfaction was high, the presence of democratic institutions was more likely, and second, that there is evidence showing that a political culture that emphasizes “self-expression, tolerance, trust, life satisfaction, and participation” is likely to play a role for the well-being of an effective democracy (Inglehart & Weizel, 2003, 76). Additionally, the current state of political culture has also been used to measure democracy by the Economist’s Democracy Index as one of the five categories assessed, next to electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation and civil liberties (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2020, 6).
Public political discussion has considerably amplified since social media has become a widespread tool and source of information. This has increased the opportunity to discuss political issues online, even if online debate isn’t used as a formal tool for deliberation. These discussions take place in comment sections, individual timelines and information feeds, discussion-oriented platforms like Twitter, etc. This allows to considerably expand the circle of people social media users interact with – instead of discussing politics with acquaintances, social media effortlessly connects people from different backgrounds that sympathize with a political position; it brings together different viewpoints to hold a heated debate and allows people to explore different social contexts, without having to leave the social media application or website.
Unfortunately, this overview cannot stop here, as it would provide a very one-sided and excessively optimistic account of how social media works as a political discussion platform. Social media, in this sense, does not come without its threats, and it has already proven to have reached extremes. Among many problematic elements of social media, surrounding oneself with people who agree with each other creates a phenomenon called “echo chamber”, distorting one’s perception of reality (Milner, 2013, 2362); which also works with algorithms hand-picking information to present to its users according to their interests. Second, social media can be very disorienting – the fast-paced exchange of a high volume of information makes it difficult to soundly judge the quality of the information presented, and this fast-paced environment is often taken advantage of by strategists, aiming to purposefully flood online targets with dubious information. Among other elements, anonymity also makes the online sphere a difficult environment for holding a meaningful discussion, as anonymity allows users to step back from taking responsibility for their online messages. Though political conversation on social media may have positive aspects, seeing it as an Athenian forum for democratic discussion would ignore the core problems with social media.
As described in the first two chapters, political memes as a way to convey a political message can be problematic, as the content of the message might be ironic or ambiguous (leaving its intentions thus unclear) and is often anonymous. This type of content, especially in the case of strategically created content (such as alt-right content described earlier), may pose a threat to political culture and cause further polarization, along with the different problematic elements that political discussion on social media displays. Huntington (2017, 178) discusses that political internet memes can contribute to further polarization, because “people see what they want to see in a given meme, but could also contribute to other outcomes such as political learning”. The study also suggests that even seemingly insignificant political messages, like political memes, motivate a discussion and potentially cause aversion – suggesting, that political memes also play a role in social polarization and provide an undesired influence on political culture (Huntington, 2017, 180).
Using political memes as a tool for political message clashes with debating ideals, where discussion is held using structured political argumentation. Using political memes to express an idea or an argument, in turn, takes online debating a step back. However, the impact is not necessarily negative – Huntington (2017, 178) notes that political memes can contribute to informing their viewers of a specific political issue, as also described earlier (pp. 13-15) with the example of the memes on Black Lives Matter protests.
This is the potential impact of political memes used in general political discussion on political culture and polarization. As they are simplified messages with confusing intentions, they might a) simplify debate culture and bring it even further from an ideal of structured argumentation, b) they can polarize as their viewers “see what they want” (Huntington, 2017, 178) and finally, c) they contribute into a chaotic, fast-paced online environment. As for the impact on political culture of political memes normalizing extreme views, there is little doubt as to why this could prove problematic. If political memes are capable of normalizing extreme views, to a degree
where views that have previously been considered as inappropriate, extreme and controversial are now seen as a common circumstance, as a political opinion that is just part of a socially accepted political horizon because it is so widespread, then the possible dangers on political culture and democracy as a whole are certainly more tangible.
Following the example of the alt-right, which represents a panoply of misogynist, racist, anti-pluralist and xenophobic views, the normalization of these views (not necessarily agreeing with them, but recognizing them as an inevitability) would undermine the core elements of a healthy political culture. Acceptance of racism, misogyny, and anti-pluralism in political discourse would be at the expense of the (minority) groups they target. Second, a presence of extreme views online, perhaps represented as political memes, could, one meme or one tweet at a time work as a domino effect, and result in a clash of different groups online, fueling antagonism, anger, further polarization and weakening the basis for civil political discussion.
