Make America Meme Again: The Rhetoric of the Alt-Right

by Heather Suzanne Woods, Leslie A. Hahner

As demonstrated by the 2016 presidential election, memes have become the suasory tactic par excellence for the promotional and recruitment efforts of the Alt-right. Memes are not simply humorous shorthands or pithy assertions, but play a significant role in the machinations of politics and how the public comes to understand and respond to their government and compatriots. Using the tools of rhetorical criticism, the authors detail how memetic persuasion operates, with a particular focus on the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump. Make America Meme Again reveals the rhetorical principles used to design Alt-right memes, outlining the myriad ways memes lure mainstream audiences to a number of extremist claims. In particular, this book argues that Alt-right memes impact the culture of digital boards and broader public culture by stultifying discourse, thereby shaping how publics congeal. The authors demonstrate that memes are a mechanism that proliferate white nationalism and exclusionary politics by spreading algorithmically through network cultures in ways that are often difficult to discern. Alt-right memes thus present a significant threat to democratic praxis, one that can begin to be combatted through a rigorous rhetorical analysis of their power and influence. Make America Meme Again illuminates the function of networked persuasion for scholars and practitioners of rhetoric, media, and communication; political theorists; digital humanists; and anyone who has ever seen, crafted, or proliferated a meme.

Genres: Nonfiction

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Make America Meme Again is a troubling book in that it convincingly and meticulously charts some of the most disturbing behaviors and realities of our present political and media world. It does this with an unflinching eye that takes seriously the threats represented by people's online behaviors and the translation of those behaviors into in-person actions and beliefs. Profiling the Alt-Right and its beliefs and behaviors has to have been absolutely miserable work, but the crucial importance of that work is on full display here, demonstrating in each chapter key techniques, strategies, and logics of a group that too many people want to pretend doesn't exist--even now, several years after Trump's election when their influence and the continued popularity of their racist beliefs only seems to have grown. With this reality in mind, awareness of the strategies and problems identified in these pages is more important than ever as a way of understanding and combatting the rhetorics of hate and alienation that are so prominent amongst these hate groups. Make America Meme Again is an example of timely and critical scholarship directly addressing the most pressing problems of our time. It does so with style, grace, and even humor, and is a very fine book that I believe more people ought to read.

[Rafael Nardini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dia desses, eu conversava com a minha professora de literatura inglesa e norte americana sobre a função desses Memes.
Não sobre o léxico, mas sobre seu papel na comunicação - emissor, mensagem, receptor - e como essa proposta simples acaba obtendo o resultado esperado.

A persuasão memética, que se espalha algoritmicamente, embrutece radicalmente o discurso e acaba por enlouquecer os humanos.

As pessoas acabam realmente enfezadas!

Vamos lembrar que a palavra enfezado teve sua origem na Roma antiga quando um cristão foi jogado dentro de uma bacia com fezes, sobreviveu e saiu gritando:
- Estou enfezado! Estou enfezado!

Como funciona a receita?

Imagine que o seu grupo de discussão no Whatsapp seja a bacia com fezes. Nela, você deposita o seu cérebro para marinar. Quanto maior o tempo de maturação, melhor o resultado.
Retire o seu cérebro do Whatsapp e reserve.
Agora, você acredita que está bem informado e pronto para o voto.

E como funciona o voto?

A palavra voto também vem lá da Roma antiga. Ela vem do latim votu, que significa (acredite, por favor): promessa!. Ou seja, já naquele tempo, dizia Jesus aos seus discípulos: Não dêem seus votos para quem só faz promessas.
Mas o povo é uma tragédia. E não é de hoje. Eles não ouvem...
Sabe o que fizeram com o Jesus?
Deram um pau nele, pregaram numa cruz e mataram.
Se bem que ele, diga-se de passagem, fazia também muitas promessas.
Mas esse, pelo menos cumpria.