Detailed Meme Analysis

Meme 1

• The rhetorical situation of the text: This meme was found on a Pinterest board with other conservative memes. This meme was originally posted on the Twitter page of user @always.right. The twitter account is now disabled but an Instagram with the same name is connected to an ambassador for Turning Point USA, a conservative group well known for the creation of conservative memes.
• The persuasive elements of the discourse and their locations: This meme consists of two sections stacked on top of each other. Each section contains an image and quote from either Bill Clinton at the time of his presidency and Donald Trump sometime during 2016. There is a quote attributed to both Bill Clinton in 1995 and Donald Trump in 2016. These quotes are placed next to images of the two men. In Bill Clinton’s case, the word applause is next to him and in Donald Trump’s case, the word racist is next to him.
• Strategies and form of appeal in the discourse and situation: First, this meme presents the dominate quote in such a way that it makes it appear that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump said the same thing. In this way the meme tries to make an appeal to credibility to show that the quote has more weight since it was said by two presidents from either party. The meme shows the two presidents in similar poses and facial expressions, further reinforcing that the two men have the same opinion. The meme makes a pragmatic appeal by using the words “Applause” and “Racist” next to the presidents to show hypocrisy on the part of Trump critics. The meme then uses the words” Liberal Logic” By priming the word liberal, the meme also makes an ideological appeal to incite the viewer into lumping all liberals into this hypocritical view.
• Evaluation of the rhetorical discourse as a whole: Research into the quote found that the quote attributed to Bill Clinton is incorrect. In his 1995 State of the Union address, Clinton did say, “We are a nation of immigrants. But also a nation laws.” He then followed this up with: “It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it” (State of the Union, 1995). Research also found that there is no record online of Donald Trump saying the quote either – however it is known that he has said things along those lines. Because of this, the information presented in this meme is misleading. That doesn’t mean, however, that this makes the argument unconvincing. Just because facts are wrong doesn’t mean that people won’t believe them.

Meme 2

• The rhetorical situation of the text: A study done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that in 2018 there are around 37,800 homeless veterans in the United States. That number is down from 74,000 in 2010 (Henry et. al., 2018). Furthermore, undocumented immigrants are barred from accessing most federal assistance programs and a 2013 study by Cato Institutes’ Leighton Ku and Brian Bruen found that on average, documented immigrants use government assistance less often than native-born residents (Ku & Bruen, 2013).
• The persuasive elements of the discourse and their locations: This meme is made up of several elements. Text is on the top of bottom of the meme that says “Shelter our heroes not foreigners and illegals.”  The image in the center depicts a man in a military uniform holding a sign saying that he is an Iraq veteran with a seven-month-old baby boy, who has PTSD, is severely struggling, among other statements. The sign also indicates that Department of Veterans Affairs hasn’t done enough to help the man. The man has a despairing-looking face.
• Strategies and form of appeal in the discourse and situation: This meme employs a variety of rhetorical appeals to pass its message. First, by highlight the plight of the service member’s position, it uses an emotional appeal to state that the United State’s should be focused on providing housing for veterans as opposed to “foreigners and illegals”. The meme  also uses a political commonplace message of immigrants being in the U.S. to rely government services, which is a common narrative found among immigration memes. This meme also uses an ethical appeal by criticizing the government mismanagement of housing assistance funds in favor of immigrants as opposed to service members. This meme also makes an emotional appeal by invoking anger in the way it connects the veteran’s position directly to the government’s inability to help him but help “foreigners and illegals.”
• Evaluation of the rhetorical discourse as a whole: This meme is effective in its attempt to use visual rhetoric. By combining a variety of appeals it tries to persuade readers from all angles. The image of a veteran holding a sign on the street saying that he’s done everything and is in his position by no fault of his own is a powerful symbol. The meme uses that symbol to further the narrative that immigrants are relying on government resources and then builds on that narrative to claim that this reliance on benefits is being done to the detriment of veterans. This claim is unfounded but as discussed previously, the validity of facts doesn’t necessarily diminish their rhetorical power if the receiver isn’t aware that they are false.

