ENCHANTING MEMES: MEMETIC POLITICS in the FACE of TECHNOCRATIC CONTROL Jonathan Carter University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected]
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Communication Studies, Department of Student Research 11-2016 ENCHANTING MEMES: MEMETIC POLITICS IN THE FACE OF TECHNOCRATIC CONTROL Jonathan Carter University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, and the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Carter, Jonathan, "ENCHANTING MEMES: MEMETIC POLITICS IN THE FACE OF TECHNOCRATIC CONTROL" (2016). Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 40. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss/40 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. ENCHANTING MEMES: MEMETIC POLITICS IN THE FACE OF TECHNOCRATIC CONTROL by Jonathan S. Carter A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Communication Studies Under the Supervision of Professor Damien S. Pfister Lincoln, Nebraska November, 2016 ENCHANTING MEMES: MEMETIC POLITICS IN THE FACE OF TECHNOCRATIC CONTROL Jonathan Stephen Carter, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2016 Advisor: Damien S. Pfister This dissertation examines emerging trends in networked politics through an analysis of the rhetorical forms and functions of internet memes as a unique response to the increasing force of technocratic rhetorics. Frequently dismissed as mere trivialities of networked discourses, memes have increasingly been mobilized to articulate new positions and structures of feeling around the significant issues of the day. As new iterations of memes are rapidly developed and circulated across networked public spheres, these rhetorical technologies provide new opportunities for amateur participation in the development of symbolic content. Such participation is particularly important as the intensification of control society has enabled technocrats to increasingly govern and narrow the domains of more traditional political rhetorics. Drawing a synthesis between Bernard Stiegler‘s focus on the importance of technics and the rhetorical concepts, methods, and orientations of Kenneth Burke, I argue that digital memes – particularly the image macro – are an exemplar of the rhetorical affordances and constraints that define the politics of subjectification that drive networked publicity. Through the analysis of three controversies where technocratic and memetic rhetoric developed in tension with one another, I argue that through their sophistic politics of play memes promote a multitudinous mode of individuation that makes them particularly apt resources for the uncoiling and resistance of control. Specifically, these amateur dominated technics built meta-narratives that disrupt bureaucratization, remediate terms to destabilize anti-rhetorics, and disrupt national memories through their cosmopolitan tendencies. Combined these features lead to the conclusion that memes themselves to function as a rhetorical critic par excellence in networked rhetorics, fostering a politics of care particularly suited to disrupting the proletarianizing force of technocratic rhetorics. Copyright © 2016 by Jonathan S. Carter All rights reserved v Acknowledgements: This dissertation is an assemblage of scholarly and personal forces well beyond the scope of a single page of acknowledgements, all of which I am thankful for. However, a few are worth noting in particular. While the members of my committee have imparted countless insights to me about theory, scholarship and life, I‘d like to note a few that stood out. Damien, your energy, unwavering support, and commitment to the essence of symposia, all while continuing to challenge me, are truly the entilechial form of advising, which I can only hope to emulate in the future. Ron, your inquisitive agonism ensures we are never complacent in the drive to become better rhetorical critics. Carly, you have taught me to appreciate scholarship as politics and challenging me to carefully consider all of my scholarly decisions from theory and method to writing. Marco, your demand for theoretical integrity, or a good explanation for deviations, remind me that it is never enough to borrow concepts; we must always strive to understand the system from which they come. I must also thank all of my faculty and graduate colleges in the department of Communication Studies. The collegiality of every one of you has make the path to a Ph.D. far more enjoyable and enabled the atmosphere casual academic discussion that helped me hone my scholarly identity. A special thanks to UNL Interlibrary Loan. Their ability to fetch anything, even if just from the stacks, makes scholarship so much easier. Meadowlark, Cottonwood, Daft Punk, and Gogol Bordello, I couldn‘t have written without you. My penultimate thanks to forensics. This activity brought me to communication and continue to foster my love for it. Finally, I cannot give enough thanks to Jamie. You keep me grounded, push me to be better, help keep me laughing, call out my garbage, and so much more. I am a better scholar, teacher, and person because of you. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction: Memes and the Rhetorical Tradition ............................1 Memes: From Dawkins to Networked Rhetorics..........................5 The Stories Memes Tell: Genre, Narrative, and Myth ................24 Fragments of Publics: Memes and Public Opinion .....................38 Finding Bad Texts: On Method and the Scope of This Project ..47 Chapter 2 Individuation, Identification, and Imitation: Toward a Theory of Memes .................................................................55 The Tradition of Visual Participatory Politics ............................58 Technocrats and the Emergence of Control Society ...................68 Bernard Stiegler and the Evolution of Control ...........................77 Rhetoric in the Regime of Control ..............................................99 Chapter 3 Old Economies and New Memes: Enthymeme and Enchantment in Old Economy Steve .........................................113 The Fed and the Infantilization of America ..............................115 Old Economy Steve as a Mode of Individuation ......................131 Memes as Pharmakon for Control ............................................148 Chapter 4 Can You Meme Me Now? Technics and Terministic Democracy ...........................................................................................159 The NSA and the Anti-Rhetoric of Security .............................161 Networked Memes‘ Reopening of Deliberative Spaces ...........174 Participatory Networked Technics and Terministic Democracy ................................................................................195 Chapter 5 Putting Putin on the Ritz: Memes Making Cosmopolitan Memories .....................................................................200 Visual Technics and National Memories ..................................203 Memetic Challenges to Official Memory .................................217 Memes as International Resistance to Control..........................238 Chapter 6 The Potential of Memetic Criticism ..................................................256 vii Form, Irony, and Identification: Rhetoric as the Entelechial Individuating Technic .............................................260 Memetic Multitudes ...................................................................270 Limitations and Future Directions .............................................279 Conclusion .................................................................................282 Bibliography .................................................................................................................283 viii Figures 1.1 Feminist Ryan Gosling memes ..............................................................................1 1.2 Advice Dog memes ..............................................................................................12 1.3 Courage Wolf and Philosoraptor memes .............................................................14 1.4 Stalin Meme from Republican Primary Debate ...................................................23 1.5 Confession Bear memes .......................................................................................25 1.6 One Does Not meme ............................................................................................28 1.7 Scumbag Steve memes ........................................................................................30 1.8 Situation Room meme..........................................................................................34 1.9 Successful Black Man meme ...............................................................................35 1.10 Condescending Wonka meme on the American Dream ......................................37 1.11 Texts from Hillary memes ...................................................................................45 2.1 Garfield post-meme .............................................................................................56 2.2 PTSD Kid meme ..................................................................................................76