The Memes You Need, Vol. 16: The Iran War Edition
Instead of us having essential conversations about domestic U.S. policy in the days ahead, we will be agonizing over another morally bankrupt, GOP-made Middle East war. Memes offer a useful shorthand.
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Introduction
As most Retro readers know, I’ve written many articles about memes on Substack—e.g., this one over at Proof—and Retro of course has the Memes section you’re reading right now in which I discuss the subject, so this series probably needs little additional introduction. It’s exactly what it says it is: a series of archives of memes from different categories that are eminently usable by anyone who likes to instrumentalize memes as part of their discourse practice.
And candidly, we should all do so: memes are a shorthand for dealing with the many idiosyncratic situations we encounter online—situations which often become, sans memes, far more arduous to navigate. In other words, high-quality memes save time.
In a politically fraught era like this one, memes can also summarize our values and make complex declarations of where we stand on matters of great import seem a less daunting task than they would otherwise be.
And that’s necessary at a time of great exhaustion and deep anxiety over current events.
Info Box: All Past Editions of the Retro Meme Archive
Volume 16: The Iran War Edition (below)
I studied and taught memes when I was a professor at University of New Hampshire—yes, really!—so I curate an archive series like this one very mindfully. The very best memes, whatever their general theme, are ones that have high production values, are easy to read and understand, and make a point that one doesn’t need much or perhaps even any specialized knowledge to empathize with. They act as effective vehicles for trolling and pleasing and commiserating in equal measure, and moreover offer the sort of iconic visual aesthetic that allows them to be instantly recognizable every time they appear anywhere (and, just as importantly, be readily remembered). A meme is far more likely to be used and responded to if it’s one an internet user has seen before (up to a point, of course; the “law of diminishing returns” certainly does also apply here).
With all this in mind, I do hope you the enjoy the piping hot memes compiled below.