I know, I know. After reporting on the presidential election, talking about local politics, it seems rather all to have this type of article on my blog. But it’s something I feel like needs addressing. Recently, politicians and important figures from all over the globe have been declaring what some call “A War on Memes.” That sounds satirical, doesn’t it? I wish it was.
That can’t happen in America, can it? We have rights here! The first amendment! I’ll have you know that both mainstream presidential candidates have been critical of memes, therefore attacking the first amendment and free speech as we know it. Hillary Clinton, in her speech directed towards the Alt-Right, was interrupted by a man shouting the name of a popular Internet icon. “Pepe!” he cheered, catching the former Secretary off guard. Later on, her campaign released an official analysis of a dank meme. This picture depicts Donald Trump and a variety of his supporters as a parody of “The Expendables.” One of these supporters was Pepe the frog, given wrinkled features and Trump’s signature hair. Elizabeth Chan of the Clinton campaign said that he’s “a symbol associated with white supremacy.” This accusation is based on absolutely no evidence and shows that either Hillary gives access to her website to whiney Social Justice Warriors willy-nilly, or that she agrees with her and wants to push the war. Well, Donald Trump has to be cool with memes, right? He’s practically a living meme. Well, Trump has been very opposed to any criticism of him. He has sued numerous people for saying he looks like an orangutang child, that he has tiny hands, that he isn’t as rich as he claims, etc. Trump has threatened to open up libel laws against newspapers to take down negative content, which could possibly encompass political cartoons, the grandfather to the dank memes of today. Donald has even voiced support of “closing down certain sections of the Internet.” Does Donald Trump know that’s the tactic of numerous authoritarian nations? Does he know that it violates freedom of expression and communication? Yes, he knows, but if you bring it up you’re “foolish,” according to him.
Can anyone other than politicians betray our trust with our memes? Yes. Yes they can. Facebook has removed memes before, especially if they mocked Mrs. Clinton. They’ve taken down entire pages before! Being Classically Liberal is just an example of this Orwellian purging. They don’t have to be politically based, however, to feel Zuckerberg’s wrath. Cabbage Cat, Gangster Popeye, and a variety of other pages were removed from the platform. It’s not just Facebook that people are being “zucked,” it’s Instagram as well. The only place left is Twitter, right? Well, famous troll Milo Yiannopoulos was kicked off the site. He was BANNED. This started a #FreeMilo campaign, but it ended up going nowhere. This is a fight over freedom of speech. Some will say it’s “foolish” to bring up freedom of speech. Is it? This is America, where we can say what we want, no excuses. “But you can’t yell fire in a movie theater!” Shut up. That’s different. It’s different when it’s a call to action. If you’re calling for violence or disorder, yes, that does have its consequences, especially if it actually causes the violence and disorder it was trying to accomplish. Some will say that “freedom of speech only deals with the government.” Freedom of expression is having the right to say what you want to say without anyone getting in your way. Of course, other individuals can respond to your speech and expression, but the government cannot. I apply that same philosophy to conglomerate corporations and social media sites. So… how can we fight back? Some people have put a filter on their profile pictures. You might’ve seen it on your friend’s profile: pink background, an upside down Facebook “F.” That is literally doing nothing. Sure, the support and thought counts, but come on. Does it mean anything after a tragedy? Not really. We need to have direct action to get actual change. Well, the social media attack on memes will only go down if one thing happens… If their profit is threatened. We’ll have to threaten to boycott social media. This won’t happen. Social media is intertwined with our life, and most of us aren’t willing to separate with it. Maybe some of us will, and will make a difference in this battle. What else? Well, we can start the #LetFreedomMeme movement. Tag politicians in your tweets, raid their comments, spam them with #LetFreedomMeme. Needless to say, it’ll annoy them until they change their platform, specifically their meme policies. It’s a nice callback to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and I’m sure it can make a difference. We can protect the freedom of expression for everyone on the Internet, and preserve the basic components this country was founded on.
1 Comment
Damien Anima
9/19/2016 02:53:59 am
I read this with Charlie Chaplin's voice.
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Christopher CaldwellJust some thoughts on current events and such. Archives
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