For the past couple of years, social media has entered a very strange evolution. We can all agree on that. Facebook in particular. It went from a casual interactive site between college students to a worldwide phenomenon. Recently, my newsfeed would be filled with negative toxicity. And this was from reposts of friends and strangers that I may have accidentally added. But for the most part, I would consistently see just really sh*tty things. At first, it was just seeing it but after a while, it started to affect how I was posting and what I would talk about. I was finding myself with an anger infused style of writing. Maybe you can relate? A lot of things about America and what’s really going on around the world, and then I would see ignorant posts resonating with hatred and racism.
However, randomly throughout the day, I would see these really funny memes of the political chaos and they were focused on an icon in my mind: Bernie Sanders. So one day, I just joined the group. And in that moment, I did not leave my seat. I was engulfed by the culture and community. And it’s crazy because I felt so comfortable when I talked to the people. Everyone just seemed to have the same interests in life. It was cool because a lot of these people seemed like outsiders. And to see the productive interactions within the post comments was very pleasant to see. It was also cool to see the interests of people via the memes they created. Several shoes and bands I thought no one liked/appreciated were brought up and conversed about. I also saw people who posted things with destructive means—*ssholes that wanted to get a rise out of people with low class statements and posts. But it was much different than comments one would see on Donald Trump’s Facebook posts.
No, not even close. People actually looked for the root of the problem. There, for the most part, wasn’t animosity returned but a curiosity as to how to resolve the issue. It showed me that arguments can be settled through means of understanding. It showed me people were on the same page when it came to peace. And for the next couple of weeks, my newsfeed shifted from a negative dumpsite to a humorous and light-hearted source of energy. I find myself looking forward to scrolling down my newsfeed nowadays because of the creativity and brilliance that reverberates from what people post. I still see the negativity. I mean, it’s everywhere, really. But what I’ve learned through joining Bernie Sanders’ Dank Meme Stash is that there are people out there that are genuinely good, coming together for a cause directed at the internal problems our country faces. There is too much dankness to even explain.
The people have become a body of hilarious, confused, bottled up humor that is expressed through pictures, infamously comparison ones, but the weapons at one’s disposal is ridiculous. The number of pictures of politicians in weird positions constructing weirder facial gestures is absolutely wicked. I never in a million years would imagine seeing a video of Hillary Clinton smoking a bong through animation and editing. I didn’t even know other people hated Hillary for the reasons similar to mine. I didn’t even know people like "Final Fantasy," but I learned that these people are all located in Bernie Sanders’ Dank Meme stash. These dank people of our country are making such a statement with the dankness of their memes. It allowed me to understand that the Millennials aren’t the generation addicted to drugs and sex. These people are looking for a better future. And they do it with the support and strength the Sanders’ campaign is doing. I’ve learned that our generation is establishing a voice, and we do it through dank memes.