Everyone is ‘Literally’ Hitler - Media Ecologies and Obfuscation of Hate

It is certainly true that we take our ability to communicate effectively and efficiently quite for granted in the modern era; from twitter feeds, social platforms to wiki pages and SMS streams, the underlying technologies are so ubiquitous that we do not really think about them – unless perhaps they were suddenly taken away from us.  The assemblages of these various channels into a cohesive framework is manifested in a complex infrastructure that is entwined into modern culture. The effects are not always so clear cut and the consequences of this modern human competence is at times cloaked in some ways; the mediums carrying the payload can often commandeer the message for political – even nefarious – reasons. Looking back to the 16^th century, the Reformation provides an interesting backdrop to illustrate how newly emerging

ecologies can do just such a thing. When writing, and the attendant science of book publishing, were in its infancy for various reasons (i.e. cost, capabilities, literacy), Martin Luther sparked the Reformation by challenging the dogma of the Catholic Church. His version of social media, which was enabled by the new printing press technology, allowed his postulations and critiques of current Christendom to be communicated relatively quickly; and en masse. An asynchronous channel that undermined the moral authority of the day – the Pope – which in turn sparked conversation with the dynamics of this new ecology, allowing Luther’s doctrine to ‘go viral’ -- to use current digital era parlance. Others responded via this new network “fired back with their own collection of theses” (Standage 55). The underlying technology in this case, while slow by today’s standards, served the purposes of creating a new heterogeneous community of those with social concerns, and an associated outlet to vent and become engaged. The message payload was a call to social action, in order to gain freedom from the constraints of the Church’s influence of the time. History tells us that Luther was a staunch anti-Semite, with Hitler referencing him in his Mein Kampf as an influence (Chap. 8). Luther's early social media based manifests of his era would reach their dastardly climax in the Third Reich when German Catholics and Protestants alike were receptive to the new Nazi form of antisemitism. 

 Turning to the current era, the underlying technology allows everyone to challenge what they see as the ignoble pursuits of others. There is no argument required, simply innuendo and hyperbole suffice to allow the message payload to be fired into the communication ecosystem to great effect. During the recent American election, Donald Trump, as the GOP candidate, was identified as a racist and all around bigot, with memes synopsizing these accusations.  This achieved ridiculous heights with the ‘Pepe the Frog’ meme becoming the symbol of new-age white supremacism. No longer the hooded cowls and burning crosses of the KKK , Trump ‘was’ Hitler since the frog image was co-opted by a few bigots. Confusing his crass and ignorant ramblings as hate, this correlation was causation for many -- with CNN, the Clinton campaign and even the Anti-Defamation league denouncing the cartoon image. A knee-jerk reaction to be sure. The propaganda campaign usurped the power of social media in order to influence many in the digital domain, with mainstream media jumping on board to fan the flames of ignorance and nonsensical rhetoric. The message was deemed accurate based on both the volume of messages combined with the repetitive nature of communication entailed in the new digital channels. Never mind that the Pepe creator confirmed his cartoon was not associated with white supremacy, the image was circulated within the social media universe and hence ‘Trump was Hitler’ (Conway 1). Obama’s image was similarly adapted with Hitler iconography via a meme intended to denounce his healthcare reforms. As one Jewish comedian noted at the time “Our biggest beef with Hitler wasn’t socialized medicine’ (Gary Gulman). That is precisely the rub; while the technology behind social media platforms today allow the message payload to proliferate quickly, the primary stakeholders are the general public, who risk violating their intellectual sovereignty if they forgo the due diligence of critical thought and  a rational assessment of the messages being communicated. If Obama and Trump are both Hitler, then everyone is.  Accordingly, we risk confusing political diatribe and demagoguery with real odious and hateful actions if we let our guard down. As a consequence, we may find that eventually, people are no longer able to distinguish truth from fiction -- with social media ecologies, in the end, a primary facilitator.

References

Standage, Tom. Writing on the Wall: Social Media -- the First 2,000 Years. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print.

Conway, By Madeline, By Ben Schreckinger, By Cynthia Farrar, By Bill Scher, By Jeff Greenfield, and By Michael Hirsh, Michael Kruse and Ben Wofford. "'Pepe the Frog' Creator, Blaming the Election, Tries to Reclaim His Cartoon." POLITICO. Politico, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.