Nowadays the Internet is full of memes that became newly designed media tools. At the moment, our society is just beginning to truly interpret the real concept of memes. Susan Blackmore in her article “The Power of Memes” gives the definition of them: “Memes are stories, songs, habits, skills, inventions and ways of doing things that we copy from person to person by imitation.” (Blackmore, 52) They gradually burst into our life as funny pictures, jokes, funny videos and phrases, but their purpose is much more global. An unknown person, who created a meme of a good quality and context, can be heard by millions of users worldwide.
Every meme comprises a certain sense that can be either obvious or a hidden one. In the meme with an obvious sense the meaning lies on the surface. Usually it is designed with a purpose to entertain and often is of a humorous context. The memes with a deeper meaning are created to provoke a certain thought or emotion and usually require some thinking. Moreover, they can be interpreted by different people in various ways. In order to prove this hypothesis I have chosen for my analysis a meme with Steve Jobs.
This meme is designed as a typical meme – a picture with a caption. On it we can see the most famous black and white photograph of Steve Jobs. The caption says: “Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian refugee. Remember this when republicans say we shouldn't take any.” In such a way the author of the meme tries to attract the attention of the people to the republican position toward immigration and Syrian refugee’s and expresses his or her own opinion concerning the issue. By highlighting the fact of the Syrian crisis the author of the meme is aimed to show that the biological father of Steve Jobs was himself a Syrian Political refugee.
Using such an example, the meme singles out the idea that not all the refugees are supposed to be terrorists, rapists, robbers or murderers. Steve Jobs is an illustration of a “good” refugee that brought benefit to the country he was living in. He is a well-known arch innovator from California’s Silicon Valley – founding Apple Computer, NeXt and Pixar. (Jary) Jobs helped to introduce to the world the personal computers, iPhone and iPad, Mac. He was a versatile person and worked in different spheres, even in cinematography. The movies Toy Story and Finding Nemo appeared thanks to him. He started the electronic era in the whole world and introduced to people an iPhone as well as Prometheus gave them a fire. Jobs did no harm to the society, but only became famous thanks to his genius mind and glorified his country.
The meme raises a serious political problem and appeared on the peak of the issue concerning the civil war in Syria and the consequent flow of refugees that were seeking for shelter in other countries of the world. Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, more than 4 million people that are mostly women and children were forced to leave the country. They say: “It is one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history.” (Bbc.com) The problem touched and worried the people of the United States of America after the announcement of the president Barack Obama in September 2015. He informed the general public with his decision to accept ten thousand refugees. The republicans’ headed by Donald Trump fiercely opposed this idea.
The terrible events happened in the series of European countries, in which the refugees were involved, only poured the oil on flames. In November 2015, in Paris the terrorists attack took the lives of 130. In Munich a migrant tried to assault a young woman in a subway. In March 2016, in Brussels three suicide bombers created the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium's history. Every person started worrying about the safety of his family and friends.
The issue with refugees divided not only the citizens of the USA, but also the people of the whole world on two separate camps – one supporting and the other denying the need to accept the renegades. All people's thoughts and ideas poured in the Internet in forms of tweets, slogans and memes, of course. The Internet gave an opportunity to express own thinks and to do it anonymously, hiding behind the computer screen. A lot of untruthful information concerning the refugees appeared on the web and only an experienced internet user and a clear-headed person is able to filter all the data.
Recently, we start to hear a lot argument like “immigrants steal our jobs”, “immigrants are criminals” or “refugees are terrorists”. In reality that’s not true. Immigration is almost a good thing for the economy, there are not just workers, and they are also consumers. People that come here to work do not just send all the money back home or hide it under their bed. They need to buy stuff, too. With more people in the money cycle, the economy profits from it more and the business can afford to increase the wages. Moreover, the immigrants, starting a life in the new country are ready to take any job and are treating it with more responsibility. Among refugees, there are a lot of qualified and educated people. It is not their fault that they were born in a country with no future perspectives. Steve Jobs is an excellent example of an immigrant, who managed to achieve a lot.
It’s important for every American to know the history of immigration in the United States. From 1820 to 1920 early 3 million foreigners arrived in the United States. Close to 400,000 immigrants arrived in 1870 alone, ten years later that figure rose to over 450,000 and remained high for several years. Today around 13 percent of immigrants are first generation arrivals, while 11 percent are American born children of immigration.
President Franklin Roosevelt once said: “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” Barack Obama continuous his thought: “Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims.” (Obama) They want to remind the people of the historical event of the year 1620. The Pilgrims were also the victims of persecution and had to travel so far for the search of a new and safe life. On the new land, America, they received shelter and help from the local people. Today is our turn to give a helping hand to the people in need and to rescue them and at least to give the asylum to as many people as possible.
Works Cited
Bbc.com, “Syria: The story of the conflict.”. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 May. 2016.
Blackmore, Susan. "The Power Of Memes". Scientific American 283.4 (2000): 52-61. Print.
Jary, Simon. "Syria's Least-Known But Most Famous Migrant Is The Father Of Apple's Steve Jobs". Macworld UK. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 May 2016.
Obama, Barack. “Obama urges compassion towards refugees in Thanksgiving address.” Theguardian.com, Web. 6 May. 2016.
"Was Steve Jobs The Son Of A Syrian Refugee? – The Meme Policeman". Memepoliceman.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 6 May 2016.
