Revolt in the Digital Age: Measuring Motives

behind Youth’s Political Internet Meme

Engagement

Submitted by Group 15

Hadjiali, Norhayra

Del Mundo, Jelo

Torcuator, Aron

Watanabe, Kei
 Introduction
As the immense power and growth of new technology have progressed throughout the years,

the Internet has successfully revolutionized our ability to connect, making it possible for anyone

to potentially reach millions in just a click. The internet, and particulary, the advancement of

social media, brought a deep impact on people's ways of consuming, searching and sharing

information over the last decade (Beukeboom, Kerkhof & De Vries, 2015). Since the online

environment is represented by a higher user participation, it's been apparent that digitalizing

previous mass communication approaches is not enough, for there is an accelerating change to

the convenience of communicating and creation of content (Akpinar and Berger, 2017).

In the world of political communication, one fundamental point is the connection that links

one's nature of media use, political motivation and political participation, hence this rapid change

and technological uprise played a major role in the political realm. Social media platforms such

as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram furthered the easement of citizens in

spreading political messages and assisted support for their origin as well. However, while the

advent of social media platforms also gave an incontestably large amount of opportunity in

campaigning and politics, within the context of political discourse, it likewise opened a gateway

for expressing political dissatisfaction, thereby converting the position of consumers from bare

media receivers to participators, producers, and content creators, wherein people can publicly

deliver their political opinions and discontentment in a manner that is unique, convenient,

humorous, and often satirical: political memes.

 Background of the Study
Memes: What Do They Meme?

The history of the word “meme” can be traced back in 1976, when evolutionary biologist

Richard Dawkins coined it in his book The Selfish Gene and described it as a form of cultural

propagation. There, he introduced memes as the cultural mirror to biological genes, for memes,

like the selfish genes, carry information, replicate, transmit, and evolve regardless the effects on

survival and reproduction. Genes are to biology as memes are to culture. Admittedly, the root of

the term meme was originally from the Greek word mimeme, however, Dawkins wanted a

monosyllable that better resembles gene, hence mimeme was shortened and the neologism was

born.

As the revolution of Web 2.0 emerged, the term “meme” grew rapidly popular and was used

to portray circulating ideas in various formats across social media. In this particular context, it is

important to distinguish the employment of this new term from Dawkin's original idea. Milner

(2016) and Shifman (2012, 2014) analyzed the concept of Internet memes as modern, diffuse

types of texts (motifs, phrases, pictures, and videos) that constitute moderately and circulate

through social media. Internet memes consist of an eclectic array of definitions with similarly

emphasized attributes and are therefore defined accordingly. Burgess (2008) describes how the

evolutionary nature of diffusion logic is mostly disregarded in an Internet meme, hence his

definition of it as “a faddish joke or practice (like a humorous way of captioning cat pictures)

that becomes widely imitated” (p. 1). Similarly, Davison (2012) attempts to assay the concept of

Internet memes as “a piece of culture, typically a joke, which gains influence through online

transmission” (p. 122). While the means of how memes are being transmitted and their way of

influencing ideologies are vital, them serving as cultural evidences and being involved in
participatory culture are also crucial. Internet memes can be described as “multimodal symbolic

artifacts created, circulated, and transferred by countless mediated cultural participants” (Milner

2013b, p.2359). Additionally, studies pertaining to the significance of memes denote that

participatory media have been essential to major events in the 21st century. When it came to

providing the most inclusive wrap-up of research on Internet memes, Shifman (2014), as she

bypassed the demeanor of humor as well as neglecting neo-Darwinian logic, didn't fail to

delineate an operation-oriented definition. In her book Memes in the Digital Culture, she stated,

“I define an Internet meme as: (a) a group of digital items sharing common characteristics of

content, form, and/or stance, which (b) were created with awareness of each other, and (c) were

circulated, imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by many users” (Shifman, 2014, p. 41).

It became more and more evident that Internet memes, to give good laughs, turned to be a part

of people's digital lives as a readily convenient and accessible tool that can provide a wide source

of entertainment anytime. Generally, the absence of meaning in memes is what makes them

funny, thus memes are often seen as nonsensical; and can be described as shallow, lacking in

content, and an insipid, natural form of expression (Milner, 2011). Furthermore, an existing

common concept is that humor is the opposite of seriousness, and as a result, Internet memes,

which are comprised of humor elements, are also not taken in a serious manner. For an instance,

Shubeck and Huette (2015) discovered that even without any information regarding social

network structure, linguistic features alone can be enough for the transmission of a meme to be

successful. Still and all, the idea that memes are primarily mere instruments for entertainment

purposes is conceivably misapprehending for the reason that it undervalues its capacity to

challenge existing ideologies and the role it embraces in politics. As a product that's been given

birth by popular culture, it's only natural that Internet memes' political significance is obscured
by the delight and enjoyment that's often seen in upfront. Nevertheless, there's more to just fun

once the realization of its hidden potential comes.

