Sunday, 28 April 2013

Political Memes


The previous posts have focussed on cartoons, videos and animations, but I thought that I would focus this post on memes.  To my surprise, there weren’t as many memes on the subject of Australian politics or the upcoming election, however I did manage to locate a handful.

The topics of the memes covered the politicians themselves, the upcoming election, as well as some current topical themes such as the opposition’s plan for the NBN.

Image from www.abc.net

This image of Tony Abbott saying he welcomes Republicans, just not by boat is a reference to US Republican voters threatening to move to Australia (or Canada) after President Obama won his second term.  One such republican even tweeted “I’m moving to Australia because their president is a Christian and actually supports what he says”, her obvious ignorance on who Julia Gillard is caused a sudden twitter backlash that she deleted her twitter account shortly after her tweet.  The meme merges Tony’s political leaning similarity with the Republicans in the US with his anti-asylum seeker stance.


This meme highlights Tony’s stance on asylum seekers and marriage equality for the gay community (despite his sister being gay herself).  It is a funny play on words in this particular meme that the combination of the two things that he is against creates an even bigger fear for Tony.

Image from www.au.ibtimes.com

This meme of Tony claiming to be the better feminist is directed at his misogynistic profile and the fact that Julia is unwed.  Tony was quick to roll out his wife into the public domain soon after Julia’s misogynist speech aimed squarely against Tony.

Image from www.facebook.com

The main difference I have seen in the memes focussing in the politicians themselves is that those directed at Tony Abbott appear to be aimed at his policies or his conservatism, whereas those directed at Julia Gillard seem to be purely on her appearance.  The one above points out that both Julia and Margaret Thatcher were both the first female Prime Ministers in their countries and they both have red hair.  That is as far as the similarities go politically as they were on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  The rust bucket comment is a reference to Julia’s red hair.


Another meme aimed at Julia’s looks, a rather unfortunate timed photograph of the obligatory baby kissing during electioneering caught the baby with a look that could be described as uncomfortable.  The ranga reference clearly directed again at the Prime Minister’s appearance.



The memes directed at the election are few and far between which is surprising given the long notice given for the election.  The one above showing Tony in his ever present red budgie smugglers and being compared to Daniel Craig in an attempt to woo the women’s vote based purely on his physique.

Image from www.facebook.com

This election meme compares photos of Julia and Tony to ‘look-a-likes’ Gollum from Lord of the Rings for Tony and Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Stephen King’s movie ‘It’.  It is amazing that the comparison photos appear to have the same facial expressions giving credence to the identity they are portraying.

It also highlights that the options for the next election are slim pickings, you can either choose a slimy scheming goblin or a crazed manic clown.  Perhaps it was the Greens that made this meme?

Image from www.facebook.com

The photo in the above meme lends itself nicely to memes, one could think of any suitable one-liner and insert it in the above photo.  The particular one-liner in this meme is directed at the recent release of the opposition’s design for the NBN, which most people agree is pretty dire.


And just to demonstrate how dire the opposition’s NBN plan is, this meme cleverly shows Malcolm Turnbull listening to a tin can and string phone that most kids have used before highlighting how inadequate the opposition plan actually is.

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