4. Its 2020 and Nothing is Truly Popular without a Meme to their Name
And we got another testament by the public of Dr. Fauci’s popularity when he became the face of many political memes.
On 20th March, the US President Donald Trump, at a briefing, made a passing remark to the existence of a ‘Deep State’ within the US Government which conspires against his interests and those of his Republican party. Dr. Fauci, who was standing right behind him, couldn’t help but let out a chuckle and cover his face with his hand. This was not an isolated event, Trump has repeatedly been a perpetrator of misinformation to the world, be it his downplaying of the coronavirus or his suggestion of ingesting disinfectants as a possible treatment for the virus. This particular event, however, set off a switch which catapulted Dr. Fauci to international fame. He was already a notable national figure and was internationally recognized as a leading authority on the coronavirus pandemic. But because of one peculiar reason, the doctor now became a figure who could be recognized by virtually anybody even remotely plugged in to social media.
This is because this time around, he was covered not just by the newspapers and TV channels but captured by the meme culture on the internet, where a very large consumer base resides. The facepalm by Dr. Fauci, was immediately picked up by people on the internet and memes on it spread like wildfire. The event seemed to define the zeitgeist of time as figures of authority were regularly giving out questionable advice to the public. Facepalming was the only thing that the informed could do. This is also a classic example of cold media where the participants actually had to get involved, open up their browsers and find out the context of the meme in order to relate to it. Soon, Twitter was trending with the hashtag #FauciFacepalm, Instagram meme pages were awash with facepalm memes and Tiktokers flooded the internet with their takes on the issue. This is how Dr. Fauci also conquered the meme world, after the medical, political and consumer world.
The above artefact is one of the many cartoons that the event has inspired. This particular meme shows how the US President is absorbed in his efforts to secure a re-election by whatever means necessary that he is blinded to the fact that the wave of red dots spreading across the map of his nation are not that of his success but actually indicators of coronavirus cases. Dr. Fauci’s face was used on many memes similar to this, to take a laugh at President Trump, an instance of the public putting our protagonist into the political sphere.
The meme culture also signifies an important component of the participatory culture today. Memes have become the one thing that every single person can make and participate in the larger conversation. And making a cartoon/meme on one of the Fauci vs Trump interactions was an active participation by a media consumer, making him a media prosumer.
