Memes as an Act of Resistance - Scott Bram

Company Layoffs (Scott Bram)

DEI Support (Mohammed Camara)

Groceries Should Not be a Luxury (Scott Bram)

Robots Taking our Jobs Might Actually be Happening (Oswald Pellegrini)

How CAN Memes act as a form of resistance and advocacy? 

    Memes can act as a form of resistance as they are easy to make, easy to distribute, and are more often than not a commentary on social, economic, or political happenings. These short critiques can make way for larger actions and awareness as the more controversial or current a topic is, the more likely it is to be shared. Some people use memes as calls to action, and prolonged exposure to memes of this caliber can subconsciously change an unbiased person's perspective. These can be as small as changing someone's opinion on something they once disagreed with, or full-on radicalization.

-

Definitions

Patriarchy: A social construct built on misogyny which forces gender roles onto women and men.

Activism: Gatherings, works of art, and other forms of protest used as a means to demand change.

-

The Art of Activism: Chapter 1

    '"As the writer Jorge Luis Borges summarized at the end of his life: “The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory.”'

    The creation of art has, and will last the test of time, with evidence of past people's lives found in caves, behind posters, on walls, and in soundwaves. While writings are the most common and easy to understand the telling of history, interpretive pieces such as art (of course) leave room for interpretation. That room left over forces a viewer to think more about how life was instead of only going by what writings tell them.

    "There are rational reasons for why people often make sense of the world like this ... but what matters here is this idea that we are often moved to become involved with politics for non-rational, emotional, and personal reasons, and that we make sense of our world through symbols and stories as much as words and logical arguments. Accepting this idea means accepting that we need to do activism in a way that acknowledges the power of the sensual and the emotional."

    People base and justify their actions on their emotions. Whether it be joy, fear, anger, or sadness, those with agendas of any kind will have the best chances of getting their messages across if they attack the main thing that makes people human. Unfortunately, the most effective emotions to capitalize on are fear, anger, and sadness, which can then lead to potentially violent calls to action.