Sad Pepe: Bringing the Messages in Martin Luther's 95 Theses to the spread of Pepe the Frog's Unfortunate Electoral Debut

Martin Luther was a media pioneer and is considered to be the first social media influencer. Everything that we see now in terms of digital and social media can be linked back to his messages in his 95 Theses which went viral very fast. The way that his message in the print media ecology and assemblage reconstituted the moments and places of production, distribution, and consumption is what people are recognizing now in their daily rituals of using media. Luther was the first to exploit the media ecology of print which were all characterized by distinctive moments and places of production of the message, the moment of circulation and distribution of the message, and the moment of consumption and reception. Luther’s messages became viral through circulation when people started to spread the information that was in his pamphlet. The demand was so high that it increased the production of the pamphlet.  The content of Luther’s viral practice was religious in that it went against the Catholic Church to spread the message and gain Protestant followers. It was meant to take a community, a mode of communication, and a mode of affect to create a new community of Protestants based on a particular theology. His pamphlet was more a mode of propaganda and agitation as opposed to entertainment and information. Luther’s 95 Theses was predominantly about religion and ecology but it ended up being relevant to everyday life – structure of warfare, politics, our daily rituals, etc. that went on for a century (Standage, 2013). Luther’s 95 Theses created the idea that literacy produced power. If it can be written, circulated, communicated, produced and distributed then the messages that are being conveyed will be heard. This is what we are seeing most commonly on social media now through memes.

Pepe the Frog is a character from the comic series Boy’s Club by Matt Furie. There are many variations of Pepe including: sad frog, smug frog, and angry Pepe. Most recently, Pepe the Frog has been symbolized by the alt-right movement as a “Nazi Trump Supporter” (Williams, 2016). The official Hillary Clinton presidential campaign blog published a post that labelled Pepe the Frog as “sinister” and a “symbol associated with white supremacy.” Creator of Pepe, Matt Furie, came out with a statement reinforcing his character’s light-hearted and chilled-out nature who celebrates peace, togetherness and fun. Though this statement has been released to the public, Pepe the Frog will now be seen as a white ethno-nationalist symbol because when something is posted on the Internet it is there forever.

Donald Trump has set new records in many fields during this election – none of them are particularly positive. No other candidate in modern U.S. election history has had such an openly antagonistic relationship with the news media and a high level of disregard for certain groups of people and conventions (Williams, 2016). Donald Trump endorsed Pepe by retweeting a Trump version of the character which led to the creation and distribution of pro-Trump memes. No meme has ever been denounced by a presidential candidate. Pepe serves as an unfortunate symbol to all that Trump stands for. Memes are created to send messages directly to people, much like Luther’s pamphlet did. Pepe has been related to racism, Nazism, and offensive language since being tied to Trump’s campaign and that will not go away anytime soon. 

Work Cited:

Standage, T. (2013). Writing on the wall: Social media -- the first 2,000 years. New York: Bloomsbury.

Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election. The New York Times. 

Martin Luther's 95 Theses and "Pepe The Frog" Spread Through Culture, Community and Society

The internet as we all know is somewhat of a double edged sword. It is positive in the fact that is allows users to quickly find information, communicate with friends, conduct business meetings, participate in social media, and of course share and comment on images circulating the web. The circulation of information and images however, is an example of this double edge sword. Once something is online there is no way of retrieving it, it is on there forever. For this week's blog post we are talking about media ecology and how it" is an assemblage of media forms and communicative practices which creates a specific media environment". The two texts to discuss this week include Martin Luther's 95 theses, and the "Pepe the Frog" meme in the context of Donald Trumps 2016 Presidential campaign. I will be examining both media texts through the third articulation which "concerns how media artifacts and messages are brought into being and spread through a culture, community, or society, and is manifested in the spatio-temporal dynamics of relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulation, and relations of consumption and reception".

When looking at Martin Luther's messages it is clear that they caused an immediate stir. Copies of his messages began to circulate in manuscript form. The "Ninety-Five Theses" spread with astonishing speed throughout the German-speaking lands as the list was copied and republished by printers in different towns" (Standage, 53). Like many things on the internet there was such a rapid and spontaneous distribution of Luther's printed work. They became viral within the blink of an eye. Luther lost control of his messages just as rapidly as they became viral. Sometimes when information is put out there, it takes on a mind of its own. Luther did not plan to split the Christian church, but that was the ultimate effect of the campaign he had started. The use of  written culture is important to understand here. Without the use of a printer, Luther's messages would not have spread so far and vast. He was smart in  creating a pamphlet switching to direct German to reach a wider audience. It" demonstrated Luther's skill in exploiting the media environment of his day" (Standage, 53). This is like the internet in today's day in age. If a person wants to reach a large audience lets say to spread awareness about an issue, or an event, they usually turn to the internet. Why you may ask? The internet has allowed for information to be spread quickly and to different kinds of people all over the globe. Luther without knowing it, brought about a sense of power through production and circulation by deciding which messages to amplify through sharing , recommendation and copying. The more people shared his message, the stronger the message became and the more people it reached. That is a product of the community he lived which shows just how people consumed and received.

 information. 

The second media text that is important to look at is the meme of "Pepe the Frog". The symbol of Pepe already existed on the internet for years before it became a viral sensation. Donald Trump 's campaign however, turned the meme into a political meme with negative connotations surrounding it. When Trump re tweeted a version of the character, it led to a mass influx or pro-Trump Pepes (Williams 2016). Because of Trumps status and popularity whether it is good or bad, the meme took on a life of its own, what some may call a snowball effect. It was a way for Trump supporters to band with him and enabled them to find connection, communication and communion with him. The meme began to take on negative connotations representing social outcasts that Trump supporters gained power off of. Trump has been openly antagonist about certain issues, and the meme allowed him to "take his message straight to the people" (Williams, 2016).The internet reaches such a large audience that the meme circulated all over the globe. It just goes to show what can happen when certain information or images become so popular due to the audience it reached. As I mentioned above memes often create a sense of community with "Shared beliefs" which is why I think this meme became so popular. Trump supporters saw it as a way to voice their beliefs on a public forum without risking the invitation of backlash they may have gotten elsewhere. Seeing that the meme resonated with a large group of people, makes these individuals believe it is okay to both support, share, and recreate it. 

