Truth is a Virus

Karen Nguyen 

913851333

ASA 4

Prof. Maira & Omar

5 June 2017

Truth is a Virus – Andrew Boyd

            The article defines the significance of memes in politics. According to Boyd, memes include the historical category of tools meant to communicate and motivate ideologies. The reading underlines how a meme must be receptive and must coordinate with the current “theme” or popular mode of communicating information. In this way, the memes of the past can include the Declaration of Independence and campus raids of the 60’s because written documents and targeting public spaces like universities, respectively, were trending forms of voicing an ideology. Today, social media, parodies, and public art like stickers and graffiti are all prevalent sources of information. Thus, we see memes dominate these modes of communication. According to the Boyd’s idea that these memes are ideological codes with viral shells that ultimately expend some sort of message of opposition, memes construct communities of resistance. With every re-Tweet of Trump’s duck face on an actual duck or every cute laptop sticker that actually declares feminism, this virus is injected into everyday acts of resistance.  

6/5 tues

Specifically speaking about the U.S, I view that electronic activism (for me) is a form of everyday protest due to its accessibility and its creative form. I could either rant about something Trump’s policies in the form of poetry and upload it on Facebook or create an aesthetically appealing meme and upload it on Instagram. However, electronic activism does not have to be a conscious action such as liking a feminist quote on Facebook can be an implicit declaration of war against the system of patriarchy.

In Dominguez’ argument, electronic activism can now be a more “realistic virtual war” that can actually lead to change, REAL CHANGE that happens through virtual activism! He created a program that allows an activist group to slow any Web site to a halt by flooding it with requests, a form of protest known as a virtual sit-in. This type of activism sounds a little weird to outsiders (which is a good thing for the oppressed), but it possesses the power of technology and accessibility that allows many people to form a community faster than ever before, and probably with the low risk of negative consequences. Overall, I can see that the social media is a cultural battleground that will continue forever and ever, shaping people and objects, and who might know what to come next?

6/5 Journal

Journal 17

This article was interesting to read because it discusses about memes and its affects on the political culture. What made it so notable was the fact that memes are so important in our daily aspects that I feel like it was very easy to relate to this article. The fact that it is described to be a virus in the system is what made it interesting because in a sense social media has been broadcasted to be of such importance than it could easily populate the world of social media and contaminate viewers minds. The fact that majority of the people nowadays have social media makes it all the more meaningful to this article because we can easily relate to the fact when we scroll through Instagram and see a meme on Donald Trump we would definately take a pause and look at the meme again and perhaps let a smile on our faces. I feel that social media is in fact a strong tool to pass on messages to viewers because the intent of it to make humor of the content on their meme makes it easier to understand. 

Also i think that with social media becoming more and more important to teenager's minds it is agreeable to say that it is a virus in our system and it is flawed because many things on social media come from subjective point of views and often times it is easily mistaken or even taken offensively by other people and causing tantrums and other questions arising. I don't think use of social media is very effective but in reality it is the quickest way in our generation now to deliver a message to viewers and even hundreds at a time.  

The reading "Electronic Disturbance" by Ricardo Dominguez acknowledges the issue of social media and memes and urges for activism and proactive approach through mainstream social media that it provides a huge platform.

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).

Blog #17: Truth Is A Virus

The analogy that truth is comparable to a virus is interesting in the context of messages pertinent to the political environment. "Either it must infect the code of mainstream discourse and permanently change the habits of mainstream institutions ... or it must create alternate ongoing institutions that carry and reproduce the meme" (Boyd, 375). Memes are especially relevant to this time period, as a large percent of the population consumes media that is released. Social media is a strong tool in spreading messages and other content. There can be both positive and negative types of viruses that are present, each with their own unique characteristics. This can be comparable to real life events in which the reproduction of memes, which sometimes contain the "truth", are able to spread in society.