Enter the world of politics. With the proliferation of political memes on the Internet for the

past years, they transformed into a constant tool of online expression concerning political

discourse. Internet memes, due to their participatory and compelling prospect, are able to act as

configurations of collective action and discursive expression particularly in the political context

(Shifman, 2014). According to Grittmann (2007), the attribute “political” denotes that the

memes pertain to political actors, their representative acts, societal conflicts, societal interests, or

political decisions. When people of community who are aware of their rights feel a lingering

sense of oppression, they are more likely to stand against such wrongdoings and misdeeds, in

doing so they look for different, indirect routes, wherein they can express themselves. Regardless

of societies being democratic or non-democratic, citizens treat memes as vehicles to react,

critique, protest and speak truth to power (Huntington, 2013). Political memes are the citizens’

effort in response to the constraints of a repressive state. Members of society who are dwelling

and breathing with the same air as their repressive government does are perfect fits for creating

emerging jokes that are meant to criticize those in power. Filipinos, in general, are known for

their resiliency, and laughter can be the best temporary resort for Filipinos, resulting for them to

deal with a cognitive defense mechanism whenever they are situated in times of horror.

Ramachandran (2004) suggests that by distracting ourselves from the pain and affiliating it with

a positive emotion, laughter becomes a way to recover from traumatic events. Moreover, in a

nation where expressing political dissatisfaction and criticism can result to an ironic, accidental

disappearance of someone, people will rather play safe and speak in a joking manner to ensure

their escape once the eyes of the authorities are on them.

 This, including the previous sections of the paper, have discussed about memes, ranging from

how they were first discovered, their eclectic definitions, and the way they evolve to their

relation to politics and their role in this particular context. But, seriously, what's so funny about

the politics—or the political memes rather?

“Every joke is a tiny revolution” — George Orwell

Freud (1905), in his book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, suggested that by

making fun of at which oppresses us, we feel a sense of relief; and the redemption and triumph

that the listeners get are even more felt if they identify themselves with the hero of the joke.

Perception is different for every person according to his or her social background and thus how

one’s interpretation for something is also dependent toward his or her own experiences. Humor

is affliated to this, in a way that in order for the listeners to understand comedy, they should

share similarities—commonalities of any way in which they could relate to each other. When

people laugh, it’s because they get ‘it’, hence within them exists a connectedness. However,

humor can also be seen as a ‘double-edged sword’ (Malone, 1980) since what is wisecracking to

a person may be offending to another. For an instance, people who have suffered from the

agonies brought by rapacious officials may laugh about memes and mockeries regarding

government corruption, while on the other hand, people whose place is on the opposite—perhaps

the corrupt politicians—may find the memes insulting, for the satire is wholly directed at them,

and by being reminded of their unjust failures despite their royal titles, they are put in an

embarrassing situation and are therefore offended. Shame and guilt are strongly correlated self-

conscious emotions (Tangney & Tracey, 2012), which can be triggered when one recognizes his

or her failures or transgressions, resulting for the person to elicite distressful emotions and

negative self-evaluations (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). Nevertheless, it is crucial to

analyze the big context and other factors that affect humor, for deciphering contents of comedy

greatly varies according to a person. Humor depends on who and what type of person someone

is.

One explanation on why political memes are effectively funny is because of its satirical

feature. Through mocking and satirizing the authorities, whose undesirable actions are in

contradictory with their flowery promises along with their righteous and sententious slogans,

contentiousness within memes are hereby employed. Coletta (2009) describes satire as a strike

on evil based on humorous devices; an attack that unites the gratifications of comedy and the

virtue of social criticism. Even before in history, satire has been applied to essentially offend a

person or an institution (Schutz, 1977) and was used as a way to disgrace those in authority

(Cameron, 1993).

Connectedly Disengaged: Youths of the Social Media Capital

There is a significant reason why the researchers chose youths as their respondents.

According to the 2018 Global Digital report, Filipino internet users consume an average of 3

hours and 57 minutes for social media each day. This study, which was conducted by the creative

agencies We Are Social and Hootsuite, says that people of the Philippines spent almost four

hours on social media. As millions of Filipinos online have been dealing with this phenomenon,

the Philippines has been crowned as the social media capital of the world. Nevertheless, although

Filipinos in general are known to be technology savvy, compared to other population groups,

youths make it more interesting to be the subject of this study. In contrast to other groups, young

people are more investigative with new technologies for political action (Boyd, 2014). In

accordance with what the social media analytics agency Talkwalker have shown in their 2019
data, 52.7 percent of Philippines' social media users are comprised of the age group 18–24,

making them the population with the largest proportion in terms of Philippines' age distribution

regarding social media usage. For this particular study, the researcher will define youths in

conformance with the World Health Organization's definition: individuals in the age group

between 15 to 24. One question that encompasses the conundrum among youth, social media,

and political engagement, is that why do the newer generations, despite their convenience in

access of information, still remain apathetic? Are the Generations Y and Z simply lazy,

insensitive, and unware of major political happenings or are they in fact woke but silent?