References:

Standage, T. (2013). Writing on the wall: Social media -- the first 2,000 years. New York: Bloomsbury.

Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election. The New York Times.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses and "Pepe The Frog" Spread Through Culture, Community and Society

As stated in the outline for this week’s blog post, “media ecology is an assemblage of media forms and communicative practices which creates a specific media environment. These media assemblages and ecologies are constituted by several distinctive sets of articulations.” I will be examining two media texts, Martin Luther’s 95 theses as well as the “Pepe the Frog” meme in the context of Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign, through the the third articulation. This articulation is concerned with “how media artifacts and messages are brought into being and spread through a culture, community, or society, and is manifested in the spatio-temporal dynamics of relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulation, and relations of consumption and reception.”

Martin Luther’s messages became viral once he lost control over where his messages went. The circulation of his message was made possible when it was spread though and by people and their sharing; when there is demand, there is more production. The pamphlet with Luther’s message literally went from one individual who had to make a copy of the original, to another individual whom had to repeat this.

Luther’s messages also created the belief that literacy gave you power. This was because, as printed texts became more important in the everyday social and political culture of the time, if a person was able to read, this gave them more power. Alongside this, not everyone is able to afford the pamphlet that Luther’s message was circulated on. If one was in possession of the pamphlet, it was a marker of your social status, material means, and level of literacy. Within Luther’s 95 theses, he had three main points, including “selling indulgences to finance the building of St. Peter’s is wrong, The pope has no power over purgatory, and Buying indulgences give people a false sense of security and endangers their salvation” (Standage 2013). Through these, we are able to see that the belief and solidarity against catholics and the catholic church was created.

The “Pepe the Frog” meme “did not become political until Donald Trump endorsed it by retweeting a Trump version of the character”, which led to his supporters retweeting the same image by a simple click of a button (Williams 2016). This, in turn, led to the large increase of Trump themed Pepe memes. “Pepe the Frog” then became a symbol of social outcasts which is exactly what Trump’s audience consists of. What led to an even higher level of virality for, what began as pro-Trump memes and emerged into memes making reference to Nazis and other offensive topics, was that Hillary Clinton denounced the meme (Williams 2016). 

In a way, Pepe serves as a way for Trump supporters to share their “support of ultraconservative beliefs” on media assemblages without an invitation for backlash (Williams 2016).

Works Cited

Standage, T. (2013). Writing on the wall: Social media -- the first 2,000 years. New York: Bloomsbury.

Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election. The New York Times. 

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.

Blog Assignment 3

CS 371-Social Media and Social Life

Blog Post Assignment #3

Over the past few classes, we have been exploring the concept of media assemblages or media ecologies. A media ecology is an assemblage of media forms and communicative practices which creates and specific media environment.  In class, we discussed how different media assemblages and ecologies are constituted (for our analytical purposes) by several distinctive sets of articulations.

The first articulation entails considering the relationship between the media message or its contents, the technological means or material form of the medium that carries the message; and the agents or specific roles that people play in production, distribution, and consumption of the messages.   

The second articulation entails looking at how media modes of productions are simultaneously a mode of communication (social practices of creating symbolic meaning), modes of affect (social practices of emotion and embodiment that attached to meaning) and a mode of accumulation (social practices of accumulating capital and power).

The third articulation concerns how media artifacts and messages are brought into being and spread through a culture, community, or society, and is manifested in the spatio-temporal dynamics of relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulation, and relations of consumption and reception.

Your task in this blog post is to reflect on how ONE (although you can do more if the spirit moves you)  of these articulations is  manifested in two examples of media texts “going viral” drawn very different media ecologies of print and social media: Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (the actual title of which was Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences”)that helped spark the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century (discussed on pages 48-63 in Standage, Writing on the Wall) and the appropriation and spread of “Pepe the Frog” as white ethno-nationalist meme in the context of Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign.

In addition to the lectures and the Standage book, you may use these additional newspaper and internet resources that are listed and linked below:

1) The Strange Internet Journey Of Pepe The ‘Chilled-Out Stoner Frog’ (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/matt-furie-pepe-frog-meme_us_57ed3a6fe4b0c2407cdc4298)

2) Long Before Twitter, Martin Luther Was a Media Pioneer http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/design/long-before-twitter-martin-luther-was-a-media-pioneer.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=wide-thumb&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0)

3) Pepe the Frog Meme Listed as a Hate Symbol (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/pepe-the-frog-is-listed-as-a-hate-symbol-by-the-anti-defamation-league.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=1&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/pepe-the-frog-is-listed-as-a-hate-symbol-by-the-anti-defamation-league.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0)

4) Campaign Aims to Help Pepe the Frog Shed Its Image as Hate Symbol (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/us/campaign-aims-to-help-pepe-the-frog-shed-its-image-as-hate-symbol.html)

5)  How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/style/know-your-meme-pepe-the-frog-nasty-woman-presidential-election.html)

6) CNN segment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iu2HXqotKM&feature=youtu.be)

7) Pepe the Frog Entry at Know Your Meme (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog)

The due dates for this assignment are Monday, November 14th , 6 PM for your original posts and Friday, November 18th , 6 PM for your responses.