Context behind memes and how they are used in Warfare
Memes are created as a way to personalise a topic and thus distribute the customised content across media, yet memes haven’t always been like this. Memes started off as a method of persuasion in the form of propaganda. In World War Two, Hitler used propaganda to persuade citizens to conform to his ideal and regime. This propaganda involves the use of words, or a caption, within an image forming posters and other propaganda types. This idea defines what a meme is today.
In this generation memes are customised and are subjective by creators to convey their opinion on a big issue or event. Memes in this generation started in the 2016 election between Clinton and Trump.
The role of remixing and the mashing up of content allows for subjective ideas in regard to the event or issue. Especially in the Trump v Clinton election, memes were used for viewer’s opinion on both of the candidates.
Great blog post! I love how you write about the history of memes as in what memes used to be and how they are now different. This gives the reader historical context on memes and will help them understand how memes have come to be. Your example of the 2016 US presidential election is great and it contrasts with Hitler’s propaganda. The meaning of propaganda has changed in today’s society thanks to the internet and thus the mergence of memes, which are indeed personal as you stated. In my blog, I had also written about the 2016 US election and how memes emerged about it to spread ideologies and opinions. Excellent job!
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Also, source suggestion:
you can read about Leni Riefenstahl and how she created propaganda films for Hitler and the Nazi party. There is a lot of controversy yet legacy behind her works.
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Hey, I think this is a pretty good blog post. Usually I don’t see remediations at the beginning of these blog posts, but I think you made it work pretty well, with a good mix of historical and contemporary examples. I like the use of the 2016 election to further your argument, but I think you missed some things when it comes to Hitler. You said that Hitler’s propaganda involved the use of pictures with captions, but I would argue that a large part of Hitler’s propaganda came through the airwaves over the radio. Also you said that memes started out as a method of persuasion in the form of propaganda, and while they were used for that purpose, a meme is usually characterised by its ability to replicate itself in the brain of its host, therefore it seems like religion is one of, if not the first memes created by humans (https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/social-viruses-may-be-shaping-the-american-elections-uniquely-threatening-modern-societies)
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Hey! I absolutely love this blog post! When you stated how the history of memes has changed from what memes used to be how they are completely different now, was so informative! I have never thougt about it that way! Your blog post allows for us as the readers yo have a full insight on what memes are and how memes were before! I completely agree to when you stated that memes started out as a method of persuasion on the form of propaganda, Your blog and this blog post is so good! I love the use of videos within the blog post it keeps people entertained! check out my blog post on this topic!!! https://perspectivephotography.home.blog/2019/05/02/propaganda-and-memes/
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The angle you took for this topic was well done, the use of both clips in your post assist in further giving information to the viewer. I think memes and propaganda go hand in hand, the first posters for war were the most basic type of meme (Image + Text), I feel both memes and propaganda have evolved since then take this war for example 4chan vs tumblr.
Both parties used their own form of propaganda and memes.
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