‘Do memes (as it is popular in Malaysian politics) provide a useful way of understanding politics?’
MDA 20009 Digital Communities
Hello everyone, today we are going to dive into a rather interesting topic in youth trends. Enjoy reading! <3
Whenever people chat, post videos or write blogs, they insert memes to add interest to the content. In recent years, memes have become popular not only in the social media culture but also in the political arena, and Malaysia is no exception. In fact, there has been a surge in the use of memes to convey complex political messages in the Malaysian political arena. But do these memes really help us understand politics better?
Before we delve into the meme culture in Malaysia and its impact on political participation, let's take a look at this video by BBC Ideas.
The video explores the history and definition of meme in depth. From the video, the interviewer defines meme in various ways:
“meme can say a lot more than one sentence as well”
“A written joke that’s related to something that happens in real life”
“links with ironic attitude to everything, where you can express your disdain, disappointment, a lack of trust in something”
The term ‘meme’ was first coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976, in his book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins describes a meme as a unit of cultural transmission or mimicry, which can be an idea, behavior or style that spreads through a culture. Today, the concept has been applied to the digital age, where meme resonates with Internet users as a quick, shareable idea (BBC Ideas, 2020).
In simple terms, a meme is an expression of a person's opinion about something or a person's behavior using a combination between images, text, and video, which can take many forms such as a story, irony, or sarcasm. A meme politics is a meme that contains a political character (person/thing).
Memes: A Modern Political Tool
In Malaysia, young people discuss and display politics on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok in a variety of ways that reflect public sentiments and criticisms, such as ‘meme politics’ (meme politics).
As refer to the study by Nizah et al. (2024), ‘memes’ are currently one of the newest forms of saturation communication. During the 2014 presidential election, a large number of ‘meme’ cartoons appeared on the Indonesian Internet and played an important role in the country's political discourse (Aminulloh et al.)
Another example is that during the 2018 general election, netizens created memes to mock and criticize the then-ruling BN party, and memes mocking government policies became viral, pushing the younger generation to engage in political discussions and even motivating voters to vote.
This illustrates how internet memes can be used as a tool for political education, especially among internet-savvy young Malaysians.
Are Memes Really Helping Us Understand Politics?
One of the main benefits of ‘memes’ in a political context is the ability to take issues that are usually complex, heavy, and difficult for the average person to engage with such topics as economic reform, election scandals, and government policies, and break them down into easily digestible forms that become more accessible when translated into shareable comedic images.
Political memes can indeed lower the barriers to political and the sense of humor displayed in political discourse through memes increases the public's willingness to discuss political issues, which is important in countries where politics can be sensitive. Furthermore, memes are easy to share, so anyone can join the conversation.
According to Walter et al. (2018), humor has a slight but significant effect on persuasion, a moderate effect on awareness, and a slight effect on attitudes and behavioral intentions. Humor was also more effective for individuals who were highly engaged in politics. For individuals who are less politically engaged and not interested in politics, presenting politics in an entertaining or humorous way may motivate them to acquire additional political information, which is known as the ‘gateway effect’. The most critical feature of humor is its ability to enhance the reputation of the source. Gruner (2017) has found that the ability of humor can enhance the source’s reputation as it allows people to equate a humorous source with strong credibility, even though it is unrelated. In addition, humor is associated with a latent effect, whereby humor is associated with low levels of source credibility, but steadily increases as the audience separates the source from the message (Kasmani, F. 2022). These findings suggest that humor is influential in persuasion and political communication.
Furthermore, memes are emotionally appealing and accessible, capitalizing on anti-establishment sentiments and discontent with the political class to evoke a sense of a positive future. Donald Trump's slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) became a memes after it was first coined during Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign. Influenced by the catchphrase, citizens have worn ‘MAGA’ merchandise or vented their anger under the official hashtag #MAGA, expecting recognition from those who feel the same way. The hashtag not only provides an easy way for people to gain satisfaction and self-affirmation, but also allows users to incorporate the rebellious colours of heroism into their personal image (Helferich & Helferich, 2022).
Memes favor the rapid diffusion of ideas (Denisova, 2016) and can therefore enable online activists to quickly initiate and spread dialogue about neglected political issues (Moreno-Almeida, 2021). Plus, political memes do spread awareness of political issues (Miltner, 2018). Milner (2013) has also illustrated an example, the Occupy Wall Street memes disseminated information related to the movement and stimulated dialogue between social media users of different political stances (Helferich & Helferich, 2022).
“Memes can be a double-edged sword - on the one hand, memes make content more relatable and accessible, but on the other hand, memes can sometimes oversimplify complex issues or spread misinformation.”
While memes can draw attention to political issues, they have their limitations. One major problem is that humor or sarcasm in memes tends to oversimplify issues, which can lead to misunderstandings. The sharing of political memes without context can lead to the spread of misinformation or misinterpretation of political events. Additionally, the amplification of popular opinions in news phrases hinders nuanced political discussion. Studies have identified misinformation and low-level policy information in memes, indicating that they are unlikely to enhance political knowledge (Dupuis & Williams, 2019; McLoughlin & Southern, 2020) (Halversen & Weeks, 2023).
In summary, it seems fair to suggest that the meme is an interactive medium for citizens to comment on politics, and that it undoubtedly plays an important role in Malaysian politics. It has made political information more accessible and engaging, and they provide citizens with a platform to express their opinions and participate in political discussions, especially for those who may not be familiar with formal political debates. However, it is important to exercise caution when engaging with political memes. While they can be a useful tool for understanding politics, they may not always provide comprehensive or accurate information. To gain a deeper understanding of politics, it is essential to complement memes with more detailed, fact-based sources of information.
Well done!! You have reached the end of this blog ^^
What do you think? Are memes helping or hurting political discourse in Malaysia? For me, I think it does raise awareness of political participation. However, I think people should endeavour to address the cause of the problem itself instead of blaming others for their mistakes and avoid cyber-attacks to create a peaceful environment for digital platforms.
I hope you've gained something here and see ya in the next post <333
BBC Ideas. (2020, September 24). A brief history of memes | BBC Ideas [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VS9cWmmu2k
Halversen, A., & Weeks, B. E. (2023). Memeing Politics: Understanding political meme creators, audiences, and consequences on social media. Social Media + Society, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231205588
Helferich, J., & Helferich, J. (2022, December 31). The power of memes in political campaigning | John Helferich | Oxford Political Review. Oxford Political Review. https://oxfordpoliticalreview.com/2021/07/11/the-power-of-memes-in-political-campaigning/
Kasmani, F. (2022). Persuasive political humour on social media: A study of Najib Razak's Facebook posts. 14. 1-17. Research Gate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360352838_Persuasive_political_humour_on_social_media_A_study_of_Najib_Razak's_Facebook_posts
Nizah, M. a. M., Bakar, A. R. A., Zahran, M. A., & Mokhtar, M. a. M. (2024). The influence of political memes on political marketing strategy in Malaysia. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 14(1), 118. https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v14i1.21881
