Let's start off today by looking at last Thursday's vice presidential debate and the public's reaction.
First off, who won? After all, this should play a role in the discussion/imagery following the debate. The answer: both. As post debate polls and analysis showed, both Biden and Ryan had a strong showing, with either candidate coming out ahead in different polls. Both Democrats and Republicans claimed victories, as Biden seemed to rally a Democrat base that was somewhat unenthused with President Obama's debate performance last week by remaining energetic and not backing down on Democratic values like taxes and abortion, while Ryan maintained his confident public demeanor and took the opportunity to strengthen the Romney campaign's claim that Obama and Biden do not have a strong record to run on and therefore have to rely on scare tactics.
So, in the end my prediction that one of the candidates might make history by flopping did not seem to hold water.
Nevertheless, the internet machine did manage to create some imagery out of the event. Most of these lampooned Biden, who throughout the debate did not seem to take what Ryan was saying seriously (which SNL made sure to use later in the week). This ranged from Biden throwing his hands up in the air, visibly laughing while Ryan was talking, and once referring to a statement by Ryan as "a bunch of malarkey." The result: Joe Biden's very own meme!
As you can see, these memes come from both sides, with some characterizing Biden as immature, while others applaud him for not taking Ryan seriously. In the end though, it's hard to say if the alterations made to Biden's image by this meme have really changed the public's overall perception of the vice president, as even some of his biggest fans don't seem to take him too seriously.
In other meme news, pictures of Paul Ryan working out taken by Time Magazine have led to a whole slew of memes. I briefly mentioned these in last Thursday's blog, but they have really started to grab the public's attention and stimulate it's creativity in the last few days.
Paul Ryan: Republican Fitness Idol or Upstart Generation Xer? You decide.
*Also, his bicep now has a Twitter account.
One final image is not so much a meme, but more of a blow to Romney's image as a whole. To see this image, all you have to do is Google Image "completely wrong."
This image was the result of Romney's own remarks regarding his 47% video that Mother Jones released (a video that in its own right became a powerful image. Hopefully I will get a chance to comment on its implications before election day). While appearing on Hannity, Romney backtracked on his comments, calling his 47% claim "completely wrong." This led to an upswing in images of Romney with the phrase "completely wrong" attached to them, which in turn led to another unfortunate image crisis for the presidential hopeful. I find this particular image interesting, for the alteration that was made to create it was not necessarily made by Romney supporters or detractors, but by the internet itself. I wonder if this passive creation has no meaning, or can be considered an actual commentary on Romney in the internet age.
I had an interesting moment in my own image campaign this week, when I stumbled upon and posted on an image on campus of not Romney or Obama, but Latin-American revolutionary Che Guevara.
This image was posted by a conservative student group that I had previously not heard of called Young America's Foundation. Apparently they're like a Campus Republican group that is networking across the country to train future conservative leaders that is really psyched about now owning Ronald Reagan's old ranch.
The image protests the way many liberals (especially college aged ones) have idolized Che's image, and suggest that we take October 9th, the day Che was executed, and turn it into a day dedicated to recalling that Che was a murderous socialist who simply got what he deserved. I looked into this, and found in this article, written by a Maryland YAF member, that this was a poster campaign made exclusively by the YAF group here at the University of Maryland. It looks like on October 9th, these students put up some posters and a table, and were happy to stir up some controversy by baiting campus liberals while getting pats on the back by conservatives nationwide on Twitter and the organization website.
My biggest question: Why can't I find any other posters to post on? I was hoping this would be my chance to finally widely circulate my image, creating a discussion about socialism, revolution, and the like. But this one, single poster has been the only one that I have seen anywhere on campus. And this gets me thinking, how successful was this movement exactly? I never heard about it after it happened. No one around campus seemed to be talking about/reporting about it (and this from a campus whose student newspaper is known to right fervently about changes to the dining hall menu, let alone hot-blooded anti-socialist movements). Were these posters perhaps taken down by the "socialist sympathizers" that the YAF student writes about? Or did YAF simply not put up that many posters, hoping only to get a short moment in the spotlight?
