Blog Post #3: The Meme is the Message

Martin Luther's 95 Theses were the first physical, conceptual  and technological form of a Meme as they were first strategically attached to a Church door and spread throughout society. The mass sharing of these Theses emphasized the importance of the message that was being delivered all across the community, similarly to the message that internet meme's send across online communities today. This shared identity set a social structure for messages and information that was spread throughout society, similarly to how Meme's are used today. This is linked to the first articulation which "displays the relationship between the media message or contents, the technological means of the medium, and the agents that people play in distributing the message."

What is important to recognize here is that it is the technological structure and strategy in how Martin Luther went about structuring the delivery of his message, is what made it recognizable and made people listen to what he had to say. Similar to Meme's that are seen today, Pepe the frog is another recognizable internet character that people listen to, or recognize as "a laid-back, amphibious dude." Internet Meme's, and Pepe the Frog, have been crucial in reshaping current events such as the US Election. Internet meme's draw in a certain demographic, and cause people to pay attention to the issue at hand - in this case, the American Election. By 'making fun of' what is going on in the world through meme's, it forces people to pay attention to what is happening, because their newsfeed are surrounded by meme's. This plays a crucial part in getting certain demographics to vote or pay attention to what is going on in the world.

The technological means of Meme's played a crucial part in the US Presidential Election. During the election, "Pepe plugged into the ideology of the alt-right because it was a reaction adjacent [..] normies."When Donald Trump endorsed the Pepe meme by retweeting it, the internet blew up. This method is similar to how Martin Luther spread his message, except using the means of technology. People were forced to pay attention to Pepe as "a symbol of the disenfranchised, social outcast." Which was Trumps natural audience, who wanted change. And they were willing to listen to Pepe to do so.