Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America

Product Information

New battlegrounds are made in cyberspace, where the possibilities of another global conflict are presented from news articles to laymen’s speculations. Those trying their best to keep themselves sane and happy resorted to making light of the situation – in the form of these fun (albeit dark) World War 3 memes. World War 3 Memes

After the word "cotton" gained popularity, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense came up with a new mythical creature that burns russian military bases. It was named "Bavovnyatko" and looks like this: This is a remake of a joke about the former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose short term in power " was compared to "the shelf life of a lettuce." Ukrainian Armed Forces dance in the style of Wednesday Addams — everything you need to know about Ukrainians Yes, russia's aggression has taken away the homes, nerves, and restful sleep of Ukrainians, but what you can't take away from our people is their sense of humor.

Who is the main meme-maker and author of viral videos about the war in Ukraine?

Fake news and dark memes are not limited to the West, nor to any one political leaning, of course. Many other democracies, some of them secular, are struggling with their own multicultural identities. These humorous images and anecdotes often reflect the reality of military events, the mood and attitude of the Ukrainian military and citizens to the situation. In this article, we have collected some of the most popular memes that have become real hits during the war. Then, Ukrainian companies began to joke about where they would resume operations in Crimea after its de-occupation. The chosen place was the Swallow's Nest castle, popular among tourists. The meme was quite funny among Ukrainian society. We also share memes as shorthand for things we feel we don’t have the right words to express. Like, say, anxiety over escalating imperial aggression. Just reposting a meme about current events says “I read the news, I’m a good person, but I don’t know what to say or do, LOL.” The problem with this offering is it’s three I statements in a row. In this particular case, it doesn’t seem to facilitate connection and learning let alone make any tangible impact. Instead, it’s flooding our feeds with half-baked thoughts and needy “Look at me!” performances that make demands on our attention and create so much noise (perhaps an accurate externalization of what’s going on in some minds). Memes failed to sway the French citizenry, as several commentators have noted. But France’s meme wars demonstrated the transnational influence of the so-called “ alt-right” hate groups that managed to transform Pepe the Frog into a racist mouthpiece and, in doing so, set a precedent for future memetic wars. The alt-right rises online

Everyone on social media is participating in the race to say something stupid about Hamas and Israel war. When will our consciences grow tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? As we can see, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, the people of our country do not lose their optimism, but rather boost their morale thanks to a developed sense of humor and faith in Ukrainian defenders. The soldier’s exemplary courage inspires Ukrainians because they feel the same about Russia and its illegal invasion of Ukraine. They even compete with one another on which of them creates the funniest memes on the same topic. For example, when explosions hit a military airport in Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukrainian companies started to joke about how they would resume operations on the peninsula once it’s liberated.

Global meme wars

At this point, the Ukrainian Army decided to stop advancing toward the city because of heavy losses. Most of the frontline positions were abandoned and replaced by fortifications. Meanwhile, the separatist forces didn’t make any significant progress either. Now Borys’ team is focused on creating news content, which in some sense also has the form of memes. Christian describes the process of meme creation as a joke on news culture, traditional journalism, and documentary filmmaking. Now Saint Javelin is trying to create more complex content that will gather more likes. For example, Saint Javelin made a four-minute animated video about HIMARS that looks like America’s Got Talent. Such videos can take up to two weeks to produce, but they have a big reach. Humor as anti-fatigue from war

But the memes are also serving an important function for the meme-makers. On a very basic level, they’re connecting to the moment by trying to insert themselves into it. That’s because, by making a meme, as Alhabash said, “You become part of the narrative and it becomes part of you.” VisitUkraine is a public union that, since 2018, has been engaged in the promotion and popularization of Ukrainian tourism on the domestic and foreign markets, but the war made its adjustments. Now we are working on the information front. But unlike previous instances when “WWIII” memes took over the internet, this round of social media discourse has been tinged with grim reality. This is no abstract threat. War is already occurring, and that leads the act of meme-making in a time of crisis to feel much, much different.I’m already seeing the scolding tweets about WWIII jokes. We may be irony-poisoned on here, but you can’t stop gallows humor when it’s something this huge and bleak and we’re all individually powerless. It’s a sign we’re still human.— AICN Podcast Day! (@LazlosGhost) February 24, 2022 The centrality of memes in extreme right-wing culture rests in the conveyance of meaning through association rather than explicit argument, whereby familiarity is required to understand a meme’s specific message in a given context.