The dangers of memeifying politics

Don’t pump Trump!

In a society so heavily saturated by memes, videos and social media information — so much so that these shape and influence our political discourse — it is indeed an unrealistic proposal to suggest that Trump is not discussed at large. However, it is still important to be aware of the power attached to social media.

We, the technological generation are part of a wave that feels disenfranchised and politically out of touch. Whilst we may not all have a seat in parliament, we are still changing the face of politics. The public has more influence than ever before. In some essence, the people are politics. The online community is transferring the nature of politics out of parliament and into our cyber domain. We are publicly highlighting the rhetoric and uncovering political inequalities.

The power of slacktivism

These days there are few socioeconomic barriers to internet access, certainly in the West. Therefore most people can be a political advocates. Who remembers Kony 2012? Admittedly, it was a fleeting, superficial act of slacktivism, created with an alternative agenda — but the campaign video was the fastest sharing video in YouTube history. The movement broke records for its ability to bring such widespread attention to a political matter, via a largely young demographic. This generation is armed with a very powerful tool and we are a generation most adept at carving discourse with this tool.

However sometimes, users may not realise the wider-reaching ramifications of such carvings. This is where the power of social media can be dangerous to politics. The memeifying of public figures (even if only to disparage) still serves as a proliferation and certification of their social image. Bad publicity is good publicity, right?

Frankenstein’s Monsters

It is certainly possible that mass media attention that garnered around Trump contributed to his media profile, and thus gave him the illusion of political credibility. We continuously create these self-fulfilling prophecies in the media (Katie Hopkins, Nigel Farage and Kim Kardashian to name a few). Once we create them, we try to denounce them. Just like Frankenstein’s monster, we are Victor Frankenstein.

Whether you’re shunning or gunning, any attention is good attention. When Trump is compared with Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton, he is thus equated to them and this breeds connotations of him being a credible candidate. His fellow memeified counterparts, Harambe and Deez Nuts also made it as credible candidates, which only goes to demonstrate the autonomous power that Reddit, Imgur, Buzzfeed, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc…have in politics.

Providing a free PR service

When we tweet, post, like or share, we are handing Trump his exposure on a plate. We are carrying out a PR service for free. Trump and his PR geniuses can sit back and relax as we actively generate and circulate his campaign. I wouldn’t be surprised if his PR team both created and promoted Trump memes. If this is true, Trump’s bad hair campaign was probably the smartest PR stunt ever executed.

Ironically, am I guilty also by writing this post? Maybe, but it is now that Trump’s political image is so prominent that defamatory exposure can contribute to his demise. In this throwaway, transient culture, pseudo-celebrities are thrust into unimaginable heights of stardom and disposed of faster than their rise.

Now that Trump has been elected I promote and encourage negative exposure of Trump’s failings and misdemeanours. It is now that social media politics can work against a powerful force such as Trump. If I was an American citizen, I would struggle to assimilate this news and settle with the decision. So now I say, let’s dump Trump, but next time, let’s not pump Trump. I guess that’s no consolation to the disappointed American people. But UK, let’s learn a lesson.The next time a whimsical bigot presents himself as a candidate, let’s ignore him and not provide him with an undeserved platform. We managed to swerve Farage, but will we be so lucky next time?

This article is dedicated to America, condolences. X