Ukraine’s Twitter deal with is processing the nation’s trauma real-time with memes

TikToks of cats in cardboard tanks. Flirty feedback on Instagram accounts devoted to Vladimir Putin, begging him to cease Russia’s assaults on Ukraine. Memes bemoaning what it’s prefer to dwell throughout a pandemic and conflict.

Memes, cats and TikToks are central options of up to date web tradition. And generally, web tradition is all three on the similar time, utilizing generally understood templates along with cute and foolish themes and supplies that don’t robotically appear to mesh with the catastrophic penalties of Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

As a scholar of social media platforms and web widespread tradition, I do know that cute animal photos, together with cat photos, are a defining communication apply on-line. Whereas cats, memes and TikToks – and generally cat memes and cat TikToks – are methods to course of and reply to present occasions, they’re additionally rising, most just lately within the Ukraine conflict, as a manner to deal with poisonous, dangerous and tragic conditions.

A lot of the general public’s mind-set concerning the web has been by way of dichotomies: there’s on-line, after which there’s offline. There are cute cat movies, after which there are misinformation and harassment. There’s TikTok, after which there’s world politics.

But when Russia’s assaults on the 2016 United States election taught something, it’s that web tradition is now world politics, not some separate and distinct realm. There are latest examples of this, such because the TikTok dwell streaming of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, and TikTok customers’ organising to purchase tickets for a rally for then-US President Donald Trump, solely to not present up.

Famed media theorist Marshall McLuhan as soon as mentioned that the medium is the message, which means that the mode of communication carries which means in addition to the communication itself. And if that’s the case, then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reveals that memes and cute cat content material usually are not only for enjoyable and leisure any longer. Now, the cultural practices underscoring web tradition have turn out to be a body by way of which to course of disaster.

Official Ukraine’s memes

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to know easy methods to manipulate the cultural practices and ways of the web.

Putin’s Russia knew easy methods to use memes, Fb teams and different social media platforms to sow discord in 2016 and past. Within the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election, Russia’s Web Analysis Company planted polarising memes and tweets on police brutality, Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ points on Fb, Twitter and Instagram.

However memes, TikToks and tweets usually are not simply used for polarising ends. The official Ukraine Twitter account, run by the Ukrainian authorities, has used web tradition to speak about Russia’s aggression.

As tensions escalated between Russia and Ukraine within the latter half of 2021, the official Ukraine Twitter account started tweeting concerning the aggression. This typically got here by way of utilizing memes, a few of that are good examples:

In a single meme, Ukraine communicates the general message that dwelling subsequent to Russia is a continuing supply of stress and ache. The meme exhibits in pink the particular location on the pinnacle of three sorts of widespread complications: migraines, hypertension and stress. However there’s a fourth headache depicted, referred to as “Residing subsequent to Russia”. Its location covers not only one spot on the pinnacle, however all the head and neck.

The second meme has a canine sitting calmly subsequent to a life-size werewolf statue. On the prime, the meme says, “Putin’s actual fears”. Decrease within the image, the canine has the phrases “Ukraine in NATO” superimposed on prime of it. Subsequent to the canine, the vicious-looking werewolf has textual content over it saying, “Human rights, free press, honest elections”. The juxtaposition of the harmless-looking canine and threatening werewolf communicates that Putin is definitely afraid of freedoms for the Russian folks, as a result of such freedoms are a risk to his energy – whereas Ukraine becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Group will not be, the meme suggests.

Giant-scale trauma processing

After Russia started its large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, many on social media observed Ukraine’s tweets for the primary time and appeared baffled by why a nation’s official Twitter account would tweet such issues.

However once more, if memes, cats and TikToks are methods to course of disaster in real-time, then Ukraine’s Twitter account is a nationwide model of real-time trauma processing, utilizing codecs persons are conversant in.

The communal nature of memes, cats, TikToks and social media, normally, can’t be ignored. Memes are digital communication gadgets that develop and develop the extra folks share and create them. Cats invite sharing a cute picture with one other particular person. TikTok’s mission is to “encourage creativity and convey pleasure”, and platform options invite interplay with others. And social media are essentially social, primarily based nearly totally on communication with others.

With this in thoughts, Ukraine’s memes and tweets inform one thing else – that that is their nation’s invitation for extra folks to enter the dialog. I consider this tells of their want for the remainder of the world to face in communal solidarity with them.

If the medium is the message, then web cultural practices have turn out to be intertwined with geopolitical and army conflicts. Meming conflict and battle usually are not at all times foolish – it may be an invite to speak, witness, communally course of and share.

Jessica Maddox is Assistant Professor and Co-Director, Workplace of Politics, Communication and Media on the College of Alabama.

This text first appeared on The Dialog.