Narrative Warfare: When Congress Starts Meming

This is too retarded for Empire, so it's going here.

Oh, and if you missed it:

Look, it's cringy, but anime fans were not the target here. It's Gosar's opponents in Congress, and against them it was devastating effective Rhetoric.

Take a look at the two loudest whiners. Pelosi is a prime Boomer. AOC is a Millenial, so Boomer Jr. This meme directly hits them in the brainmeats by attacking their fragile egos while making their threat profiles very obvious to the memer's allies- in this case, Gosar's constituants and supporters. It was also very funny, which made it enjoyable, and as Alinsky himself stated an effective tactic is one your side finds enjoyable.

But all of this could have just rolled off like water off a duck's back if Pelosi and AOC (et. al.) just No-Sold it like you'll see in a WWE title card match when one wrester ignores his opponent's hits on him. The tell of effective Rhetoric is in the response to it. Memes are shit tests, and Pelosi and company failed by reacting as they did- with Twitter yeeting it being the sign that the meme shot worked.

Out here in Internet Wasteland, this is Tuesday and we roast people for being this cringy. In Congress, which is still running on Boomer (ill)logic, this cringy shit is actually effective because it is the day M. Bison graced their village; don't be surprised to see more of it as the generational cohorts turn over, and to see them get more sophisticated as well as effective.

No, this isn't the first time something geeky got into the political sphere, or have you forgotten when Trump was depicted as The God-Emperor of Mankind already? Or Obama as Superman? It is the first time that it was willfully and openly done by a politician directly; heretofore plausibile deniability was maintained.

And no, you can't stop the weaponization of culture--especially pop culture--in this manner. Even if foreign corporations and creators object, all they can do is force someone to cut a check; if the punishment for a violation is a fine, then it's just a rule for the poors and not for anyone else. As this incident shows, the power potential for meme magic is too strong to ignore; power potential, once noticed, rapidly becomes realized and developed. Expect more of this, and expect refinements accordingly; it won't be long before memes like this stop being cringy and only get more potent as truly savvy folks start making them.

Begun the Meme Wars have.