Naturally, political memes alone are not capable of bringing democratic political culture down and polarizing societies to an extreme. However, political memes, especially those representing extreme views, are part of a larger phenomenon of novel online mass-communication, with effects that are yet unknown. For this reason, the political meme as a unit of communication is worth extensive research, especially regarding its potential to affect democratic mechanisms.
Conclusion
The present thesis has attempted to provide an overview of political memes working as a social anesthetic in normalizing extreme views. To achieve this goal, an overview of literature and theory on existing meme research was provided, the political meme was defined and discussed as a tool for political activism, illustrated with the example of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. This overview discussed the importance of political memes in the context of the 2016 elections in the United States and explained the alt-right as an online movement. The focus of the second chapter was on the potential of political memes normalizing extreme views, exemplified by alt-right communication strategies.
The thesis argues that political memes are a noteworthy category of online content due to their ambiguity, language (which is often ironic or sarcastic), anonymity and ability to spread and change fast. These characteristics make it easier to spread (sometimes strategically) various political views online, including extreme views. These elements do not require the creator or sharer of the content to be accountable for the messages they spread, which leaves room for plausible deniability. It is possible that these characteristics, in turn, contribute towards the political meme working as a social anesthetic in two ways – first, by working as a gateway (mild views leading internet users to more extreme views, until these users embrace these views or deem them as acceptable), second, by convincing viewers into perceiving some extreme views as a natural part of political discussion, with the window of accepted views in public discourse thus expanding. Additionally, political memes are symptomatic of a contemporary mediatic scene – in a chaotic and noisy ocean of online content, their intentions are often difficult to distinguish and require the viewer to keep up with them, and not the other way around. These possible effects could undermine different democratic mechanisms, including, but not limited to, political culture, and could cause further polarization. However, the thesis
does not come without its limitations. It should be understood that existing research and empirical data on political memes are very limited.
Even so, this thesis is an opportunity to raise questions and discuss the possible threats of online dynamics which include political memes. Raising these questions and considering these dangers could motivate to undertake further research on the issue, as there are several unanswered questions in the field of political memes. Though subculture researchers like Beyer et al. (2017) have refuted the claim that political memes alone have the force to swing an election, there is not enough data to understand the exact impact political memes have. A pioneering study by Huntington (2017) that assesses the effect of political memes, how they differ from other internet memes, how they are perceived by viewers and how their influence works, has recently been carried out. However, Huntington (2017) recognizes the lack of research regarding the impact of memes have on their viewers, as most of the recent research focuses on the memes and creators.
Acknowledging both research that has been done and that is yet to be carried out, two possible directions for future research arise from this thesis. First, departing on the specific characteristics present in political memes, an empirical study on the political meme working as a social anesthetic, that takes into account the online position of the participant, could be carried out (e.g. a study that concentrates on apolitical social media users, politically oriented social media users, and creators of political and/or extreme content). Second, online polarization and the impact of political memes on this process is also a possible direction, as this thesis does not offer enough empirical evidence of this possible process, but rather indicates the threats possible polarization poses.
Regardless of the limitations of this thesis and possible directions for further research, the present work has contributed to understanding the importance of political memes as a subject of research. The possibility to encounter political memes online is not based on an assumption
or based on a theoretical possibility. The overwhelming presence of political content on social media, which includes political memes, is an empirical reality. As memes are more and more used as a tool for communication, their significance, and possible impact on societal processes deserves a close monitoring – including in disciplines that have yet to join the collective effort in deciphering the phenomenon.
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Imagery
Figure 1: Reddit user DatGameGuy, 2020. I Am Once Again Asking For Your Financial Support., Available at:
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Figure 2: Anon, 2020. I Am Once Again Asking To See The Manager, Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1724746-i-am-once-again-asking-for-your-financial-support [Accessed May 2, 2020].
Figure 3: Found on Twitter, source and poster unknown.
Figure 4: Reddit user 696969696969E. Every company right now, Available at:
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Figure 5: Twitter user altright_memes. Distracted Boyfriend meme, Available at:
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Figure 6: Twitter user altright_memes. White western men are joining the far right and we have absolutely no idea why, Available at:
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