This reminded me of a contemporary example in which Doctor Devin Dao was forcefully dragged off the United plane due to a discrepancy in overbooking. There were many memes produced as a result of this instance. Some included the mockery of United Airline's motto, "fly the friendly skies" which pictures of the assaulted victim. Others were mantras from different airlines, such as Southwest, which quoted, "we beat our competition, not you." These memes arose and were reproduced all over social media, which aided in the spread of awareness about this incident. Although the time of this "viral infection" did not last that long, the impact or severity it had is substantial. There were many petitions started by Asian Americans, supported by those who weren't Asian American, who did not agree with United's process of handling these conflicts. The result of this viral infection is one that was reproduced rapidly and had positive outcomes.

Michelle Wang-Boyd and Dominguez Blog

Andrew Boyd: “Truth Is A Virus”

In “Truth Is A Virus” Boyd discusses that “the new kinds of cultural resistance and social movement formations have appeared that understand-if not consciously, then at least intuitively-that their terrain of struggle is a “viral space” (374). Media viruses are considered as tools for cultural resistance and used to address important issues in the public. This can relate back to Roy’s “Mobile Cultures, New Media in Queer Asia From Khush List to Gay Bombay,” the role of social media and how it plays a role in cultural resistance. Social media is a mechanism that allows individuals to become more aware of current issues and tool used as  cultural resistance in order to address the injustices occurring in this social and racial society. In addition, media is technoculture that allows for the spread of messages and learning about accessing issues that affect an individual’s daily life.

Ricardo Dominguez “Electronic Disturbance: An Interview”

In “Electronic Disturbance: An Interview” Dominguez emphasizes that “electronic methods of protest are becoming more and more important” (379). This suggests that electronic methods are important towards the political and economic movement and communication and used as a tool of protest. In addition, cyber activism plays a huge role in resistance and activism. This relates back to the article  “The art of necessity: the subversive imagination of anti-road protest and reclaim the streets” Jordan emphasizes that art is a tool used as expression towards resistance and is a powerful weapon used for the DIY protest movement. Both art and media are powerful tools used in movements allowing the mass public to get involved and is a step towards cultural resistance in resisting the mainstream.

Question: What are some other tools and art behind cultural resistance?

Andrew's Presentation:

I really enjoyed Andrew's presentation. It was very informative and I really connected to reading to the story. I learned about the power behind writing stories is to perserve narratives.

Journal (6/6)

Truth is a Virus: Meme warfare and the billionaires for Bush (or Gore)- Andrew Boyd

Boyd begins the quote “Truth is a Virus”, which he saw spray painted on the walls. It was interesting to learn about how memes are media viruses that spread throughout the public. The analogy of how media viruses spread quickly was an interesting take and made sense as Rushkoff describes the process. This led him to his experience as a supporter of meme warfare. BOyd discusses his experience with the Billionaires for BUsh (or Gore) campaign, which devised to educate the public about the twin evils of campaign finance and corruption and economic inequality. The campaigns morphed images of the candidates Bush and Al Gore into a single image and then included slogans as they created bumper stickers, buttons, and mock radio advertisements. Their strategy went viral and got many attention as content and humor were tightly meshed together. They created a humorous ironic media campaign that spread like a virus. I thought it was interesting when the author compared and contrasted the Billionaires campaign to another protest we read about called Reclaim the Streets. WHile, RTS movements evolved out of communities of resistance to create the street festivals, BIllionaires were more consciously designed and put into media stream. However, both were viruses as there was an ideological code and viral shell present. It was interesting to see how the different style of viruses impacts us today. Movements based on memes are cheap and fast but they are also out of control. However, they are still powerful.

Electronic Disturbance: An Interview- Ricardo dominguez

In Ricardo’s article, he talks about Electronic DIsturbance theatre and how these methods of protest are more important. Ricardo believes and insists that EDT’s activism should be understood as theatre. I thought it was interesting to learn about the different techniques used by ACT UP. Strategies they used were Butt ins, Fax jams, and Phone zapping. I thought the strategies these different campaigns used reminded me of the Laotian girls of APEN coming up with strategies to fight and bring awareness for what they believe in.

Andrew’s Presentation:

The presentation was interesting and i liked how Andrew was very interactive by asking us our own opinions and walking around so everyone felt included. I thought it was insightful learning about writers and in particular the struggles Asian American writers face.