Memes

Memes have become a staple in political communication. However, the relationship between individuals’ political orientation, their level of affective polarization, the moral content of memes, and meme effectiveness is underexplored. I expected that polarized partisans would rate ingroup memes as more effective than outgroup memes. In line with moral foundations theory, I expected that polarized liberals would rate individualizing foundation memes as more effective than less polarized memes and that polarized conservatives would rate binding foundation memes as more effective than less polarized conservatives. Participants (N = 467) rated moral political memes for meme effectiveness. Results indicated that more polarized conservatives, but not liberals, rated ingroup memes as more effective than outgroup memes. Polarized liberals rated purity/sanctity as more effective than less polarized liberals. Polarized conservatives rated fairness/reciprocity plus the binding foundations memes as more effective than less polarized conservatives. These results indicate that polarized partisans react to memes differently.

Strategies of Disconnection is short story collection focusing on memes or rather the intersection of modern internet meme culture, meme theory, and Christianity, capturing the realities of an era of memetic upheaval (in 2016 the search term “Meme” overtook the term “Jesus” in popularity) when the digital and the spiritual seem to overlap, both contending for attention. Memes are culturally analogous to genes, both serving as entities driven toward survival and reproduction. Yet, and entities analogous to genes, memes find themselves contending for survival. These stories inhabit the perspective of memes as characters attempting to acknowledge existence alongside their genetic counterparts: An unnamed creator who falls for Lucy, the first set of hominid bones, an actor who avoids notoriety after having played the role of god, and internet troll Anon, who lives on 4chan.