I was born at the end of 1996. Exactly 17 days before the end of that year. I was a toddler during the 9/11 attacks, I still have the word "teen" embedded in my age, and I'm still too young to drink here in the states. I'm cynical of the political binary, take authority figures with a hint of skepticism, and appreciate facts over rhetorical fluff. While this is true for myself, this profile is common, and sometimes expected, from my peers who belong to the post-1994-born group of digital natives known as post-millennials, or Generation Z.
During Obama's eight years in office, my peers and I have matured from idealistic elementary school kids who have "only known" a black president, to high school and college students looking for ways to reconcile our youth with the reality of the world we are soon to inherit. Like many in my age group, I don't watch television for the news or political commentary. For that, I locate my grain of salt and take to the internet, intentionally or otherwise. The sheer abundance of information available to us would be daunting for anyone, but especially for those of us who were relatively sheltered by the prospect of a perfect post-racial America that solved issues of intersectionality by itself like a well-coded algorithm.
I see it in the faces and in the speech of my peers. We are intelligent, cynical, articulate, and exhausted. Intellectual discourse is the norm for us when we aren't talking pop-culture, and even then, that same level of intelligent cynicism is present (although that may be due to pop-culture's ever-growing coalescence with politics). These traits coupled with the circumstances of our generation's timing in relation to American history creates the perfect conditions for a rise in difficulties with mental and emotional health and the need for concise means of politically influencing a large number of our peers. We've found an outlet that allows us to embed humor, politics, pop-culture and conciseness into a highly influential medium. You guessed it. We found memes.
Internet memes have existed for decades and have been a trademark of the internet experience. My generation's first encounters with memes evokes memories of mindless viral videos and image macros that happen to be humorous within themselves. Memes popularized by millennials and younger, blur the line between politics and pop culture. They often need to be read in the context of an unrelated topic to be found humorous or even understood. They're shared on Twitter and Tumblr, and circulated through Reddit and Facebook. They're powerful too: They expose our political views and do more to influence our opinions than media pundits. They've allowed groups on both extremes of the political spectrum a voice in political discourse they wouldn't have otherwise.
In the context of this election, Hillary Clinton's campaign has followed the somewhat traditional path of having a social media presence and relying on that alone to reach young voters. Supporters of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have used memes to influence their peers since the beginning of this election cycle. If Bernie Sanders had to rely on his representation in the media as a lackluster alternative to True Democratic Candidate™ Hillary Clinton, his campaign would not have lasted as long as it did. Donald Trump's appeal with young voters lies in the memes of the alt-right, a conservative fringe group that prides itself in being the "social justice warriors" of right-wing ideals while championing the idea of White Nationalism. This push, along with the media's fascination with larger-than-life personalities and outrageous soundbites, has done more than helped Trump's campaign. Globally, memes depicting public figures have been just about prohibited by Russia's internet regulation group, Roskomnadzor.
My generation likes humor, we like getting information and answers instantaneously, and we like memes. Now, I must ask my readers, how do you think memes will continue to influence political discourse and the opinions of public figures?
