Content Weapons Primer: Memetic Warfare
While you may have never heard about memetic warfare, you probably already heard and saw memes on social media. In fact, memetic warfare is simply the information and psychological warfare that involves the popularization of these memes.
According to Jeff Giesea, one of the contributors of Defense Strategic Communications journal issued by NATO Stratcom COE, it’s the “competition over narrative, ideas, and social control in a social-media battlefield. One might think of it as a subset of ‘information operations’ tailored to social media. Information operations involve the collection and dissemination of information to establish a competitive advantage over an opponent”.
According to Jeff, he believes that the memetic warfare can be seen as a digital native version of the psychological warfare which is usually seen and recognized as propaganda. But Jeff goes even further as he strongly believes that memetic warfare is being used in political campaigns. And the reality is that it is completely true.
Using Memetic Warfare In Political Campaigns
While there are many different examples, one that got a lot of attention was the use of the hashtag #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain on Twitter by John Oliver when he started an anti-Trump campaign. Another simple example was the use of the hashtag #BundyEroticFanFic, when some actors decided to prevent the glorification of the farmers who had used their guns to defend their land.
Memetic Warfare Goes Beyond Social Media
While most people tend to think that memetic warfare can only be present in social media, we don’t believe it needs to be this way. In fact, we believe that it is a much broader issue.
Just think about the implantation of ideas, for example. The best example that you have is religion. But you have others that can include “black PR” or even hypnosis.
One of the things that you need to understand is the power behind the implantation of ideas. The truth is that this is a much more powerful way to get your message through then to simply write a story about it. If you think about it, implanting your ideas means that you’ll be making someone think like you by ensuring that this person believes that they come up with these same ideas on her own.
Learn more: Content Weapons the book #contentweapons by Michael Stattelman
Learn how to lead “Next Practices” initiatives like this in Meta Leadership also by Michael Stattelman
Constructive And Destructive Memes
According to Jeff Giesea, there isn’t only one type of memetic warfare. The truth is that they can be defensive, offensive or even predictive. In addition, it can be used individually or in conjunction with other efforts.
Overall, most people tend to believe that memetic wars can be either constructive or destructive.
#1: Constructive Memes:
These are usually made more naturally. In most cases, constructive memes appear by themselves and only then people start to use them. Some examples of constructive memes include “Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood” that is famous in Europe or in Ukraine, you have the “Heavenly Hundred” (who are looking to free the Ukrainian people) and the “Cyborgs”, the soldiers and volunteers who died defending their country from Russina Special Forces attacks and from terrorist attacks.
#2: Destructive Memes:
These memes, unlike the constructive ones, are made manually and their main goal is to deepen the fear. Some of the most popular destructive memes include “banderovtsy” and “fascists”, for Ukrainian nationalists, “Liza — the raped girl” and “crucified boy” for spreading the unreal threat, and even “gayropa”, for European norms of tolerance.
Ultimately, they all have one thing in common: they are made to incite hatred between people.
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