MemeTank

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Categories: MemeTank | ThinkTank

MemeTank Instructions

How to Create a Meme

(By which we mean an entry in the MemeTank for a meme.)

First, decide if it's a new meme or an existing one.

If you invented it, put it in the "development" section.
If you heard it used in public, put it in the "catalog" section.

Second, format it correctly:

Each meme needs to be given a short name to signify it.
The link should lead to a description of the meme
Each Meme should eventually have the sections in the MemeTank:Template.
In practice this means you can feel free to add any of these sections and fill them in for yourself if they are not present.

Since the meme can be an idea about anything, of course other sections are likely to be required to completely diagram the meme. For more see Memetank:Methodology.

What is a Meme?

Definition for purposes of the MemeTank, see MemeTank:Meme.
Definition for political purposes, see Meme.
General definition from Wikipedia, see Wikipedia: Meme.
SPIDER (Social Psychology of Information Diffusion -- Educational Resources) page, devoted to the study of how memes spread, see SPIDER.

Alternate Indices

The pages below organize the memes in different ways.

The Meme Development Project

Meme Development Project: Instructions

This section is for people who want to invent new memes and try to encourage professional journalists to start using them. Yes, I know that's a tall order, but you've got to think big to change the world.

Remember, real journalists have certain limits - there are certain things they just won't say, no matter what. Don't put a meme in here unless you really think there's a chance we might be able to get the New York Times to repeat it.

I'd also like to point out that even if we are successful, this project probably isn't going to be able to get memes into common usage all that quickly. Because of that, think long-term. Memes about Bush may not be helpful: by the time we get them out there, the election will likely be over. Instead, concentrate on memes that change the way people think about politics in general.

Meme Development Project: Memes

Classic

New Terms & Catchphrases

See Political Neologisms

The Meme Cataloguing Project

Liberal/Progressive Memes

We've got 4 half-assed anti-republican memes. They've got 15 powerful anti-democrat memes. No wonder they've been winning for 30 years! We spend all our time making up anti-Bush memes. When Bush leaves office, there goes all our hard work, we're back to square one. Meanwhile, they're still building up the memes they created back in 1980. - Josh
Josh, to be provocative here... you think the Republicans would put the "Republican's are Racist" meme in the "meme's that backfire" category? No, and they wouldn't throw away the Bush meme's either, they would apply them to the next available candidate. OTOH, I agree with you, and that's where there is real work to do here in the MemeTank. Their memes, if this page represents at all, are much more deeply ingrained (PS: when does a comment fit here vs on the talk page... I do think some personal comments fit because this is a Think Tank, and sometimes the think-ers need to speak as individuals...)-- Pyrrho

Supreme Court nominations
- Harriet Miers nomination shows the GOP is exploiting cultural conservatives
- Would you buy a car from John Roberts?

Liberal Value Systems:

Liberal Stands on Specific Policies:

Pro-active Liberal Meme re-framings

Counter-attack memes

Defensive memes

Criticism of Current Republican Administration:

Criticism of Republicans in General:

Useful Facts for Liberals:

Left-Wing Google Bomb memes
- Listed at Google Bomb

Pro-Kerry 2004 election memes

Right-Wing Memes

Criticism of John Kerry:
- Kerry Flip Flops
- Kerry takes both sides of the issue
- Kerry is an opportunist
- Hollywood Kerry
- Kerry has little to show for years as senator
- Kerry is not exciting

Criticism of John Edwards:
- Edwards lacks experience
- Edwards is phony
- Edwards is a friend to trial lawyers and that is bad
- Edwards overshadows Kerry
- Edwards was Kerry's 2nd choice

John Kerry FUD:

Criticism of Democrats:

Right-Wing Economic Attitudes:

Republican Accomplishments
- Reagan won the cold war

Right-Wing Value Systems:
- Republicans Stand For Family Values

Right-Wing Stands on Specific Policies:

Pro-administration Stuff:

Paranoid Stuff:

Tutorials:
- Speak Right Wing English (RWE) in 30 Days

Memes that favor neither Liberals nor Conservatives:

Liberal memes that backfire:

Alienating Rhetoric/Overgeneralization
- Republicans are Racist
- Republicans are Fascists
- Republicans are War Mongers
- Republicans represent Big Corporations
- Republicans are Theocrats
- Red States are Welfare States
- People from the south / rural areas are stupid
- People of religious faith are sheep, dumb, followers, etc...

Meme Seed Ideas

(A scratchpad of ideas for productive memes)

Electioneering

(Congressional candidate) "America needs a good House cleaning!"

Kerry

"Integrity. Vision. Leadership. John Kerry for President." Troikas are tired. Besides Kerry doesn't have much of the "visions thing". Frankly, I would settle for just the Integrity :)
Time for a leadership change
Kerry had most Electablity as 2004 Candidate
McCain For Kerry VP (obsolete?)
Bringing REASON to the White House
Kerry is the Antidope.
Kerry is a stronger candidate (than Gore was, than Bush is.. he is a strong 'finisher'...)
Kerry has conservative values

Bush

Bush Quote Tracker- using a wikki like this we could track everything that Bush and Cheney say every day as an oppo research tool. We could then find and pick apart every contradiction, every lie, every half-truth, in one place for the media, bloggers, and Democratic campaigns to use.
Bush's arrogance endangers America
Bush is an elitist
Bush Knew
Bush policies shortsighted
The Bush Administration plays the terror card to influence other policy areas.
the Bush economy had squeezed the middle class - working harder/earning less, paying more for heath benefits, education, gas. family debt and bankruptcy is going up..
Bush wants to be like Reagan.
Bush puts politics ahead of policy, picks his ideology first and then twists facts to match, uses Enron Economics to hide the true costs of his policies
It's been a wild ride. Thank God it's almost over. (Extend to Roller-coaster or Driving analogy w/ Bush as the drunk at the wheel.)
Rushing toward Armageddon / Apocalypse Now
12 failures of the Bush Administration
Bringing state-sanctioned murder to the masses
Abuse of power is the rule
lives in an alternate reality
for him facts get in the way of decisions

