Blog Post 3: Let's go Viral (Pepe vs. Luther)

As we are all fully aware the internet is a place that can interconnect friends, information, markets, and anything as minuscule as a frog meme about his current mood to world issues regarding politics. Our texts from this weeks reading looked to incorporate both the 95 Theses and the virality of the character Pepe the Frog and his connection between 2016 Republican Elect Donalad Trump. Where do these interact and connect to each other? Well 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.” This post will look to speak on how a media’s mode of communication can create symbolic meaning and modes of affect as there are emotions and embodiments enclosed within each message.

In hindsight what Martin Luther had done by sticking his 95 theses was one of the first ways a message actually went “viral”. He can be considered a media pioneer and one of the first traditional social media influences. As he was the first to actually exploit the theory of print media ecology. Standage states " spread with astonishing speed throughout the German-speaking lands as the list was copied and republished by printers in different towns", thus similar to social media his message was seen regardless of proximity and his audience ranged from anyone who had access to it.

On one end Luther’s message looked to explain how printed text became the tool to create conversation within the public space. As his message spread like wildfire because of print, the medium (print) became more important in everyday life. Thus in turn what he did created an environment that stated the power of literacy changing the power of that a pamphlet actually had and ultimately creating a sense of community. His free speech allowed for a bond and relationship to be built through social concerns and its virality spread like a popular tweet on Twitter. Thus what once may have been considered a sheet of “paper” ultimately was synonymous with social status.

Contrastingly Pepe the Frog can be considered a rhetoric which meaning changes based on the circumstance it is used in. In relation to Donald’ Trumps election campaign it has become an image that looks to have multiple facets. Although it can not be read like Luther’s Theses it communicates a meaning based on body language and Facial expression that has the ability like Luther’s Theses to go viral as it either looks to further explore a topic or argue against it. The Theses was a whistle that looked to point out the flaws in a system while Pepe “serves as a social media dog whistle for Trump followers to echo their implicit support of ultraconservative beliefs in public forums without risking the invitation of backlash.” (Williams 2016)

Williams, Alex. "How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Oct. 2016. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.