A majority of the justices were conservatives, but they weren’t partisan mindful of the Court’s fragile authority, the justices had always steered clear of messy political spats. Sure, friends and relatives predicted that the case would eventually land in their laps, but that was ignorant, naïve talk-typical of people without sophisticated legal backgrounds. Bush in the White House? The two just laughed. Wouldn’t it be funny, one mused, if the matter landed before them? And how, if it did, the Court would split five to four, as it so often did in big cases, with the conservative majority installing George W. Shortly after the presidential vote in November 2000, two law clerks at the United States Supreme Court were joking about the photo finish in Florida. “Jeb Wins / Jeb Bush Flawless Victory.” Know Your Meme, 5 Oct. Most importantly however, they get people to laugh, as every good meme should. The effects of such memes should be noted – they act as a callback for viewers, centering the public eye on Jeb and his present happenings, or they influence public belief towards new subjects, etc. Similarly, this meme also heavily relates to the gateway effect as through the image’s effectiveness as a medium of humor the general public, especially those who aren’t interested in politics, can be influenced to care more solely due to the entertainment factor.īut that isn’t all – this meme has gone on to act as a base for others, with the above examples pertaining to the 2017 UK Election and the 2017 French Presidential Election, meaning that while Jeb’s era has ended his likeness has continued to be spread across the internet for better or for worse. Thus, through a simple meme that takes a second to comprehend, the creator has achieved a network of individuals who think of Jeb positively, and this belief could go on to cause actual change in the polls. This hold over the viewer is something that comes with untold consequences – perhaps the viewer shows it to a friend, or if it comes up conversation they say that they heard Jeb was doing very well, and others could potentially believe that fact based upon the level of trust they put into the individual. If one saw the meme above and had no knowledge of who was doing well in the polls, chances are (at least temporarily) that individual would be swayed to believe Jeb was killing it in the polls, or at least had a high chance of winning, which in reality he clearly did not. Memes like this also tie directly into concepts such as issue salience, which in this instance relates to its level of importance / sway on the individual. While at its core this meme serves to solely be comedic, people are more likely to remember interesting or funny things that stood out to them rather than any drab information-only material, and thus the level of persuasion this meme has on the individual is immense. Of course this has no chance of happening in reality, but the absurdity of it all combined with Jeb’s weakness as a candidate made this meme go viral on online message boards and social media platforms such as Reddit. It shows Jeb holding out his arms in a grand, powerful way while the background shows that he managed to obtain all 538 electoral college votes, leaving both Trump and Clinton with 0. He was subsequently crushed, and faded into obscurity very soon afterwards, but during that time of utter defeat this meme was created. During the 2016 Presidential Election, Jeb Bush ran as a Republican candidate and was doing pretty well in the polls until Trump put in his official presidential bid.
Take this wonderful image above, for example. Political memes are both amusing and an excellent way to get public attention on an issue, or to convince others of a certain fact (even if that fact isn’t true).
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