I plan on contacting this student group, and finding out about how exactly this poster campaign was carried out, plus hearing about how students reacted to their movement and how that might compare to Post It Politics. Hopefully I'll be able to provide you with the details in future blogs.
Enjoy the second presidential debate tomorrow! You know I will ;)
@Post_It_2012
So, in the end my prediction that one of the candidates might make history by flopping did not seem to hold water.
Nevertheless, the internet machine did manage to create some imagery out of the event. Most of these lampooned Biden, who throughout the debate did not seem to take what Ryan was saying seriously (which SNL made sure to use later in the week). This ranged from Biden throwing his hands up in the air, visibly laughing while Ryan was talking, and once referring to a statement by Ryan as "a bunch of malarkey." The result: Joe Biden's very own meme!
As you can see, these memes come from both sides, with some characterizing Biden as immature, while others applaud him for not taking Ryan seriously. In the end though, it's hard to say if the alterations made to Biden's image by this meme have really changed the public's overall perception of the vice president, as even some of his biggest fans don't seem to take him too seriously.
In other meme news, pictures of Paul Ryan working out taken by Time Magazine have led to a whole slew of memes. I briefly mentioned these in last Thursday's blog, but they have really started to grab the public's attention and stimulate it's creativity in the last few days.
Paul Ryan: Republican Fitness Idol or Upstart Generation Xer? You decide.
*Also, his bicep now has a Twitter account.
One final image is not so much a meme, but more of a blow to Romney's image as a whole. To see this image, all you have to do is Google Image "completely wrong."
This image was the result of Romney's own remarks regarding his 47% video that Mother Jones released (a video that in its own right became a powerful image. Hopefully I will get a chance to comment on its implications before election day). While appearing on Hannity, Romney backtracked on his comments, calling his 47% claim "completely wrong." This led to an upswing in images of Romney with the phrase "completely wrong" attached to them, which in turn led to another unfortunate image crisis for the presidential hopeful. I find this particular image interesting, for the alteration that was made to create it was not necessarily made by Romney supporters or detractors, but by the internet itself. I wonder if this passive creation has no meaning, or can be considered an actual commentary on Romney in the internet age.
I had an interesting moment in my own image campaign this week, when I stumbled upon and posted on an image on campus of not Romney or Obama, but Latin-American revolutionary Che Guevara.
This image was posted by a conservative student group that I had previously not heard of called Young America's Foundation. Apparently they're like a Campus Republican group that is networking across the country to train future conservative leaders that is really psyched about now owning Ronald Reagan's old ranch.
The image protests the way many liberals (especially college aged ones) have idolized Che's image, and suggest that we take October 9th, the day Che was executed, and turn it into a day dedicated to recalling that Che was a murderous socialist who simply got what he deserved. I looked into this, and found in this article, written by a Maryland YAF member, that this was a poster campaign made exclusively by the YAF group here at the University of Maryland. It looks like on October 9th, these students put up some posters and a table, and were happy to stir up some controversy by baiting campus liberals while getting pats on the back by conservatives nationwide on Twitter and the organization website.
My biggest question: Why can't I find any other posters to post on? I was hoping this would be my chance to finally widely circulate my image, creating a discussion about socialism, revolution, and the like. But this one, single poster has been the only one that I have seen anywhere on campus. And this gets me thinking, how successful was this movement exactly? I never heard about it after it happened. No one around campus seemed to be talking about/reporting about it (and this from a campus whose student newspaper is known to right fervently about changes to the dining hall menu, let alone hot-blooded anti-socialist movements). Were these posters perhaps taken down by the "socialist sympathizers" that the YAF student writes about? Or did YAF simply not put up that many posters, hoping only to get a short moment in the spotlight?
I plan on contacting this student group, and finding out about how exactly this poster campaign was carried out, plus hearing about how students reacted to their movement and how that might compare to Post It Politics. Hopefully I'll be able to provide you with the details in future blogs.
Enjoy the second presidential debate tomorrow! You know I will ;)
@Post_It_2012
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