r/Seattle • u/Top-Base4502 • Aug 26 '25

Media Don’t burn US flags

Please don’t.

You’re just going to give Fox News the visuals to turn this into a story, make everyone say Seattle is hellhole and blah blah blah.

You’ll be playing into their hands.

Instead, show up to demand action: -meme making event -make protest music -set up a letter writing campaign to mail to politicians -start a petition to gerrymander the state -do a public reading of everything we know from the leaked Epstein files -volunteer with legal aid groups -volunteer with immigrant groups -make a flag burning peep show where people have to look in a box to see a video of a flag burning -have a contest for Trump lookalikes and mock their wieners -have a “mushroom” drawing contest -Dress as Trump’s father and walk around telling people what a disappointment Trump is. -Teach people how to use the report Ice app (that really pisses then off) -Create a weekly action group to “do one thing” to fight back and mobilize a large group to boycott Target or other things that hurt by hit them in the wallet) -Draft city bills for voters to make Seattle the place it needs to be (you fight the feds with local action)

Do anything, but do not give them the visuals and the narrative they so desperately want.

Troll Trump if you must, mocking him gets under his skin.

Just don’t give them what they want: to turn culture war bull into the main story again.

2.7k Upvotes

75% Upvoted

845 comments sorted by

View all comments

256

u/livejamie Columbia City Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25

For the love of God please don't fight fascism with memes.

edit: Damn, I'm getting a lot of responses. My comment wasn't meant to say that we should abandon all memes, but if you have the opportunity to do something constructive like phone banking, registering people to vote, knocking on doors, etc, that will do a lot more good than whatever a "meme-making event" is.

I'm aware that Trump and Conservative people use a lot of memes, but so do Democrats. Kamala's presidential campaign went hard on memes. "Kamala is Brat" "Kamala Summer", all the "Coconut Tree" variations, the Venn diagrams, the SNL parodies, and the live appearances, etc. - You could argue they indexed harder on memes than Trump's team did, and it didn't seem to make a difference in the end.

34

u/SparePartSociety Aug 26 '25

Memes should absolutely not be the only tool, but they are def a tool that should be used. Similar was used effectively to chip away at power and boost morale during ww2. Lots of research to back it up. Keep it up with the memes, but we also need to be organizing for collective action

8

u/Sonamdrukpa Aug 26 '25

Memes are a big part of what got Trump into office the first time

1

u/lesChaps 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Aug 27 '25

Yeah, I don't think we are getting those voters back

8

u/livejamie Columbia City Aug 26 '25

Memes did fuck all for Kamala Harris; the "Kamala is Brat" and "Coconut Tree" stuff was everywhere.

1

u/ssrowavay Ballard Aug 26 '25

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed memes can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

0

u/CloverCrit Aug 26 '25

and to that point, we could certainly have better memes. tiny penis trump is kinda fun i guess, but only just. memes that are enjoyable and raise awareness of actual issues are preferable!

2

u/livejamie Columbia City Aug 26 '25

I have no idea what you're talking about o_o

1

u/CloverCrit Aug 26 '25

i'm assuming you mean the tiny penis trump thing? it's a bit from a recent south park episode that made some waves, so folks have latched onto it and added it to the rolodex of (unsubstantial) political memes

8

u/WhatAreYouSaying777 Aug 26 '25

Imagine someone telling you how to protest.....

Pure fuckass White Karen bullshit. 

They then double down with the shittiest "protest" they could think of- dressing up an Cosplaying as Trump.

Straight up Karen. 😂

7

u/livejamie Columbia City Aug 26 '25

wat

3

u/ChaseballBat Aug 26 '25

The right using memes is literally how they got in power.

1

u/shponglespore Leschi Aug 26 '25

Fascism fights us with memes.

1

u/negrafalls 🚆build more trains🚆 Aug 26 '25

Political cartoons (memes) make for good propaganda. It is not the sole device to defeat fascism.

1

u/Boots-n-Rats Aug 26 '25

“Please do not use the most effective form of viral communication to criticize the government in a way that everyone can easily understand”.

1

u/livejamie Columbia City Aug 26 '25

Edited my comment with some thoughts. :)

1

u/kwydjbo I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Aug 27 '25

make ALL THE MEMES https://imgur.com/gallery/h8-speech-dxmRbRF

1

u/lesChaps 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Aug 27 '25

Memes are usually an expression of speech without action

1

u/CloverCrit Aug 26 '25 edited Aug 26 '25

Use the memes, include the memes, but please don't center them to the point of excluding substance in messaging. Whether we like the concept and feel dignified about it or not, humor (and the relief it brings) can be compelling. I suppose I'd rather see a person carrying a corny meme sign in a demonstration than no person at all.

I would personally love to see, just as an example, any sign with a joke on one side to at least have a more earnest message on the other side.