The Image Prison: The Virtual Politics Created by Memes

Photo courtesy of Meer

At the beginning of the 21st century memes, which began as mere digital caricatures and humourous snippets on social networks, evolved into a powerful weapon determining global political and social discourse. When the term meme was first introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1976, it was regarded as a unit for carrying cultural information from one person to another. However, in today’s digital age, memes are more than just information; they are the modern day political cartoons that shape public opinion. While traditional newspaper cartoons were once enjoyed only by a small intellectual class, today every person with a mobile phone has become both a consumer and a creator of memes. It has become an imperative of our time to investigate the shifts this change causes in the political understanding of ordinary people and how memes distract from the depth of a crisis under the guise of humor.

Analysis of ideological construction

To understand the political influence of memes, one must analyse their characteristics of immediate impact and instant consumption. A meme can explain a complex political matter that might not be understood even after reading a long political essay or watching an hour-long debate through a single image. This is the primary reason for the popularity of memes among ordinary people. For instance, thousands of memes created during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis transformed complex economic policies into something ordinary people could easily ridicule. While humour here acts as a catharsis (an emotional release), it also carries the risk of over simplifying grave realities and diminishing the perceived intensity of a problem. A politician’s corruption or a flawed policy has long term consequences; however, when it turns into a viral meme, people tend to stop at enjoying the humour rather than contemplating the fallout of the issue.

Sociologically speaking, memes employ a technique of soft propaganda. When a specific political party or ideology is promoted through direct advertisements, people approach it with a level of alertness. However, when that same message is integrated into a meme using a movie template, the audience’s natural resistance decreases and the concept easily embeds itself into their subconscious. In the contexts of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, the facial expressions of comedic actors like Vadivelu, Vivek or Santhanam are extensively used to convey political messages. Linking a serious political critique to a comedian’s image sows a specific stereotype about that politician deep within the public mind. Over time, regardless of what that politician says, people begin to view them only through the lens depicted by the meme. This erodes healthy political debate and reduces discourse to personal mockery.

A prime example of how memes distract public political understanding is the politics of distraction. When debates arise regarding a crucial legal amendment or a massive corruption scandal in a country, certain memes are intentionally created to divert public attention. When a minor mistake by a celebrity or an insignificant incidental event is turned into a viral meme, collective social attention shifts from the vital issue toward that humor. Sociologists refer to this as the mask of humour. When grave social injustices are turned into jokes, the moral outrage against the injustice vanishes and the issue itself becomes an object of derision. For example, when reports of violence against women or caste oppression are turned into memes, they diminish the righteous indignation required to address those issues.

Furthermore, memes are utilised as a potent tool for character assassination (negative image construction). Those who cannot intellectually confront a political dissenter or a social activist often turn them into meme material. Memes ridiculing their physique, pronunciation or minor stumbles serve to blunt their logical arguments. This creates a mindset among ordinary people that “this person is a clown; why should we listen to their views?” This tendency to confront ideas with mockery instead of counter ideas severely degrades political understanding. As ordinary people continue to consume such memes, they fail to investigate the actual data presented by the individual.

However, it cannot be said that the dominance of memes is entirely negative. In certain moments, they emerge as the voice of the oppressed and a tool to question authority. During the aragalaya protests, the way ordinary people ridiculed the luxuries of the ruling class and their irresponsible statements through memes created massive social awareness.

The aragalaya and the contradictory role of memes

The aragalaya that arose during the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka in 2022 serves as a prime example of how social media and memes were used as a revolutionary tool in world history. During this period, memes were not just humorous bits; they functioned as digital missiles against the ruling class. Frustrated by the government’s flawed economic policies, fuel queues and power shortages, the people wielded memes as a primary weapon to express their anger.

In the initial phase, memes served as a tool for grassroots awareness. Rather than focusing on complex IMF conditions or debt restructuring, memes depicting the misery of an average man waiting in a fuel queue through humour drew the common masses toward the protest grounds. Specifically, by turning the irresponsible statements of the rulers (e.g., “ready to beg” or “we will eat millet”) into memes, the youth shattered the sacred image or fear of authority that had surrounded the leaders. The greatest political shift these memes achieved was making a society that feared authority laugh at it instead.

However, in the second phase of the protest, we observed these same memes transforming into a weapon of distraction. As the protest intensified and people gathered at Galle Face Green, numerous anonymous memes were intentionally spread to undermine the fundamental objectives of the struggle. Memes exaggerating the personal conduct of protesters or minor incidents within the tents diverted public attention from serious political demands. This was a type of cultural attack. When memes framed the protest as a festival-like image, the serious discourse regarding the economic collapse was pushed to the background.

In the final stages of the aragalaya, memes were used to incite political polarisation. While memes attacking a specific political faction went viral, criticisms against the opposing side were blunted in the name of humour. Because social media algorithms prioritised such emotional memes, ordinary people focused more on meme wars happening online rather than thinking about realistic political solutions. This was a subtle psychological warfare technique used to fracture the collective leadership and integrity of the movement.

The lesson the aragalaya experience teaches us is that memes are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they democratise the struggle against oppression; on the other, they dilute the political vigour by turning the deep values of the struggle into mere objects of mockery. The failure of ordinary people to see memes as more than just information – failing to identify the ideological manipulations behind them – is one of the indirect reasons why many demands of the protest remained unfulfilled.

Election politics and the meme market

Modern day elections are no longer decided solely at street corners or through posters; they are largely determined by memes shared on mobile screens. While political parties once sought large advertising firms for their campaigns, today, meme pages with thousands of followers and individual meme creators have become their primary campaign agents. The undisclosed political funding provided to them during elections has emerged as a major social issue, questioning the transparency of democracy.

