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Satire and Political Discourse: Do Memes help in the Formation of the

Filipinos’ Political Awareness?

Research · January 2023

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 CHRISTIELLA CORRAL

POLITICAL SCIENCE 32 A.Y. 2022-2023

POLITICAL ECONOMY

PROFESSOR/INSTRUCTOR:
MR. JUMEL ESTRAÑERO

UNIVERSITY:
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY - DASMARIÑAS

 Satire and Political Discourse: Do Memes help in the Formation of
the Filipinos’ Political Awareness?
I. Introduction

In the Philippines, humor and satire have been used in educating

people about broader subjects such as society and politics. In the 19th century, Dr.
Jose Rizal, a well-known Filipino nationalist and novelist, wrote Noli me Tangere
(Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed). His novels were
depicted as controversial and subversive because of their themes; the mockery of the
church and the Spanish colonization. As a result, the books were banned by the
Government of Spain and he was executed after being convicted of sedition and
rebellion. The books he wrote, however, played a huge role in the Philippine
revolution as they created grounds for the Philippine revolution to happen, exposing
the ailments of the Spanish colony that governed the Philippines and awakening
Filipino nationalism.
In Rizal’s written novels, the use of satire is present. One form of satire is
noticeable in how he portrayed the characters in his books; the way the parish priests
and upper-class society were written. The friars, who often ridiculed Filipinos, were
seen as hypocritical people who only care about authority, social status, and monetary
gains and donations despite being knowledgeable about Christian doctrines. In some
scenarios, they were illustrated as illogical, rude, and perverse. Characters of high
social status were portrayed as superficial people who only care about boasting about
their earthly possessions, achievements, and social climbing. They care less about
their poor fellow natives who were being maltreated and abused by the Spaniards.
Another shape of satire is visible in commonplace incidents that contain
symbolic aspects representing the illnesses of society. This is most illustrated in the
famous sermon chapter of the Noli, where the clergy's intellectual and physical
tyranny over the local populace is illustrated by taking advantage of the discrepancy
between the preacher's haughty and aggressive pretensions and the congregation's
gullible ignorance. This form of satire is also visible when a character walked out of
the university while being mocked by a friar during classes. In these scenes,
frailocracy is being shown but in a lighter sense.
 Although these two types of satire are only a few, out of all the literary styles
that make up the novels, it may be the one that best conveys Rizal's political message.
Undoubtedly, the satirical episodes are more successful than the overtly political
scenes, which, despite being closely based on actual events, as Rizal vehemently
argued, lack the conviction of such scenes when placed within a context of social
realism because they are entangled in a set of conventions unique to melodrama and
sentimentalism.
In the 21st century, the current period, the use of internet memes became the
medium of humor. The term "Internet meme" or simply "meme" refers to a concept,
habit, style, picture, or video that circulates online, typically through social media
platforms. Various online communities may have various definitions of what makes a
meme, and these definitions may change over time. Since its inception, the term has
come to refer to a variety of more sophisticated structures, including challenges, GIFs,
movies, and viral occurrences. Historically, it was mostly used to refer to ideas, words,
or images.
Memes could be used in starting a political discourse about current events in
our society through the use of sarcasm. In 2022, the netizens expressed their
sentiments towards the campaigns on the actual day of the Philippine elections. In an
article written by Ku (2022), Filipino netizens criticized the Commissions of Elections
(COMELEC) ‘Oplan Baklas’ and called it ‘biased’. Apparently, only the campaign
materials of former Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Kiko Pangilinan, also
known as the ‘Leni-Kiko’ tandem, were removed during that time. The people
showed their disappointments through social media rants and also, through memes.
Aside from being used as a way to start a discussion, memes could also be
used as political propaganda. An article written by Bernido (2016) cited a study
conducted by a researcher from De La Salle University (DLSU). According to the
study, Duterte’s team did not have abundant resources as the other candidates did;
however, through the use of social media, with only a 10-million budget, they were
able to utilize the campaign funds. The study also elaborated on the usage of fake
internet trolls who spread propaganda memes and false information.
The two events cited elaborate that memes could be used in different ways;
especially when it comes to politics. Humor and satire have always played a big role
even in the Philippine Revolution, and their impact on the Filipino people has always
been the same.
 This study aims to prove that memes have a role in forming the political
awareness of Filipinos. The researcher will gather data from local and foreign
academic studies. From the gathered information, the researchers will use thematic
analysis and semantic approach to draw a conclusion.
Thematic analysis is a method for analyzing qualitative data that entails
reading over a data collection (such as the transcripts of in-depth interviews or focus
groups) and searching for patterns in meaning in order to identify themes. Thematic
analysis is an active, reflective procedure that heavily relies on the researcher's own
life experiences to make sense of the data.
The researcher will also include recommendations that could help the
Philippine community on how to appropriately use internet memes and promote its
positive impacts to our society.

II. Body/Review of Related Literature

A. Memes and The Society

Memes can also create oneness, and political stands, yet they can also
create divisions between people, especially in terms of political issues. In a
study conducted by Mortensen and Neumayer (2021) politics is disrupted and
reimagined by memes in amusing ways. They spread across platforms,
confirming, refuting, and upending political power structures. According to
the researchers, playfulness in memes links the hilarious and the political.
Memes are a type of entertainment that adheres to a set of rules and provides a
voice for all, which may foster community and political affiliations while also
escalating conflict. Memes continue to appropriate new political settings and
renegotiate political borders as their template spreads.

