Internet Memes: Politics and Post-truth

• In Event: Humour As Topic, Discourse and Method For STS

Abstract

As Internet media come to take a central position in political discourse, Internet memes become political tools. Memes not only include captioned pictures, but also audio, video, and linguistic texts; memes share common characteristics, are created with awareness of each other, and are disseminated and/or transformed by many Internet users. Although many memes are jokes, those that deliver political messages have the capacity to sway public opinion and potentially snowball into social movements (e.g., #MeToo, #MAGA). This paper argues that Internet memes are of interest to STS, and importantly, a crucial element of misinformation and post-truth. The impact of Internet memes is viewed in part through the theory developed by Walter Benjamin in ‘The Work of Art’. To what extent are Internet memes either aestheticizing politics or politicizing art? Far-right groups are among those using memes to aestheticize politics, wherein politically motivated visual representation is a-temporal and utopian. This mythological framework attempts to shelter political claims from scrutiny. In this way, aesthetic political memes obfuscate reality by using affective visuals to deliver political messages (e.g., a superhero shielding himself from bullets labeled ‘SJWs’). Opposite this, politicizing art involves the space and time of the ‘here and now’; art is used to hold politics accountable for current events. This conceptual paper addresses a question posed by STS scholars: ‘what sustains post-truth?’

Author

• Oliver Garretson, LSU Sociology