General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn political memes:
I have to admit, one of many pet peeves of mine in internet political discourse is the substitution of cheap memes for actual discussion or debate. More than once over Facebook I have come across people who feel the only response there is to an argument is to post a rather lame, uninspired meme. And there are people I know of who think it is actually their vocation to make said lame, uninspired political memes.
These people are almost always conservatives, and generally insufferable ones at that. And then they'll insist "The Left Can't Meme", as if memeing was some sort of great masterful art as opposed to just taking a picture and posting some words on it.
Don't get me wrong. Internet Memes in general are fine. In fact, many of them are quite hilarious. So don't misinterpret me as thinking that memes themselves are the problem.
But when it comes to politics, using a meme as a substitute for discussion is just pure laziness. And too often they're not even all that clever and witty.
But that being said, I've decided to enter the world of political memeing myself.
Behold! My first ever creation:
tblue37
(65,487 posts)unblock
(52,317 posts)political discourse in america continues a long decline corresponding with the advances in speed of communication.
when political discourse mostly meant newspapers and letters to the editors, there was a considerable amounts of facts involved.
with television came more of a focus on stage presence. avoiding flop sweat and earth tones somehow became important qualities in a president. with such distractions from actual debate, the "zinger" became more important.
internet memes are basically just visual zingers.
if they're used to punctuate a long, thoughtful essay, they can be great and can make the reading more fun and memorable and can help the reader better absorb the full content.
but you're right, many times the long, thoughtful essay is absent and all that remains is the meme.
it's pretty much all conservative have to offer because there really is no constructive, logical argument to support their crap.