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1. Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks
“The recollection of this brutal whipping of a little-girl daughter by a big strong man, served as more than just a reminder to me of my gendered place, it was a reminder to everyone watching/remembering, to all my siblings, male and female, and to our grown-woman mother that our patriarchal father was the ruler in our household”
What I note most about this quote is that violence is not just for punishment it is for performance. The act doesn’t only to inflict pain on the child but to also put on display who has power. bell hooks details how patriarchy plays out in terms of fear and spectacle instead of just by rule. The father becomes “the ruler” not because he is right but because he is instilled with fear.
In many Hispanic homes it is very much a point of respect that the father or male head of the house is the ultimate authority “respeta a tu papá, “el es el hombre de la casa” is what is instilled. What we see is that this respect which should be a positive thing ends up in practice as silence, compliance, and in some cases normalizing of harmful behavior. What is painful is that even the mother, an adult woman is made to feel that which is her place. We see patriarchy not only in the treatment of children but also in the training of women to put up with it and in the early programming of children to accept hierarchy.
What which is puts across so well in this quote is that hooks doesn’t report on a single act of violence; instead she presents a lesson which is long lasting. She reports on what power is to boys. What submission is to girls. And that love and also fear can exist at the same time which is one of the most damaging aspects of patriarchal family systems.
“men were all-powerful and women powerless, that all men were oppressive and women always and only victims.”
This is a reductive tell and it’s dangerous.
The concept which puts all men at powerful and all women at a disadvantage removes complex reality. It also ignores how boys into which patriarchal systems are born and which they which they harm in terms of emotion and action. Also it is to present women as without agency, resistant, and survival strategies. As a member of a Hispanic family which is very much a part of this dynamic I note that within that culture women (mothers, abuelas, tías) play very large roles in terms of emotion, culture and practice although they may not have formal power.
Ruler vs. ruled, strong vs. weak. hooks put it this way that reality is more complex. Some men are in fact dominated. Some women support patriarchy. Some women resist that which is put upon them quietly. Some men never do feel power in their lives at all.
For my part that quote is a call to unlearn our habit of blaming and to instead take responsibility. Not “men against women” but “how did we get into these roles in the first place and what can we do to break the cycle?
2. Memes are our Generation’s Protest Art by Sage Lazzaro
"You can express yourself with one picture of a meme better than a whole page of text"
This quote puts forth that we are using visual language as the primary emotional outlet in our time. Memes work by they put forward anger, sarcasm, grief, exhaustion, resistance in a recognizable package. We do not have to explain our position, the image itself conveys what we are thinking or feeling. Also in a sense memes are like the modern day political cartoons, only faster and more personal.
In a world which has grown up digital this is true. We scroll past content very quickly, we process images faster than text, and we are at times bombarded by info. A meme breaks through that noise. It doesn’t require deep thought; it asks for immediate recognition. That isn’t to say it is shallow it is simply very efficient. The power is in the shared get you in if you “get” the meme you are in the know.
Also in a way that is democratic this is the case. Not all people have the language or the confidence or the platform to put forth long political arguments, but almost any person can put forth “this image is how I feel”. That is expression without gatekeeping.
“Memes can spread far more quickly than the songs or art projects of previous generations, and there's such a low barrier to entry that anyone can make them; they can go viral in a matter of minutes.”
This quote is on the transformation of protest in the age of digital communication. Before us we had groups which spent time, resources and physical space to produce protest material printing up posters, putting on performances, putting out music. Now we see instant resistance. A meme can react to breaking news in minutes which in turn changes how people feel about an issue as it is happening.
The issue of low barrier to entry is very much so a key point. You don’t require money, training, or institutional support to take part. All you have to have is a phone and an idea. What it does is shift power away from traditional authorities into the hands of the every day person. It turns protest into a collective affair as opposed to an elite one.
At that which is the same time we see this speed as a form of urgency. Our generation is in the middle of constant crises political, social, environmental and we use memes as a way to react, to criticism to band together. They do not replace marches or policy change but they set the tone of the movement. They help people to not feel so alone and to connect in times of frustration and outrage.
3. “What Memes Owe to Art History” by Alice Bucknell
This quote brings up the issue that images don’t exist in a void. Though we may see a meme and think we get it right away, its meaning is a product of the culture which produced it and the culture which is receiving it. A meme is only successful if you are aware of the back story the moment it is a response to, the emotion it is play ing up, or the power dynamic it is either putting forward or turning on its head.
From the point of view of art history this is very true. Paintings, photos, and propaganda images have always had stories which guide the viewer’s interpretation.
Meme’s are in the same vein but at a faster pace. What we see is that when we out that narrative part out of play we tend to think of images as neutral or objective which they are not. Someone put that image there, they framed it in a certain way, and put a message out there, that may be only implied but is still very much present.
"Memes aren't an innocent process -they carry serious political weight, and not always of the activist variety,"
I think this quote is of great importance because it puts forth the fact that what we term as harmless fun in the form of memes is in fact not so. While memes do play a role in activism, humor and critique, they also are a tool for spreading info which is false, which stereotypes, or which is hate filled. Also because they are funny or play on irony people tend to share memes without thinking through what exactly they are supporting.
To convince, establish authority, or to frame public opinion. Memes are just the digital evolution of that practice which also has a much greater reach and less accountability.
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