“Eat the Rich”: How memes helped give the working class a voice
During the late 18th century, a large increase in the French population lead to an increase in unemployment and serious economic hardship — all whilst the monarchs and upper echelon continued to live lavishly. After a few years of social unrest, the Third Estate revolted and the execution of thousands of counter-revolutionists had been carried out. French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, stated “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich”. Fast forward to the 21st century, a growing social divide between the rich and the poor has led to people using “Eat the Rich” as a rallying call to members of the working class; the main agenda being to highlight the disparities between the upper and lower class.
Profit or Poverty?
By the end of 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic had hit poor people the hardest; they faced mass unemployment, extreme poverty and an economic recession. But this was the same year Jeff Bezos surpassed a net worth of $200 billion and Elon Musk’s net worth more than tripled. The combined wealth of billionaires across the world reached $11.9 trillion — the amount needed to buy vaccines for everyone. In fact, only ten of the richest people made almost $540 billion. It’s clear the consequences of COVID-19 haven’t affected everyone in a similar fashion; people hurt by the pandemic used memes and humour to address the disparity.
Celebrity: a Dying Culture
Among the many social impacts the Coronavirus pandemic had, its dismantling of celebrity culture has been celebrated all over social media — particularly Twitter. The pandemic left public figures finding ways to give their unwarranted opinions and ‘support’. Right off the bat, actress Gal Gadot and a few other celebrities posted a rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. The video was immediately met with backlash — people questioned how exactly the video was supposed to help them recover from job losses, a health crisis and declining mental health.
Throughout 2020, a number of celebrities continued to give tone-deaf hot takes, downplaying the harmfulness of the virus. Comments like these alienated poorer fans and completely disregard consequences of the virus on the working class; COVID affected income, family life, mental health — not just physical health.
You’re supposed to be helping us
As “Eat the Rich” was gaining traction on Twitter, it quickly spread across to other social medias — Tiktok in particular. Originally, the phrase was used by working class groups to call out the rich elites and celebrities hoarding wealth, however the expression soon started to be used by Tiktok users to poke fun at the middle class for being well-off:
Although the movement originally used humour and memes to call out elites, the message became clouded as anyone with disposable income were now new targets. But Twitter users that were part of the original movement were quick to remind people who “Eat the Rich” was really supposed to be addressing:
Was it successful?
The “Eat the Rich” movement is a great example of how social media allows social groups to draw attention on important issues through memes. However it is very easy for agendas to be hijacked by wider audiences, making the message become distorted. Nonetheless “Eat the Rich” was at the very least able to draw attention to class disparities.
