Social Media, Memetics & the Propaganda Cycle

Originally published in Dope Era Magazine Spring 2018 print issue.

Call it fake news, biased opinion, alternative facts or straight up lies; there is a real problem in this country that most people are not paying attention too. A propaganda cycle that lies deeply embedded in our Social Media habits. It has not stopped after the 2016 election, and more elections are coming up in 2018.

While Social Media has historically been taken lightly as harmless entertainment, it is becoming more apparent with every tweet President Donald Trump posts that Social Media has also had a significantly adverse effect on our politics and culture. It’s time to take a more in-depth look at how propaganda embedded in Social Media becomes consumed as fact without any checks and receipts.

One of the most critical and overlooked tactics used to create a tribal cultish culture war is using memes in a tactic called Memetic Warfare. Memetic Warfare is a tactic that has used meme imagery to trigger and change public opinion that would otherwise move in a progressive direction. The theory works by showing the general public at certain imagery that will trigger them emotionally into changing their views. It divides public opinion away from fact and can turn politics into a spectator sport. When an imaginary world was created for “shit-posting…