So here we are, November. Five days until election day. And here we are already for Post It Politics. My second to last blog before we decide between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.
And yet, and correct me here if you believe differently, it seems that much of the dialogue about the candidates has slowed. I feel this can be attributed to a number of reasons. The debates are done. Perhaps people are for the most part tired of the campaign and have made up their mind as to who they're voting for. Or at least that's the way it feels here on campus.
Except, I believe this also might have something to do with Hurricane Sandy. As I put in my blog on Monday, the hurricane kept most of us here on the Eastern Seaboard indoors. And for those in other parts of the country, is easy to assume that people were more likely to tune in to national weather reports as opposed to campaign coverage. In a way, this chart (featuring two of our favorite Post It Politics topics, battleships and Etch A Sketch) shows how Sandy overshadowed the campaign. It was more imminent. More powerful
Side Note: I love this chart. It is a perfect junction of comedy, faux political analysis, actual political analysis, and recognition of how bizarre this whole situation is.
However, this is not to say that Sandy did not have real political consequences. As outlined in this ABC News story, it did grind both campaigns to halt, while also slightly changing the direction of the campaign, with Romney having to explain his credentials for dealing with natural disasters and "project leadership," while Obama can boost his image by being seen as an effective leader of disaster efforts. Many would say that Obama has accomplished this aim, especially through his surveying of the damage with republican power player Chris Christie in New Jersey, outlined here in the Washington Post, which many saw as strong and bipartisan as the positive, cooperative relationship between the two has played out for the media. This has certainly helped Obama in the polls, where Obama and the Federal Government have received massive 78% and 73% approval ratings for their response to the hurricane, while Romney only polled at 44%. (But honestly, come on, what was Romney supposed to do to come across better than the president here? Kind of a loaded analysis by the pollsters here.) Meanwhile, another fake Twitter account emerged, lambasting Romney, @MittStormTips. This one basically mocks Romney for putting relief effort motifs into his campaign, not being able to connect with those affected by Sandy due to his vast wealth, and (possibly) supporting policies that would cut government funding that supply aid to victims. So far it has over 11,000 followers. Still, I get the feeling that this is less do to Romney actually getting a bad rap in public because of Sandy, and more just because anything that gets swept up into the the meme/twitterverse seems to get Romney's face somehow plastered to it nowadays.
Which leads me to my second topic for today's blog: the social media craze surrounding Hurricane Sandy. From the moment people started to here about the coming "Frankenstorm," the memes started flying. But why is this relevant in a blog about politically imagery? Well, let me tell you.
I believe the social media craze surrounding Sandy is an indicator just how much meme and imagery culture has taken off in the past year. I believe this by comparing the public's response to Hurricane Irene in August of 2011 to what we experienced last weekend.
Hurricane Irene did receive quite a bit of meme attention. It has its own Know Your Meme page and everything. And it did lead to the Laundry Room Viking meme, which was quite good, though ridiculous.
However, let's compare the two storms now. While Hurricane Irene's Know Your Meme Page has been linked to a grand total of 13 images, Hurricane Sandy's has 163.
It even led to the inevitable, "Brace Yourself" meme, foretelling the coming of more Sandy memes.
Now, granted, there could be a variety of reasons why there was such a deluge of memes for Sandy, especially when compared to Irene. First off, it probably didn't hurt that Sandy shares a name with a both a character from one of the most famous musicals of all time and one of my generation's most beloved cartoons.
Other factors I can think of.
- Sandy was simply bigger than Irene, causing more damage and affecting more people
- It occurred right before Halloween, hence the whole "Frankenstorm" moniker
- It hit New York City hard, a city that all of America is in tune to for some reason or another basically every day
- And (and this one I think really makes sense) Sandy gave students a (much deserved) day off from school all over the East Coast. What do students with unexpected free-time often end up doing? Random stuff on the internet of course!
Still, could these lead to simply so many memes? I don't think so. I think 2012 has been a breakthrough year for memes in general. People are just in tune to them right now. This has affected the campaign trail just as it's affected the public's perception of Hurricane Sandy.
But could this be a bad thing? We've speculated as much here on the Post It Politics blog before, in terms of people no longer focusing on the issues in the campaign. I think this worry definitely started to worry some people out there. As stories of Manhattan being underwater, power outages, and tipping cranes started to come out, the mood on Facebook, Twitter, and else where became much more serious. I started to wonder. Do we make light to not deal with the reality that was coming, or here? Why did we find Sandy funny, when we knew all along that homes and lives were at risk? It seems I was not alone, as shown by this editorial from the Seattle Times.
Maybe that's the takeaway theme from 2012. The year we became even more desensitized from people, preferring instead photoshop and a quick laugh.
Thanks for reading folks. Here we go into the last weekend of the campaign. We'll see whether or not any of my antics will create Post It Politics followers here before the big day, now that the storm has passed and people are venturing out of their homes. Here's hoping the weather clears up a little bit more. Not much time left now.
PS--Ok, that was kind of a depressing note to end a blog on, especially so late in the project. Therefore, in the spirit of Post It Politics, enjoy this video by Joss Whedon, (One of my favorite directors. He did create Firefly after all) that manages to make fun of Mitt Romney (as the internet and celebrities have been known to do) while also introducing Zombie culture into the campaign. Which we all know this campaign could use more of. Enjoy!
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