Explanations for lack of political participation among younger generations is a recent trend on

the studied aspects of the contemporary development (Ekman & Amnå, 2012; Kimberlee, 2002).

Although this study will solely focus on the motives behind youths' engagement in political

internet memes, in some way, it supports previous findings regarding political passivity of

youths, in which it opposes political apathy, for it perversely characterizes the Filipino youths'

political appetite. Several studies label the younger generations as either politically active or

politically passive, but such a generalization and a simplified dichotomy will seemingly shroud

an inactive political involvement (e.g., Amnå & Ekman, 2014). For an instance, the study The

Myth of Youth Apathy: Young European's Critical Attitudes Toward Democratic Life revealed

that young people aren't politically apathetic. Researchers of this study stated, “Our data

confirms that a majority of young people is critical rather than apathetic – i.e. they are unhappy

with the political offer rather than bored with politics” (Cammaerts, Bruter, Banaji, Harrison, &

Anstead, 2017, p.15). It is also crucial to understand that youths, in spite of their young age, play

a major role in society and politics. Because of young people's energy and experimental outlook

to life, within any given society, they establish a crucial population group (Bauman, 2004). In
addition to this, younger generations have the power to promote and influence people with the

use of new technology. A study by Tapscott (2009) perceives that due to the close relationship

between the internet and young people, youths have received a particular attention in the field of

academic work within new technologies. Also, Honwana (2013) and Bayat (2010) conclude that

youths have the potence to transfigure and advocate for advantageous political changes in

different societies due to their numerical advantage. In light of these observations, the

researchers have noted the importance of youths as subjects and therefore considered them as an

interesting group to study in regards of the context in which social media are used as vehicles for

political actions, and particularly, the relation to the youths' use of political internet memes for

motivated political engagement.

In this paper, the researchers argue that memes, in spite of their questionable nature, are

powerful because the shareability that they possess is significantly valuable in spreading

information; hence, the role that they had have a grasp of in the environment of contemporary

media likewise gave them the oppprtunity to be considered as a new body for public speech and

a new form of media, giving potentiality for the public to use memes as a means of voicing

dissatisfaction in the political realm. This study will define political internet memes as a unique,

contemporary form of youths’ voice in the digital context; a modern political joke that uses satire

to particularly dissent and speak narratives about political discourse.

The central theme of this study is to gauge the factors responsible for motivating youths to

engage in political meme participation. It is crucial to know that in spite of the study seeking

motives of youths, the research will be conducted in a numerical manner. With this study, the

researchers will carefully plan and implement a survey questionnaire which they named Political

Internet Meme Engagement Questionnaire (PIMEQ). Through a thorough investigation within

previous qualitative data, the researchers will analyze the existing studies to identify motivation

domains in political internet meme participation, in which the identified factors will be the basis

for creating the Political Internet Meme Engagement Questionnaire. To validate the construct of

the proposed framework, statistical technique such as confirmatory factor analysis within SEM

framework will be employed. The researchers will craft the aforementioned questionnaire to

investigate and measure the motivated reasons of youths for creating and consuming memes

through an online survey.

     The primary motivation that urged the researchers to conduct this study is the unidentified

motives that happen behind every political meme content. A considerable number of studies

regarding internet memes and political discourse have been made, nevertheless, little has focused

on motives behind creating and consuming political internet memes. The researchers’ secondary

motivation is the lack of empirical studies in political memes. In an academic point of view,

several studies that deal with Internet memes in the specific context of political events (e.g.,

Camargo, 2018; Cana Ortiz, 2019), political activism (e.g., Bebić & Volarevic, 2018; Harlow,

2013), social criticism (e.g., Denisova, 2016; Jimoh, 2019;), and political participation (e.g.,

Kasirye, 2019; Casteltrione, 2015) have been conducted. Still and all, although memes are now

being considered and studied by professional researchers, studies that employ quantitative

approaches in this area are scarce.

     Statement of the Problem:

     The researchers will seek to look for evidence of motivated reasoning in political internet

meme engagement among Filipino youths.

Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. How often do Filipino youths engage in political memes?

2. In terms of frequency distribution, in what rank do the politically related factors fall?

3. What are the pivotal factors that motivate Filipino youths for creating and consuming political

memes?

Significance of the Study

This study is beneficial and significant for a number of reasons. First, it will help in filling the

gap and scarcity that exists within quantitative approaches in political memes. Second, this study

will seek to contribute to the encompassing concepts of memes; the researcher will argue that

political memes are cultural artefacts that are used by the younger generations as a unique,

creative, and contemporary way of voicing out dissent and dissatisfaction in the digital era. This

study is also significant as it can be crucial in supporting alternative digital activism rather than

slacktivism in a different perspective.