The original idea, that there was something wrong with a drag queen sitting next to a Muslim woman, was deemed ridiculous. The popularity of the image was directly indicated by how people responded to it – in this case, by making fun of it. Instead of responding with anger or offence, social media turned the phrase into a meme that featured different images and meanings, ranging from funny to absurd. The original intended meaning of the tweet was to frame the photo as some kind of a dystopian vision, ridiculing the “liberals” who wanted such a threatening future. When I say memes are truly a democratic form of art, the case of “this is the future that liberals want” is exactly what I mean. This is exactly what happened with the viral Tweet-turned-meme “This is the future that liberals want.” The original Tweet, which included a photo of a drag queen sitting next to a woman wearing a niqab on the subway, was meant as an insult to “liberals” but was quickly re-claimed and re-purposed as a joke instead. They can be anything from absurd to history-inspired, to being warped from their original meaning into something completely opposite. Memes can be posted anywhere, from a company’s Facebook advert to a single-topic focused Instagram meme page. The only materials memes require are access to the internet, some basic knowledge of technology and an idea. Memes arise from the need for self-expression.
Memes are the chosen art form of these spaces, and like no other art form before them, memes are a truly democratic, even an anti-capitalist way of producing art.
These spaces can, for example, provide young LGBTQ+ with the badly needed support, encouragement, and information they may not otherwise be able to access. Social media pages, such as Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter obviously have their issues ( political polarisation, negative impacts on self-esteem, misogynistic harassment, to name a few) but also offer safe spaces for people to explore their identities and share their thoughts with online communities. yet, they have not received the analysis deserved as the fastest-growing form of art.Īlthough technology has mostly helped to consolidate power to already-powerful actors (think privileged, white, male from the Global North much like whoever came up with this idea), it also holds the potential for creating utopian-like spaces. Memes have become an inextricable part of online culture.