Are we all mimics at heart? The 4 July vote is already being called the “TikTok election” as political memes flood people’s timelines. Some say they are inscribed in our brains.
Get involved: Make your own political meme
Are we all mimics at heart? The 4 July vote is already being called the "TikTok election" as political memes flood people's timelines. Some say they are inscribed in our brains.
Humans have been doing political satire for as long as records go back. It can be traced back to ancient Greece, where the playwright AristophanesA comic playwright from ancient Athens. mocked AthenianFrom either modern or ancient Athens in Greece. leaders for their failings in the Peloponnesian WarA long and bloody war fought between Sparta, Athens and the allies of each side. Sparta ultimately triumphed, but the war tipped the whole Greek world into decline, and both powers would soon succumb to Macedonia and then Rome..1
But in the past, satire was limited by technology. Aristophanes had to bash out a whole play every time he wanted to joke about the people in charge. The invention of printing made satire widely available through irreverent political cartoons, but even then, they had to be painstakingly drawn, printed and distributed.
Today there is no such restriction. Phones and the internet mean you can mock up a picture of a politician in seconds and send it to thousands of people around the country.
Memes making light of Rishi Sunak's rain-soaked election announcement and subsequent gaffes have got tens of thousands of likes on social media, along with mockery of Keir Starmer's fondness for reminding everyone his father was a toolmaker.
These memes are so effective that politicians themselves are getting in on the act. Liberal Democrat leader Ed DaveyThe leader of the UK party the Liberal Democrats since 2019. has decided to run an all-meme election, getting himself filmed falling off paddle boards, playing drums on an exercise ball and spinning in the teacups at Thorpe ParkA theme park near London. .
And all the parties are ploughing serious money into their digital strategies. In the first week of the campaign the Conservatives spent more than £350,000 on social media advertising, while Labour invested a whopping £1.2 million.2
The real fight, however, is playing out on TikTok, where the two parties not only trade blows with each other but also try to beat the platform's algorithmAny set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, "the algorithm" refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them.. Because TikTok does not let them pay to boost their content, they have to win likes organically to get it on to people's feeds.
In fact, TikTok is becoming the engine of political life. More than a quarter of teenagers get most of their news from the Chinese platform and around 10% of adults.3
In the European elections over the weekend, Cyprus elected independent candidate Fidias PanayiotouA Cypriot YouTuber, born in 2000, who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024. in a campaign based entirely on his TikTok and YouTube popularity.
Is the meme-ification of politics a good thing? Some think it helps make politics more accessible. More than a third of people under 35 say they prefer not to follow the news because it has a negative impact on their mood.4
Memes help make news more fun, meaning people might be more likely to pay attention.
But others say complex issues cannot be boiled down to short videos. They say TikTok only makes politics more tribal, as people only consume short, snappy messages with a strong bias, rather than more considered and balanced coverage.
Still others claim this is all irrelevant. Memes will always be part of politics, they say, because they are baked into our brains.
Thinker Rene GirardA French historian and philosopher who died in 2015. wrote that all human beings have an instinct to mimic each other, which he called "mimetic desire".
So when Richard DawkinsA British scientist who is associated with New Atheism, a position that is critical of religious belief. argued that certain cultural trends spread through the human population and replicate themselves like genesSections of DNA strands that act as a kind of instruction manual for a human being. There is still a great deal we do not understand about how they work., he chose a word from the same root: meme, from Greek mimema, meaning "that which is imitated".5
That means memes will always be part of human life, some say. And that includes politics.
Are we all mimics at heart?
Yes: Humans naturally imitate each other. This makes us want to satirise other people, but it also makes us do them a good turn if we see others doing it. It is a source of both good and evil.
No: We do not make memes because we like to mimic, we do it to express our frustration with a political system that foists upon us leaders whom we do not admire or trust.
Or... Whether or not we have an innate desire to mimic, memes are a social as well as a biological phenomenon, and we should take them seriously on both these fronts.
Keywords
Aristophanes - A comic playwright from ancient Athens.
Athenian - From either modern or ancient Athens in Greece.
Peloponnesian War - A long and bloody war fought between Sparta, Athens and the allies of each side. Sparta ultimately triumphed, but the war tipped the whole Greek world into decline, and both powers would soon succumb to Macedonia and then Rome.
Ed Davey - The leader of the UK party the Liberal Democrats since 2019.
Thorpe Park - A theme park near London.
Algorithm - Any set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, "the algorithm" refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them.
Fidias Panayiotou - A Cypriot YouTuber, born in 2000, who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024.
Rene Girard - A French historian and philosopher who died in 2015.
Richard Dawkins - A British scientist who is associated with New Atheism, a position that is critical of religious belief.
Genes - Sections of DNA strands that act as a kind of instruction manual for a human being. There is still a great deal we do not understand about how they work.
Get involved: Make your own political meme
Glossary
Aristophanes - A comic playwright from ancient Athens.
Athenian - From either modern or ancient Athens in Greece.
Peloponnesian War - A long and bloody war fought between Sparta, Athens and the allies of each side. Sparta ultimately triumphed, but the war tipped the whole Greek world into decline, and both powers would soon succumb to Macedonia and then Rome.
Ed Davey - The leader of the UK party the Liberal Democrats since 2019.
Thorpe Park - A theme park near London.
Algorithm - Any set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, “the algorithm” refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them.
Fidias Panayiotou - A Cypriot YouTuber, born in 2000, who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024.
René Girard - A French historian and philosopher who died in 2015.
Richard Dawkins - A British scientist who is associated with New Atheism, a position that is critical of religious belief.
Genes - Sections of DNA strands that act as a kind of instruction manual for a human being. There is still a great deal we do not understand about how they work.