What do Charlie Kirk, revised H1B visa rules, India-Pakistan war, US tariffs, and Bihar elections have in common? Each of the political developments sparked a meme fest on social media. The memes that have time and again been accused of mocking the sincere, distracting from the urgent and trivialising the serious. However, there is a class of memes that has been facilitating the radical, masking the obvious and serving the creator; the ones furthering subtle messages of either ideologies or agendas.
Memeplomacy
USC (University of South Carolina) Centre on Public Diplomacy terms the phenomenon as memeplomacy, with one of the CPD blogs defining the impact of memeplomacy as the one that “extends far beyond mere entertainment.” It further says, “Memes have the power to attract followers, drive traffic to embassy profiles, and increase the visibility of more serious diplomatic initiatives. By leveraging the viral nature of memes, public diplomacy actors can amplify their message and engage with audiences in ways previously unimaginable.”
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One of the earliest, and powerful examples of online trolling and memes for diplomatic leverage is the still memorable Twitter war between Russia and Canada. Back in 2014, Canada trolled Russia with a lesson in geography. “This is Russia. This is “not Russia,” posted the Canadian NATO delegation in a message to Russian soldiers, “who keep getting lost and accidentally entering Ukraine.” The snarky message, posted in response to Russian soldiers wandering across the Ukrainian border, further said “Geography can be tough.”
The political battles are since long being fought not only in the war rooms, or behind the podium but in front of an entire generation of netizens who consume news through satire and entertainment. The same goes for diplomatic battles as well, which are not necessarily about garnering votes but about subtle perspective shifts in the targeted audience.
Perhaps, the one most enterprising and active to cash in on the power of memes has been the Trump administration. Since his return to the Oval Office in January this year, his team has stepped up war on the traditional press and given right-wing new media a dominant space. Influencer-only briefings and memes of Donald Trump as the pope, a Star War, a Jedi master are some of the ways in which White House is cultivating Trump’s core and loyal consumer base.
A week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated meme of himself in papal garb. The image sparked an outrage but the US President insisted his wife thought it was “cute” and told reporters, “They can’t take a joke.” Social commentators have long drawn attention to far-right groups in particular developing memes to promote racism, misogyny or conspiratorial messages. The one where a harmless image of let’s say a frog could be used to mock violence, promote white supremacy, or condone extremist ideology. Although such memes spread through fringe platforms like Reddit but in no time gain virality enough to attract traffic on Instagram, TikTok, X and become mainstream.
Black humour, but…
A study by the University of Catalonia (UOC) delving into whether memes affect our political ideas says that such memes acquire their soft convincing power from their anonymity. The anonymity of such memes is more empowering for the generator as they appear to come from the general public or reflect popular public sentiment. It’s not simply humour or entertainment but layers of irony that carry the ability to sway opinions.
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The language of memes requires that the political battles, messages and campaigns be conveyed through a few words, a catchy visual and humour that is far more piercing than loud speeches. Trump’s recent H1B visa policy sparked a series of viral memes on Indian social media. While there's going to be widespread and serious repercussions to Trump’s H1B visa policy, most of which are yet to be fully known, the online memes and cartoons became a way of indulging in black humour. This hasn’t been the only instance where memes have provided the much-needed comic respite during uncertain times and tense geo political developments. Besides, diplomatic fiascos and upheavals also make for the best content for humour. But in no time, the joke hardens into belief without the consumer even knowing it.
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