Meme Hell 2016

The meme has become a force of instant political and social expression, transferring text and imagery in an instant. Free sites such as memegenerator.net provide creators the means of production; individuals may then upload memes to their social network of choice (Facebook, Twitter, or others). Some memes-- such as the first two in this compilation-- draw on viewers' cultural literacy (namely, Comedy Central's short-lived series The Chappelle Show and the film Office Space. The fourth meme here uses lyrics from Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall). This compilation also includes several memes featuring characters from the Canadian program Trailer Park Boys. The vast majority of these memes, however, comment on the Presidential election of 2016. 

I joined the Facebook group "Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash" in the spring of 2016. I am not sure of the exact date, but I recall the group had a few hundred members (as of this posting, it has over 43,000). Other groups like it began as the primaries slouched democracy forward; potent political images began to populate my news feed. I saved copies of images I thought were especially strong, often posting these to my own Facebook feed. I made three memes: one, criticizing one of Vermont's superdelegates for pledging support to Hillary, despite the state's popular vote; another cast the Civilian Conservation Corps as "democratic socialism" on the program's birthday; the third chastised a talk show host for laughing as they spoke Bernie Sanders' name during a commercial for their show. This latter meme-- an attack on the fair and balanced nature of a longtime press correspondent and DC insider-- garnered far more negative attention than I could have anticipated via Twitter. I quit listening to that program, and I quit making memes (for the time being). I have not included my original memes in this compilation. 

Individuals' repurposing of potent cultural images and text is an important development in political and social representation and expression. While a handful of political cartoons included here are the exception (the relation between the two forms is very close, becoming in some ways indistinguishable when political cartoons are digitized and distributed virtually), the memes below are uncited, their creators uncredited. To their credit, the Sanders campaign began creating their own official memes for years prior to the Democratic convention; only one of theirs (branded with the official Bernie logo) is included here. Some photographs, or captured images of tweets, are included, as (in my view) their transmission alongside memes make them worthy of inclusion. I am providing this compilation not only to provoke more discussion of the 2016 Presidential election, but to prompt further examination of the meme as a unique form of individual political and social rhetoric in the 21st century.