My recent book read - Meme Wars

My recent Book Read - Meme Wars

Books always provide you some mental simulation as well as skill to understand problems from various angles and perspective.

I recently read a book which clearly spell that in case a person, a group or a crowd decide to create a extreme world view than social media can be transformed into a dangerous weapon. The book I am talking about is a recent read called Meme Wars.

It is researched and written by Joan Donovan, Emily Dreyfus’s, Brian Friedberg. 

Author Trio works on Harvard Kennedy School’s Technology and Social Research Project. This is an astonishing piece of nonfiction that inform and leave even more terrified than the news likely already does. 

Alert citizens world over have been keeping up with the news on the rise of the alt-right for the last few years, so a book on this subject is  not shocking or surprising. However, the author trio has done a great job of condensing what has happened in about the last decade in USA on the internet into a very accessible and readable guide. 

The book begins back in the early 2010s with the growth of memes on sites like 4chan, and traces how these groups developed through Gamergate, Trump's Presidency, Q Anon, the pandemic, and culminating in the January 6th insurrection. There were a lot of photos throughout the book, which were very helpful since a lot of the information being passed between and among these groups were image-based. 

The book shows how media and most of the politicians harness the organizing power of Internet, how extreme right weaponizes memes , pushing conspiracy theories and disinformation into the mainstream to drag people into rabbit hole. The meme wars stirs strong emotions, deepen partisanship , and get people off their keyboards and into the streets, it’s crest was seen onto the steps of US Capitol. 

The authors show that what happens on the internet has an effect on the world and if we continue to not pay attention, then things may only get worse.