NUMTOT endorses Bernie

Which stands for New Urbanist Memes for Transit Oriented Teens, a growing Facebook group of young activists that use memes to promote policy. Bernie welcomed their endorsement. This article highlights a key reason I've chosen memetics, framing and social media as my key methods and venues of guerrilla political activism, as they are the means for powerful political influence.

"As experts on political memes, we’re well aware of the ways memes and meme groups can influence politics on the sly. Though they might seem like humorous, pithy or even nonsensical digital artifacts, memes, as our research has shown, wield the power to unite, divide, persuade and provoke voters. They’ve become an increasingly important – even indispensable – communication tool in politics, helping ordinary voters shape political debates and hone arguments from their phones."

"Research has already demonstrated how memes shaped the 2016 election. As we note in our book, memes from far-right Trump supporters effectively framed media conversations about the election, with ethno-nationalist talking points taking center stage in traditional media outlets. That may not have been the Trump campaign’s plan, but there’s no doubt that these memes funneled attention in Trump’s direction."

"Not only can memes seed talking points to campaigns, but they also give candidates a window into the issues that are important to subsets of voters. Memes have become a way for political groups to coordinate and act collectively, and guerrilla imagery has become a key component of electioneering."