How is Truth Mediated? : Meme Culture Reflection

These days it feels like the truth is hard to tease out from the constant stream of news and entertainment. We are presented with headlines and talking heads. Even when we are shown facts, there are some people who choose to believe falsehoods. And, when people in the most highly respected offices don’t respect the truth, we must accept we have a problem.

In theory, truth should be mediated through facts and figures. Cold, hard evidence is tough to argue with. However, the idea of “fake news” makes us question even seemingly credible sources. Our trust of media and news outlets has sharply decreased. What some people don’t realize is that fake news usually doesn’t come from the mainstream outlets where most people get their information from.

Truth is sometimes filtered through so many lenses that it is no longer 100% truth. Everybody has a different viewpoint which can spin what we think of news and how we retell it. We have to accept things as truth on an individual level in order to make it so. People ask for proof of truth and then still deny it.

I think memes have the potential to play two opposing roles in conveying truth in the digital age. On one hand, people pay attention to memes and they can call out things that are false. Usually, the memes are funny and become viral, pointing out the falsehood and making people aware of it. On the flip side of this, because memes grab peoples’ attentions and go viral, they have been used to spread fake news and offensive ideas. We must be careful how we utilize memes and the connotations certain images hold.