Do political memes change hearts and minds? Or do they merely amuse or outrage the sides they're aimed at? A friend of mine believes that they serve no real propose; to her, they only encourage a samsies echo chamber of thoughts and ideas, and while they're frequently amusing, they don't actually move the needle either way. I'll grant that most, if not all of them, do indeed safely confirm already commonly held views. Even more troubling, posting them for yuks or "likes" on social media is just the sort of "frictionless" sharing Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk want us to engage in so that we might continue to glare dead-eyed at their ads and further feed their "pitting-one-against-the-other" algorithms. Yet I disagree with my friend that they serve no purpose. In addition to their humor - which we all need - they can sometimes effectively rile up their long-exhausted bases, or in the case of "Krasnov," disseminate information that ...
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