6/6 Boyd & Domniguez

Anrew Boyd's article, Truth is a Virus, discusses a new wave of protest using memes as a method of critiquing and resisting politics. Historically, social movements have been a space where large groupings of people physically congregrate to fight for a certain cause using symbolic images to accompy them. This takes form in certain symbols that represent the whole movement, flags, and protest art and slogans. This article was interesting because memes have created a virtual space for people to gather and share their thoughts. Symbolic images take form in memes that ironically and satirically critique certain things in politics. The collective resistance against politics makes it seem like it can be a social movement. However, the author ultimately states, that it can only do much on the virtual level, and for it to make a true impact, there needs to be physical collective action. Reading this article reminded me of my social movements class I am taking right now. According to the class, social movements share common characteristics which are collective challenges by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interaction with elite, opponents, or authorities. Although the meme warfare has some of  these characteristics, it tends to lack in solidarity and a defined common purpose.

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