Journal #17: Memes

This article discusses the power of “meme culture” and how unofficial organizations impact everyday lives and even larger constructs such as politics and how it can be utilized as a form of cultural resistance. These “unofficial” organizations are bound mainly by the same ideologies rather than an actual physical set of documents or meetings, but they also help spread the word on their agenda and infiltrate the everyday lives of everyday people and help incorporate their ideologies into “truths” that some people just accept. The author of the article discusses how they constructed an entire mock up of political nominee and hijacked the entire presidential elections. People joined in on their “joke” and it grew so huge and correlate with that of unofficially organized groups who share the same ideology. Similar strategies are utilized today and it is clear to see the evolvement of this form of cultural resistance, with the growth of social media and accessibility on the web. This article was probably written a while ago (perhaps around the Gore v. Bush elections), but since then the form of cultural resistance they are using which I would consider a form of large scale “trolling” (messing with people) is still around today except now it is much faster and easier to access. The author discusses that they didn’t have the software or the knowledge to be able to carry out certain things for their organization, but today kids on their laptops at home can make up a simple thing possibly mocking a politician’s slip up (“covfefe”, “alternative facts”) and blow it out of proportion. Anyone on the internet will see and understand and this sort of universal understanding of this joke suddenly exists. Unknowingly it is also being developed as an ideology in our minds and it is becoming a part of what we believe as true and common sense. Today’s version of this cultural resistance gets teens involved with their surroundings. Sometimes, I learn about what is going on around me. Although, the author did point out that sometimes the truth is a virus. Not only in the way that it quickly permeates a large mass, but at that scale and in the wrong hands, it could lead to the rise of something horrible (where we are now).