Week 5: Narratives that Motivate Responses to memes

In chapter 8 of Memes in Digital Culture, Limor Shifman talks about the potential of politically focused Internet memes to cause people to act and respond.  She describes memes as using humor to motivate political participation.  She describes three ways internet-based political memes can motivate participation.  Memes can be seen as (1) forms of persuasion, (2) empowering action and (3) facilitating public discussions.

Similar to last week, you are asked to select and post 3 memes related to a specific news or media event that has some connection to ideas of race, religion and/or gender.  First, describe the event you are exploring, how the three memes you have selected related to this event and what  specific messages about it each meme communicates.  Second, you are asked to consider which of the three responses these memes seem to encourage in their viewers and readers.  Please cite concrete examples from the memes that back up your claims, as well as use quotes or ideas from chapter 8 to explain your argument.