ABSTRACT
The widespread uses of memetic texts as a facet of disinformation campaigns—such as the effort by Russian-backed groups to sow discord and disrupt the 2016 US presidential election—have become a common aspect of political and social messaging, acting as a new form of propaganda unimpeded by the material constraints of previous eras (Hobbs, 2020). Targeted at partisan and special interest groups across the political and social spectrum, orchestrated memetic texts are designed to be easily amplified (liked, shared, retweeted, etc.) in a process that hardens negative attitudes through exaggerated and simplistic distortions of opposing viewpoints. This chapter explores ways in which teachers can help students grapple with manipulative memetic texts that are intended to inflame political and social division, activate latent biases, and “otherize” various social groups. Borrowing from the concepts and processes of anti-racist pedagogies—which foreground participants considering their own biases and assumptions as mechanisms for interrogating texts (Ebarvia, et al., 2020)—and cognitive framing (Lakoff, 2015; Mercieca, 2022; Bertolotti & Catellani, 2023) the author presents a protocol for students that emphasizes alternative textual possibilities and counternarratives in order to reopen meanings closed by polarized thinking.
