Task 2 – Colby Hanlon

This is the first meme I chose that I left an impact on not only me, but many others in the US. With the election quickly coming up, and with this being the first election I can actually place a vote, I decided to pay some more attention to politics and what the candidates are willing to do to make this country better. However, as I did more and more research, the more I didn’t really want to vote anymore.

It is almost impossible to not step on someone else’s foot when talking about politics. And that is the last thing I want to do when talking to someone else with strong beliefs. So when I try to learn about both the main candidates for the election (Trump and Harris), they will always tell me just the good about their favorite politician, while trashing the others. It is incredibly difficult to find someone who is willing to give the pros and the cons of both the candidates. Most of the time when I try to learn more about a candidate or party I only hear the negatives and why I shouldn’t vote for that side.

I feel that it would be much better and easier to vote if I learned more about the positives for voting for either candidate. That way, I know what they are willing to do to make this country better and safer. Instead, I am only shown negative things and ideas that just make me not willing to vote anymore.

This second meme promotes actually voting for who you think is the best candidate. Now, even if you don’t like either of the candidates or don’t agree with their ideas, it is still better to actually vote for someone rather than not voting in general. It may not seem like you not voting would be that big of a deal, but there are millions of other voters who are in the same dilemma as you and also do not vote because they think that their vote doesn’t matter. Last election, about a third of eligible voters did not vote last election (Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/15/945031391/poll-despite-record-turnout-80-million-americans-didnt-vote-heres-why). These people probably did not vote because they either did not like either candidates, or did not think that their vote counted, when in reality every vote matters.

Compared to the first meme, I do believe that this meme that tries to heal the wound and panic possibly caused by the first meme. This meme promotes voting even if you do not want to. The first meme tries to create panic among voters and creating the unnecessary panic among voters. However, I do not think that the second meme will not get as nearly much attention as the first meme. The first meme creates debates, conversation, and controversy. All of these things combined is a recipe for success when creating a political meme. Something I did learn when diving deeper into politics is that people love to debate others and create controversy. And with the first meme, people are able to do just that. Even though the second meme takes a much more positive approach of the election and tries to convince everyone to vote, it will not get nearly enough clicks because it is not controversial enough.

1 Response

  1. I think the positive meme you created is very important for those who live in America, especially since election season is in full swing. Every candidate comes with some negatives, but it’s crucial to focus on what they can do to benefit the place you call home, and to be willing to make that difficult decision instead of avoiding the polls for fear of making the wrong choice.

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