Cheney

Cheney is a liability
Cheney is crude and disrespectful
Cheney has a conflict of interest regarding the Iraq war
Cheney: one heartbeat from the presidency, one heart beat from death
Great Champion of Torture
War is good for my business

The Left

The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party
Progressives and are Progressives to the left or right of Liberals?
Liberals
The Left
DINOcrats
Joe Democrat / Joe Liberal
Two Left Feet
Left Foot Forward
Left Out
Anything Left?
Are you a righty or a lefty?
Don't get left behind

The Right

Pseudopatriotism, jingoism, as opposed to supporting your nation and what it stands for
GOP is divided, true conservatives are turning on Bush
Christians vote for republicans - why?
Libertarians vote for republicans - why?
The Republican elite
Right makes might... Might makes right.
Conservative media are unreliable (NY Post et al...)
The culture wars are an invention of the Right to distract us from economic issues.
Gonzales: the Architect of Abu Ghraib
The Red-Wing (as opposed to Right-Wing); red vs. blue; negative connotations of communism; red is the color of blood
On your own-ership society
The RePalliburton Party
Bribery-based initiatives
crybaby conservatives
live in a Tinkerbell reality (believe hard enough and it will become real)
They call themselves conservative but act like regressives
There is a difference between conservative policies and regressive policies
A State religion for all
Anti-fact policies
Pro-union of church and state

The Center

Swing Voters
The Radical Center
Moderate Evangelicals
Independents
Republicrats: the two major parties are the same

The Spectrum

The political spectrum is a useless model, and there are alternatives.
Political Compass
Republicans are selfish, Democrats are neighborly
The South Is Conservative, The Coasts Are Liberal
Cheney is so far right on the spectrum he almost "wraps around"!
not left nor right, but forward
Green is not Left

Dissent

Dissent during time of war is critical to the survival of democracy.

Economy and Taxes

Feed the rich and tax the kids
Next Generation Taxation
Birth, food and work taxes
Enron Economics (fudging budget numbers to hide true costs - tax cuts, war, etc.) also Enronomics and (as an adjective) Enronic
Welfare Farmer - a farmer to collects government subsidies to not grow food; as opposed to "welfare mother".
Republican's social security plan is a Pyramid Scheme.
Corporate psychopaths
Social Security: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Taxes are an investment
Social Security is healthy and successful
Don't let Bush "Fix" Social Security the way the Vet fixed your dog.
Roll back the tax cuts on the obscenely rich.

Terror

What Terrorists Want
Terrorists Want Bush Re-Elected
The "war on terrorism" is as mindless as the "war on drugs"
Would you rather fight the terrorists in Iraq or New York? (False Dichotomy)
Fight the terrorists in Washington D.C.
Bush is a terrorist
"Shock and awe" is terrorist
Don't you wish the economy was growing as fast as Al Qaeda?
Terrorism is a symptom of a disease.

Iraq

Tenet is at fault for the whole WMD / Iraq fiasco
Fix America first
We've been neo-conned!
"Sept. 11 changed everything" (except Bush's desire to invade Iraq).
Unjustified pre-emptive war is terrorism.
Repeal the War Tax too!

Every Death Creates New Enemies
Preventive, not pre-emptive
Torturer-in-Chief
No American Combat deaths in occupied Japan or Germany
Iraq Debacle
PNAC's meat grinder, The Neocon’s meat grinder or The Republican’s meat grinder
US occupied Iraq
An unjustified occupation is a war on the people.

Abortion

Government

position:big government is bad - why? Is government bad?
position:government is corrupt and inefficient - or is it?
If the military plans for the effects of global warming, why doesn't FEMA

Taxes

position:spending increases are tax increases

Media

Media Incorporated or Corporate Media (something with the zing of "liberal media"... but reflecting reality) are interested in money, not truth.
All media sources are biased.
Balanced reporting at any cost spreads disinformation
Repeated references to Bush as "Commander in Chief" inure us to the idea of dictatorship
TV shows are the filler between commercials
The "new" media or "neo-journalism" (Kos, blogs, etc.) have countered the abilities of the world's most notorious political stategist Karl Rove.
Main Line Media (MLM); seems similar to the right-wing Main Stream Media, but carries with it connotations of addiction.
Customers of the media are corporations
enduser is the product

Foreign Policy

The Bush Doctrine debacle: When foreign policy hits home.
Our henchmen today, Our Public Enemy tomorrow
Weapons in space - another treaty abandoned without discussion?
We need to stop using Weapons of Mass Desperation against other countries.
Military retargeting - a proposal to use the military as a research and development super-NASA to deal with the most important threats.

Religion

Keep the Government Out of My Church!
Why do you need the government to justify your religion?

Democratic/Liberal values

DEMOCRAT: Because values matter!

Labels we like

Santorum: "Senator Memo"

Other

Education policy = capital investment for information economy. Like Eisenhower's interstates
Environmental regulation = Environmental stewardship
Generational Politics (Bush ruining environment, budget for next generation)
Zealots
We're Running Out
Environment:Shrinking America:As we warm the tide rises: who pays for beachfront property loss
Environment:global warming setbacks: insurance companies refuse to cover builds in Florida
Evironment:Britain has forecast rising waters impact: does the USA plan for high water
Environment:There goes the Condo:maps of impact

2008

Mike Huckabee is Jimmy Carter with an R next to his name.
John McCain would be the oldest President ever.