As stated in my last post social media has created a polarized state when it comes to politics, however, it has also threatened our whole democracy. One major thing I have seen when looking into politics is memes and the undermining of the government. This is dangerous because we are supposed to be able to trust and look to our government to make huge decisions in our lives. As time continues, it becomes evident that we have no trust or respect for our government which makes me worried about our democracy’s future. Along with memes, this social environment created by these memes allows women in congress to be attacked, and stereotyped. This creates an environment that makes it hard for men and women in the government to do their jobs successfully and represent us how they should be.

Whenever I see clips of political gatherings I never see them as something informational, instead if see clips of people mocking the other side. One major event of this happening was during the 2020 election when the fly landed on Mike Pence’s head. I remember trying to find actual information on what was discussed. Instead, I saw memes of people mocking Mike Pence and not posting any clips of what was talked about. This is dangerous because it shows people care less and less about actual politics and more about what can be made into something to get views. The public not caring about what needs to be heard, but rather what can be laughed at, creates an environment that allows for no information to be spread. Another incident that I can recall was during the “migrant crisis” in 2014-2015. During this time thousands of memes ended up on the internet which resulted in misinformation and completely mocked what our democracy was going to do about the problem. Vice.com wrote an article on this and stated, “Almost all of the messages in these were false or greatly exaggerated, but packaged in an inherently shareable form they made their way around online for thousands of people to believe at face value, reinforcing pre-existing prejudices, or sparking anger in people who were previously on the fence.” As stated, this created such a bad image that made it harder for congress to complete their jobs.

Along with this, the use of social media to create memes of important events creates a problem with how congressmen and women choose to present themselves to the public. Since the use of social media, they seem to have become more active in bashing other leaders in congress on the internet. An article by Yahoo.com wrote, The research, published Thursday in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, found that the level of incivility in tweets by members of Congress increased by 23% between 2009 and 2019 — a change the study’s authors attribute in part to how Twitter’s “like” and “retweet” buttons reinforce the spread of toxic content.”. As time has continued we have seen an increase in how members of congress, and other political roles believe it is okay to attack other people on social media. The increase in media shows how we believe it is okay to express how we believe we can act toward others. This also allows for people to not have to watch what they are posting as there are no restrictions to what can be posted, instead they can speak their mind. However, things such as hate speech should not be used to help build a platform, instead it should be help the people they were elected to help.

Not only have we seen this on social media, but we have also had an increase in attacks in person as well. I remember recently Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s and the congresswomen for New York had to explain how congressmen got in her face and called her rude names trying to make a mockery of her. However, I feel that back in the time before social media interactions like this would not have occurred as often as we see them today. We also see many times men in the government calling women out for their gender rather than their work ethic. In August of 2022, congresswomen around the world issued a statement towards Facebook to remove all posts threatening congresswomen and posting untrue information. Following this a group called Times Up, launched a campaign called #WeHaveHerBack, calling for news stations to stop stereotyping women when covering the 2020 election. Social media has allowed women in congress to be stereotyped and belittled for their gender.

Women in congress are usually the targets of these hateful comments, and this shows how little Americans feel toward women. This opens a whole other conversation about why it is harder to support women who work to get into the government. Another instance of this is the meme of Kamala Harris when she and President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. When she stated, “We did it Joe” in the celebration it was taken and put to the media as something else. Social media turned it into her threatening the President and how she was going to assassinate him. The media projected her as someone violent when she was just expressing how happy she was. Why at such a moment in history do we have to make women the violent ones? Instead of celebrations, the media jumped to how someone could kill another. Why is this the conclusion the media comes to first, and why did it happen to women?

Overall it is clear to see how the media has become a way to mock our government, allow violence, and stereotype women who have worked hard to get to where they are. Allowing social media to hold such a large presence in the government is scary and it needs to be put to a stop. We need to learn how to trust the people we elect to represent us and how congress needs to respect the others in their branches. The public seeing these interactions allows for a more polarized environment and an environment that makes people feel unappreciated.

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