you don’t have to imagine. their propaganda posters should genuinely be thought of as being memes. every poster is a meme that the people gluing up hope will influence the general sentiment of the people around them. internet memes are not truly new. there are merely the most common form of propaganda detritus in our current age. in the 20s-90s, this was the poster and the street tag
I think neatly curated propaganda work isn’t quite the same as an internet meme. The Richard Dawkins, Metal Gear Rising definition, perhaps. Internet memes, especially modern ones, have a crude banality if not outright absurdity to them. It’s like saying a funny home video uploaded to YouTube is essentially the same as a theatrical comedy movie release.
I don’t fully agree with that. The extreme right have definitely weaponized memes to be form of modern propaganda on a whole other level. We mock this for being a “hello fellow kids” kind of boomer attempt at memes, but it 100% works for the targeted young male adults. Just look at the demographic data for how many young males voted for this and continue to propogate their cult’s extremism across the internet.
Carmakazi@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I imagine Nazi memes would be similarly humorless to normal people, where cruelty is always the punchline.
Quill7513@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
you don’t have to imagine. their propaganda posters should genuinely be thought of as being memes. every poster is a meme that the people gluing up hope will influence the general sentiment of the people around them. internet memes are not truly new. there are merely the most common form of propaganda detritus in our current age. in the 20s-90s, this was the poster and the street tag
Carmakazi@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I think neatly curated propaganda work isn’t quite the same as an internet meme. The Richard Dawkins, Metal Gear Rising definition, perhaps. Internet memes, especially modern ones, have a crude banality if not outright absurdity to them. It’s like saying a funny home video uploaded to YouTube is essentially the same as a theatrical comedy movie release.
bassomitron@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I don’t fully agree with that. The extreme right have definitely weaponized memes to be form of modern propaganda on a whole other level. We mock this for being a “hello fellow kids” kind of boomer attempt at memes, but it 100% works for the targeted young male adults. Just look at the demographic data for how many young males voted for this and continue to propogate their cult’s extremism across the internet.