Beginning this week, The Phillipian will run a weekly politics spread that features Andover opinions on politics, spotlighting student thoughts on policies, debates, and more as the election nears.
Why? To get a sense of what Andover students are thinking, yes, but also because the political landscape has been changing. Not just in the candidates who now facehead the different campaigns, but also the way these campaigns are fundamentally run. It is time for us to change how we think about them. It is time to prioritize authenticate, open, interpersonal dialogue within the community.
On September 10 2024, 67.5 million people tuned in to watch the Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump presidential debate, hosted by ABC News. Across campus, several dorms broadcast the debate in their common room. For other students, images and headlines from the debate dominated their news feeds for days afterwards. Whether or not you’ve watched the full debate, some moments have been christened into our memories and, perhaps more notably, the memory of the internet and social media.
With the ubiquity of Instagram Reels and TikTok videos, it has been increasingly common for people to “educate” themselves through social media. According to the 2024 SOTA, 77.6% of Andover students use social media as a way of getting their news. However, this year’s election specifically has seen memeification of its debates, campaigns, and candidates reach all-time highs, with countless clips and edited audio recordings going viral online. Social media is a platform that, more than ever before, has become a channel for political content, oftentimes taking the form of an internet joke. From content creators to the Presidential candidates themselves, many are capitalizing on such memes to promote their political views, or to simply shame the opposing candidate. But adapting to the growing Gen-Z voter market through memeification, particularly on short-form media, comes with its nuances.
On one hand, these viral memes grant politicians digital presence and valuable channels of communication with younger generations, serving as effective gateways into broader political involvement and awareness. Doomscrolling on our phones, we are bound to come across a remix of “they’re eating the cats” or an update on the election with the signature neon green of “brat” in the background. For instance, those who may not have known Kamala Harris’ stance on immigration or abortion may know her by her viral “coconut tree” quote. Viral memes grant politicians digital presence and valuable channels of communication with younger generations, serving as effective gateways into broader political involvement and awareness.
On the other hand, memes are easily weaponized. Memes spotlighted the popular perception of President Joe Biden being “too old” to run for president, while little mention was made of his actual accomplishments and failures. Much of the ‘dialogue’ that occurs between politicians online and between users with opposing beliefs devolves into vitriol: attacking the personality of candidates rather than their policies, with actual discussion over urgent political issues taking a backseat. At the same time, memes have become an unserious escape to avoid tackling serious ideas – their intrinsic comedic connotation diverts our gaze from the questions we cannot answer, allowing us to shy from cold hard truths, oftentimes those that matter but feel uncomfortable to face head-on. Behind memes, we can end up hiding our belief, what we think, who we are, and run away from discussing real issues and policies.
Coming to Andover is a commitment to a series of phrases. Phrases like “Youth from Every Quarter,” phrases like “non sibi” and “Knowledge and Goodness.” And though they are oftentimes thrown around, themselves embedded in jokes and memes themselves, at its core they are what define the Andover community. This is a community where we subscribe to these ideas because they help guide us and our roles in the broader world. These are the phrases we should take with us when we enter the world of politics. And so we have a duty. We have a duty to not only stay informed, but to become global citizens who engage beneath the surface level, who are civically engaged, who speak on behalf of those who do not have a voice. That may seem like a herculean task, but don’t fret: it starts with a political spread, a news report, a commentary piece, small steps that altogether amount to a world of difference.
