This Harden/Jordan meme makes me so happy. It is a classic illustration of a meme, and it is a classic illustration of propaganda. Memes are teeny blips in the broader world of propaganda, but they are simple and direct examples of propaganda.
Propaganda is designed to bypass rational thought. It triggers emotional responses before we have a chance to think things through. When our emotional systems have already been pushed in one direction or another, our thinking systems almost always follow in the same direction.
Memes go straight for our emotions. Look at the Harden/Jordan meme. The Jordan picture shows an intricate, difficult task--Jordan with both hands on the ball, and the defenders swarm around him--arms up, eyes up.
The Harden picture is the opposite--two clowns could not do a better job of mocking a basketball moment. The defender leans in awkwardly, hoping to draw a charge. Harden flails, appearing to look straight up in the air as he begins his shot.
It is well-designed to push your emotions in a direction. It suggests that the NBA was once glorious, but is now silly. The meme doesn’t want you to think; it only wants to engage your emotion and then leave before rational thought enters the frame. The old NBA is glorious and the new NBA is comical; now move on before you start to think.
But let’s be rational for just a moment. Someone browsed a thousand pictures of the modern NBA and used the silliest picture they could find. They browsed a thousand pictures of the NBA in the 90’s and used the most noble picture they could find. There are tens of thousands of pictures from each era to choose from.
Someone could very easily create the opposite effect with an awkward picture from the old NBA and an elegant picture from today’s NBA. The rational case for comparing the eras doesn't matter next to the emotional images. Memes go straight for your emotion.
Such is propaganda. It seems obvious to me when I look at the Harden/Jordan meme, and that’s why it makes me happy.
This protest meme is exactly the same thing. Exactly the same thing! The contrast between an old noble protest and a the chaotic looting of a Target hits our limbic system directly.
A determined person could find plenty of pictures of riots during the Civil Rights movement. You can find plenty of noble pictures from the George Floyd protests. But wait--rational thought is not allowed. Meme propaganda is about scoring easy points.
If points are easy to score, they must not have any impact, right? Unfortunately, the points have an impact. There’s a principle called social proof. One of our human default settings is to respect something more if more people are doing it, saying it, or supporting it. If one person in a crowd is staring up, who cares? But if half the people are staring up, there must be something to see.
Meme propaganda serves as social proof to keep members of a group from serious consideration of other viewpoints. They are a constant reminder about whose team you are on.
They are a also subversive. They don’t only remind you not to consider opposing viewpoints. They typically include some form of mockery or disgust that serve to suppress empathy. The clownish picture of James Harden’s bad shot is mockery. The chaotic picture of looters is intended to trigger disgust. Both suggest that there is no rational defense for an opposing viewpoint.
Mockery and disgust suppress empathy. Empathy is the most noble, most Christian of human emotions. Don't leave empathy behind.
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[Note: Any memes shared actually crossed my Facebook feed. I did not go looking for them. They came looking for me.]
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