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

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Breaking: This lettuce outlasts Russian annexation of Kherson,” reads a meme posted a few hours after Russia announced its retreat from the city of Kherson. We remind you! The myths spread by russia about the emergence of Ukraine have nothing to do with reality. Read more about when Ukraine appeared and why russia emerged thanks to Ukrainians, not vice versa, in our article. Borys created his favorite meme himself. Christian wrote a scenario of Russian tanks entering Ukraine and ending their lives there — he came up with the plot when he was watching BBC Planet Earth and in one of the episodes a salmon swam downstream and then died after spawning (almost all salmon species spawn once in their lifetime and then die). Times like this are never a laughing matter; war is happening, and innocent people are dying as they are caught in the middle of this war and have nowhere to go. The Hamas and Israel war is so sad, and everything we see on TV or social media about it shows images of these sad times, with people taking sides and so much division from it all. In times like these, we can either just put aside the hurt and point out the craziness of it all or be depressed, so I choose to mourn while also discussing so many of the underlining issues surrounding it, and maybe even share some memes to reflect how I feel about the situation. Like always, I have collected some poignant memes that I have run across since it all went down over a week ago. Do you have a favorite meme from this list or one that made you pause and you thought I should include it? I am constantly updating this list, so I would love to include more, especially if you are hooked on this news like myself.

Now there are three people in Novynach, but the team has already recruited a new meme creator who will soon increase the editorial staff. Kharkin emphasizes that to become such a specialist, it is important to be able to joke about the traditional conventions of the news genre. A meme creator is not just a person who can make a meme or draw something. After the war started, all Ukrainians began to understand the meaning of the word "cotton" (in Ukrainian - "bavovna") which became another very popular meme and is still used in Telegram news channels today. Among Ukrainians, it means an explosion or the arrival of a shell. In this case, the people of Ukraine were able to play with the translation of the word "cotton" in a witty way, as it has several meanings. It would be easy to cast all blame upon the form of the meme, to decide that memefication is a process that inherently corrupts good discourse and only serves as a vector to misinformation. Footage from the postal service in Belarus revealed they were sending hundreds of kilograms of stolen goods to their homes in Russia. When soldiers that came here to “save and liberate” feel the need to loot a toaster or a scooter — Ukrainians find it just a bit ironic.Ukrainians often joke about the defeats of Russian soldiers, the impact of sanctions on Russians, and the absurdity of Russian propaganda. This is not a ‘special operation’ but a real war, in which many people are dying for no reason,” he says in one of his videos. “This war was started by a person we didn’t elect, but it’s a situation we will all have to deal with as a consequence.” From a hotel room in Turkey, Mastrider told his audience some creators are pivoting to target an international base by switching to English or having an English-language mirror account. “Yes, I do have plans to work on English-speaking content, but my main focus will still be on my Russian audience, I won’t abandon my country,” he reassured viewers. Creating a viral meme is a science and it has its formula, according to Nazarenko. The ideal meme meets the following criteria: It should center on a popular topic, be witty yet easy to understand, and reflect society’s attitudes toward certain issues.

Since memes are simplified versions of reality, their intended meaning can be easily subverted or simplified to serve a new political purpose. Hitler’s appropriation of the sacred Hindu swastika, which symbolised well-being, is a prime example. I ask Istomina why she didn’t leave Moscow. “I don’t have any documents, any international bank accounts, any relatives,” she says. “Nobody is waiting for me anywhere, and I don’t have enough money.” Plus, for her, leaving would be an act of “Russophobia”; she doesn’t want to leave the government, her family, friends or city behind. “I love Moscow. That’s why I stay, because I have support here. I’m not alone.” But she is worried. “I’m against people dying and don’t support bloodshed. I really want everything to be over as soon as possible.”

Well, yes and no. There’s no single satisfactory response to a war. It’s okay to feel how you feel, however messy or improper your feelings are — and that’s always been true. What’s new, this time, is that the Ukrainian invasion is unfolding in the context of the modern internet. Social media gamifies public discourse, dividing conversations into winners and losers in a way that’s simply impossible to reconcile with the myriad emotions that accompany the possibility of an actual global military conflict. This meme, according to Nazarenko, is an interpretation of the David and Goliath story, where a young boy defies all odds and defeats a giant with a single stone. Ukraine sees itself as David and Russia as Goliath. The Ukrainian army successfully hit Russian forces at the airport more than a dozen times. Chornobayivka received its fair share of jokes about the “Groundhog Day” movie and The Bermuda Triangle for Russian troops. He’s also made headlines for many other reasons, including accusations that he is trying to take advantage of his position as leader by extorting businesses and abusing power. He has denied all allegations against him.

The sober, polarized reactions to the memes likewise forms part of the cultural response to the invasion. Laughter or horror at a war meme are both reflections of unease about a turbulent moment; their coexistence reflects both larger societal polarization and some of that turbulence itself. After all, if laughter gets read as a mark of desensitization, displaying too much empathy can be viewed as narcissism. Is the only acceptable response, if you’re an at-home viewer, just to sit and be sad? These online battles, which continue today in America, skewering everyone from the news network CNN to Trump supporters and Hillary enthusiasts, came to France, too, just in time for its 2017 election season.Visit Ukraine Hotelis a search engine where you can easily and affordably book a hotel in a number of Ukrainian cities. The emergence and growth of the “alt right” (“alternative right”) movement in the early 2010s was characterized by an extensive use of social media and online memes. A particularly important moment in the formation of the alt-right was during the 2016 US presidential campaign, where the memes that they produced and disseminated online flooded the internet with pro-Trump content to such an extent that it was dubbed a ‘meme war’, and is considered to have been instrumental in shifting the public narrative to one that was sympathetic of Trump. Ukrainians like to joke that the “second strongest army in the world” lost their military equipment to farmers. You may have heard about Chornobayivka — a village in the south of Ukraine and an unfortunate place for a Russian soldier to be. On February 27th, Russian forces took over the airport nearby. It was used to store helicopters and other military equipment — and later that day, The Armed Forces of Ukraine targeted their positions with Bayraktar combat drones. The village became well-known then, but it turned into a war meme later — as the situation repeated over and over again. NAFO. North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO) is a meme and social media movement dedicated to countering Russian propaganda and disinformation. Its members post comments and create memes to fight Russia’s false narratives with humor.

The following month, the Ukrainian army launched an offensive to regain control of the area. After taking several small towns, the army managed to reclaim the larger villages of Katerynoslav and Stakhanov. However, the separatists held onto Debaltseve and Avdiivka. 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 warThere is definitely an element of privilege and safety behind the impulse to meme instead of staying glued to the news. Part of the meme response is about “not realizing what war really is and what it means,” Alhabash said. “So, dealing with it in a laissez-faire kind of way.” Washing machine. Russian soldiers have been looting Ukrainians’ homes en masse, stealing various home appliances, including washing machines. Aerial footage published in the early days of the all-out war showed Russian soldiers loading a washing machine into their military vehicle. The Ukrainian military also found a stolen washing machine in Russian trenches. 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. Zelensky's interview with CNN. During an interview with CNN on Nov. 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky said no one cooks him breakfast. Ukrainians captured the surprised expression on the face of his wife, Olena Zelenska, and joked that this was the most dangerous situation in which the president found himself during the war. For Dawkins, memes were discrete units of cultural inheritance (gossip, images, fashion fads, catchphrases) that, by virtue of their rapid dissemination and adoption, drive cultural evolution, just as genes propel forth our biology.

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