B. Memes and Global Issues (Foreign Literature)

The COVID-19 Global Pandemic greatly affected the world’s
population. Most people experienced anxiety whenever they leave their homes
because of the amount of information spread by the mainstream media.
Memes and social media were also used to disseminate information and data
about the mentioned illness as well as the vaccine provided by the government.
However, research entitled ‘A global pandemic in the time of viral memes:
COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok’ by Basch
et. Al. (2021) emphasized that memes and social media, specifically, Tiktok,
could be used in spreading fake news about the availability of COVID-19
vaccines; as they were unavailable during the time of the study.
Huge global issues such as wars are not safe from memes either. A
study conducted by Kucherenko, A. (2022) entitled, ‘Implicit Reflections of
Russia-Ukraine War in Arabic Internet Memes’ highlighted that creating
memes about the Russia-Ukraine war could diminish the severity of the
situation in Ukraine, given that the people’s point of view could be easily
shaped in the internet.
The two cited studies emphasized the negative impacts of memes. The
studies concluded that memes should not be used in discussing serious topics
such as the global pandemic and wars. It also emphasized the rippling effect
that it could create; from spreading misinformation to altering the gravity of an
occurrence in the eyes of the people.

C. Memes and The Philippines (Local Literature)

In the Philippines, humor through memes can be used to express
disagreement towards the government. Memes could also be used to educate
about political ideologies and social issues. According to an academic research
conducted by Calimbo (2016) entitled ‘Deconstructing Myths Via Humor: A
Semiotic Analysis of Philippine Political Internet Memes’, some political
ideological structures that are naturalized or accepted in Philippine culture are
exposed through the comedy of internet memes. Such ideas are exposed
through comedy, which also educates the public on what lies behind what
appear to be natural or routine political happenings in the Philippines. The
studies cited implies that Filipino comedy has the capacity to voice opposition,
particularly against some social evils, in addition to being a simple kind of
amusement and enjoyment.
Another function of memes in the Philippines is to spread propaganda.
In a research entitled ‘The Rise of Meme Culture: Internet Political Memes as
Tools for Analysing Philippine Propaganda’ by De Leon and Lintao (2021), a
total of 60 memes were taken down between July 2016 and December 2018.
The linguistic and visual organization of memes, which primarily employs the
 categories of shops, text, and stacked stills according on Milner's (2012)
Taxonomy of Meme Collectives, demonstrates the ability to build and
simplify complex political narratives. The predominant comedy signifiers in
the memes were intertextuality, parody, and binary opposition, demonstrating
how memes are contextual in nature and use exaggeration and opposing ideas
to produce funny. Memes, however, vary in their unique connotations, which
commonly make reference to humanization and discreditation. Last but not
least, the memes display all 10 of Walton's (1997) propaganda characteristics,
with the audience perceiving 9 of 10 in the survey. Due to their inherent
capacity to influence complex political narratives while simultaneously
furthering entertainment, this proves that memes have the potential to be used
as propaganda tools.
The following study shows the ability of media, satire, and memes to
manipulate the Filipino society; from being used to express political dissent,
spreading political ideologies, and lastly, to being used by the politicians as a
form of propaganda. Humor is not only used as a form of entertainment, but it
could also be used as a tool to take control of the society.

III. Analysis
A. Communal Impacts of Memes
The gathered data shows that using memes to start a political discourse
could foster oneness and camaraderie among the people, especially if they
have the same political stand on global and economic issues. However, if
people with different political ideologies start their discourse through satire or
internet memes, it could create community conflicts and polarization.

B. Psychological Impacts of Memes

Another impact of using memes in explaining political and global
issues is that they could be used to influence people to think positively about a
social situation. Memes could be used as a source of entertainment and
therefore, they could lighten people’s feelings about certain phenomena.
However, memes could also be used to deceive and misinform people about
crucial subjects. Using humor to brighten the situation may also dismiss the
 severity of serious global dilemmas such as the Russia-Ukraine wars and the
COVID-19 Pandemic.

C. Political Impacts of Memes

Lastly, the collected information shows that memes can educate and
change people’s political perspectives. Satire is not just a powerful tool for
political discourse but it could be used to teach people about political
ideologies and also be an instrument to express political dissent in disguise of
humor and sarcasm.
However, memes could also be used as a tool for political propaganda.
Study shows that memes can manipulate the way people think by providing
entertainment and information simultaneously. Memes could be used by the
people to indoctrinate and mislead the people from the occurring reality of
Philippine Society.

IV. Conclusion
The researchers conclude that memes, and any form of satire, are highly
influential to the Philippine society and therefore, they could form the political
awareness of the Filipinos in terms of communal, global, and economic issues. With
the combination of information and humor, Filipinos find this content entertaining.
Hence, it could start a political discourse; which could lead to unity or division,
inform or misinform, and persuade or mislead.
Memes and any form of satire in mainstream media are powerful tools that can
control and manipulate society into thinking in a particular way. They could be a
double-edged sword, that if used negatively, could cause division and deceit.
However, if memes are used to educate and guide, they have the potential to be a tool
for promoting a better society.

V. Recommendations
The researcher formed the following recommendation according to the drawn
conclusion.

Social media literacy

 Social media literacy is the ability to evaluate content published on
social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter critically from a technical,
cognitive, and emotional perspective. It is essential to understand how the
platform works, including who is allowed to publish what information, how it
may be used, and the underlying algorithms that determine which material
people could see. A person must have the cognitive ability to identify a
reliable source on social media by considering elements such as the user's bio,
the number of followers, the date they joined, and offline affiliations, for
example. Not least among other things, social media literacy is being
conscious of one’s emotions and how people react to certain interactions and
pieces of content.
The government must allocate funds in promoting social media literacy
among Filipinos. As a result, the Filipino netizens, especially satirical content
creators, would be able to know the weight and the responsibility of what
they post and believe online. Another positive effect of social media literacy
is that it helps Filipinos distinguish the difference of fake and real
information.
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