Meme 3

• The rhetorical situation of the text: This meme was created in the middle of the January 2019 government shutdown over the proposed border wall. According to Dan Evan of Snopes.com, this meme was first posted on Reddit in a section called “The_Donald” where Trump supporters commonly met and talked about Donald Trump and his policies (Evan, 2019). The meme highlights the murder of Joshua Wilkerson, an 18 year old from Texas, by Hermilo Moralez, a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant. In November 2010, Moralez murdered Wilkerson and set him on fire. Moralez was later sentenced to life in prison. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program wasn’t announced until June 2012, meaning that it was impossible for Moralez to be a DACA recipient. Furthermore, a requirement of maintaining DACA status is not being convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor, which means that even if Moralez had been in the program, he wouldn’t have been allowed to stay enrolled. According to the Pew Research Center, 800,000 people have been enrolled in DACA (Lopez & Krogstad, 2017). This meme was also created in the wake of many statements by Donald Trump that asserted that immigrants are directly related to higher levels of crime. An article by the New York Times found that there was no connection between legal or illegal immigration and violent crime (Flagg, 2019).
• The persuasive elements of the discourse and their locations: This meme presents photos of Moralez and Wilkerson next to each other with lettering superimposed on them. Above the photos is a paragraph of text telling people that the next time anyone wants to argue about the “unconstitutional travesty that is ‘DACA’ remember this.” The superimposed text over the image of Moralez states that he is a DACA recipient. The text on the image of Wilkerson states that Wilkerson is one, an American, and two, was killed by Moralez and then set on fire.
• Strategies and form of appeal in the discourse and situation: This meme employes a couple of rhetorical appeals in its discourse. We first have an emotional appeal by describing how Wilkerson was set on fire by Moralez. Highlighting such an extreme act of violence can make the receiver feel anger, disgust, and sadness. By showing the faces of both boys, the creator also aims enhance those emotions. Receivers could perceive the face Moralez is making as being smug while perceiving the face Wilkerson is making as a more neutral smile. This meme also uses a political commonplace message and logos appeal by presenting the fact that Moralez was a DACA recipient and then connecting that with the message of immigrants as criminals. Finally, this meme uses an ethical appeal by stating the murder was a result of the DACA program and that such program is a “constitutional travesty.” In bringing up the constitution, the meme also employees another political commonplace message.
• Evaluation of the rhetorical discourse as a whole: This meme was effective because it employs a number of appeals in its rhetoric and was created in a time where the intended audience was emboldened by Donald Trump’s government shutdown. This meme relies on a strong emotional appeal that is strengthened by half truths and political commonplace messages perpetuated by the President’s statements about immigrants and crime.

Meme 4

• The rhetorical situation of the text: This meme was first posted June 2016 to popular meme aggregation website me.me. Donald Trump has long claimed that past President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States and had demanded that he release his birth certificate. Barack Obama eventually released his birth certificate, to which Donald Trump continued to fan doubt about the authenticity of the document. This meme was created prior to controversy surrounding the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border, which means that using that context in this evaluation must be taken with a degree of hesitancy.
• The persuasive elements of the discourse and their locations: The meme parodies a popular scene from the 1990 film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel IT. In the original scene, Pennywise the clown appears from the storm drain, talks to the child wearing the yellow rain jacket, and ultimately drags the child into the sewer. This meme replaces the image of Pennywise with Donald Trump and superimposes the word “Hey Kid, show me your birth certificate” on top of the meme. The word “immigrants” is written at the bottom of the meme.
• Strategies and form of appeal in the discourse and situation: This meme relies primarily on its pop culture reference for its rhetorical power. The creator places Donald Trump in the place of an evil clown that kills children. In doing so, the creator appears to be painting Trump in a similar light and connecting the negative qualities of the clown with Trump. The creator then alludes to Donald Trump’s history of questioning the birthplace of Barack Obama with the superimposed text. This could either be used to create a humorous scene or to mock Trump’s Finally, the word immigrants at the bottom serves to connect this meme explicitly to the greater narrative of immigration issues. Receivers after 2019 might connect this meme to the Trump Administration’s child separation policy and in doing be exposed to an ethical appeal criticizing the Administration’s policy and even an emotional appeal if the receiver was angered by the Administration’s policy.
• Evaluation of the rhetorical discourse as a whole: This meme’s message depends on the receiver’s viewpoint. Opponents of Donald Trump might connect the evil qualities of Pennywise the clown and assign them to Trump, making him out to be a evil, murderous clown. Supporters of Donald Trump might see this as a humorous parody of a classic scene in cinema history and not assign inherent negative value to the meme itself. Because of this, this meme’s rhetorical elements aren’t as strong. It has been mentioned that this meme has taken on a new meaning after the child separation policy controversy. This observation opens up an interesting dialogue of the ever-changing world we live in and how that changing world can impact the rhetorical impact of a meme.

Meme 5

• The rhetorical situation of the text: This meme was posted to a Pinterest board for political and history memes. Many of the other memes in this board are about Native Americans and various injustices they have faced.
• The persuasive elements of the discourse and their locations: This meme is made up of two parts. The first part is an image on the top half of the meme that shows a billboard with an American flag and the wording “America is for Americans. Period.” The bottom of the meme shows an image of a Native American man posing for a camera. Text is superimposed on the image saying “I agree. Why don’t you go back to Europe?”
• Strategies and form of appeal in the discourse and situation: This meme relies heavily on a political commonplace statement that most U.S. citizens are descendants of immigrants and that Native American people are the only true heirs to this land. By extension, this meme makes a propositional appeal that questions the validity of the belief that immigrants shouldn’t be allowed in the United States by painting the statement as hypocritical.
• Evaluation of the rhetorical discourse as a whole: This meme’s use of a politically commonplace statement enhanced by a propositional appeal to hypocrisy is not sufficient in its rhetorical discourse. While those who agree with the commonplace message will likely be swayed by the rhetoric, those who do not subscribe to the message have little else to sway them of the meme’s presented point.