Firstly, one must understand how meme farms or IT cells operate. Major political parties contact influential meme creators well before an election. Instead of providing direct party funds, large sums of money are transferred through advertising agencies or private contracts. Consequently, ordinary people do not realise that a specific meme creator is working in favour of a party. While posting humorous memes as usual, they weave in subliminal messaging to elevate one candidate while demeaning the opponent. This creates a false facade of organic public opinion.

Secondly, this indirect funding method has turned smear campaigns into a lucrative industry. Specific targets are given to meme creators to ridicule a candidate’s private life, physical disabilities or speech stumbles. These toxic memes are then boosted with money to go viral. When ordinary people share this, thinking it is an accidental joke, the politician’s image is systematically assassinated. Here, humor functions like a hired assassin. This blunts the analytical capacity of voters and incites them to make decisions based on emotion.

Thirdly, this financial exchange often serves as a conduit for black money circulation. These digital expenses, which fall outside the scrutiny of the Election Commission, help political parties bypass election spending limits. The amount a candidate provides indirectly to meme creators and social media influencers is often several times higher than the amount spent on official advertisements. This creates an environment favorable only to candidates with massive financial backing, causing the voices of honest and underfunded candidates to be drowned out by the noise of the digital market.

As a result of this impact, the political understanding of ordinary people is reduced to who is the best at mocking. Instead of debating policies and plans, the youth show more interest in which meme page portrays the opposing candidate most despicably. This destroys the informed choice – the fundamental value of democracy – and replaces it with an emotionally triggered choice.The lies and half-truths concocted by meme creators for financial gain sow long term divisions and bitterness in society.

Why the brain finds memes more captivating than long articles

The way the modern human brain consumes information has undergone a massive shift in the last decade. There are several psychological reasons why a meme that passes in a second embeds itself more deeply in the human mind than a 4,000-word research article explaining a social issue. Sociologists refer to this as information consumption psychology.

Firstly, the human brain is fundamentally a visual processor. The brain can process an image 60,000 times faster than text. When reading an article, our brain must decode each word, internalise its meaning and then convert it into a mental image. However, because memes consist of a direct image and very few words, the brain understands them easily with minimal cognitive load. This simplicity prompts the brain to accept information as true without thinking deeply about the subject.

Secondly, memes create emotional anchoring. Most memes are based on emotions such as humour, anger or satire. The part of the human brain called the amygdala handles emotions. When humour is mixed with information the brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that provides pleasure. This feeling of joy temporarily disables the logical functioning of the prefrontal cortex,which is responsible for critical analysis. Thus, when looking at a humourous meme, the brain begins to believe it is true beyond logic.

Thirdly, the social proof factor plays a major role here. A person reads a long article alone. But a meme arrives on our screen with thousands of likes and shares. The thought that so many people have accepted this as right creates a herd mentality in the brain. The brain takes a mental shortcut that if others accept a view, it must be correct. This encourages ordinary people to stop thinking independently and instead adopt the group’s opinion as their own.

Fourthly, familiarity bias provides immense strength to memes. Memes often use movie scenes or famous faces we have already seen. When a familiar face such as a comedian’s expression conveys an idea, the brain inherently considers it reliable. The estrangement felt when a new person provides new information is absent in memes. This familiarity is utilised to bypass people’s mental defenses and deliver political propaganda directly into their minds.

Finally, memes serve as a tool for instant gratification. In today’s hectic world, thinking for a long time about a matter causes mental fatigue. Because memes simplify an issue into right-wrong or hero-villain, the brain avoids complex political realities and prefers to accept this simple categorisation. This is the most subtle distraction that erodes the political understanding of ordinary people.

While memes have brought many truths to the people that traditional media hesitated to say – becoming a symbol of counterculture – this same power helps democracy on one hand while being used to spread misinformation anonymously and sow racist ideas under the guise of humour on the other.

Recommendations

To prevent the political distraction caused by memes and to foster a healthy political understanding, the following recommendations are proposed:

1. Critical media Literacy: digital media dducation should be made a compulsory subject at the school and university levels. Youth must be trained to analyse the political intent, funding source and what a meme is trying to hide when they see it.
2. Ethics for meme pages: meme pages with high followings should be held to a standard of accountability similar to media organis Moral and legal regulations are essential for acts like spreading misinformation and character assassination.
3. Election monitoring: the Election Commission must create a specific mechanism to monitor the indirect funding provided by political parties to meme creators. During election periods, paid political memes must be clearly identified.
4. Encouraging deep reading habits: to rescue youth from the instant gratification culture of memes, habits of engaging in deep political articles, books, and debates must be encouraged. Youth must be made to realise the reality that a crisis cannot be understood in a 10-second meme.
5. Alternative satire space: social recognition should be given to meme creators who promote constructive satire aimed at social change rather than spreading mere mockery and malice. Humor should be used to improve authority, not to destroy human dignity.

Memes are an unavoidable part of the modern communication world. Whether they simplify or distract public political understanding depends on the level of media literacy with which people approach them. One must go beyond laughing at a meme and develop the capacity to think: What is the political intent? What issue is it trying to hide? Who is it targeting? Humour should be used to question authority, not to make us laugh while ignoring injustice. Only by peeling away the false screen created by memes can ordinary people understand the true political landscape. In the digital age, laughter is a political choice; we must each realise whether that choice prompts us to think or prevents us from thinking altogether.