I remember spending an evening with Alex as she attempted to explain the concept of internet memes to me. (1) Apparently, they're still a thing on the feeds, but I had never been a feeds person; Cindy was the one who followed all the dance communities and kept me informed. So I'm not surprised I didn't know anything about them.

As Alex told it, when social media became entrenched in many people's lives, cultural aspects were able to be shared easily through images superimposed with text. Many memes passed through this way were updated versions of previous generations' political cartoons, satirizing and commenting on current social and political issues. Okay, I could understand that, but I couldn't understand what she was talking about as she tried to explain their role in what she called the disinformation war.

"Take your name, for example," she said. "The original meaning comes from a mythical deity, Bran the Blessed, who was considered the protector of the kingdom he ruled, and one of the meanings of the original name is 'Prince.' (2) A few years before the Catastrophe, the name became a meme, and those who now carry it typically received the name because of the meme, not the diety."

"Why," I asked. I didn’t understand how my name had come out of whatever this text-over-image thing she was describing.

"Let me give you some context first," she said.

"I've told you about many of Trump's egregious actions as President. Even after he reluctantly left office, he continued creating chaos. (3) He insisted the election had been stolen from him and Joe Biden had lost. (4) It was a master class in public insanity and how conspiracy theories could sweep through the poorly educated parts of the population. (5) Though a minority, those crazed were louder and more prone to violence, and the saner ones were not heeded. Those under his thrall repeatedly shifted their thinking as they continuously absorbed the disinformation fed to them by those who looked to weaken democracy. Each theory they embraced was wilder than the last, and even when a theory contradicted earlier conditioning, there was very little pushback by those under its spell. (6) They simply shifted their thinking and conformed to whatever they were fed. Critical thinking was not a tool many had access to. (7) For those of us living in reality and armed with facts, it was difficult to watch the outbreaks on social media and communications with those who had succumbed to the lies. Most of us with family and friends above experienced the horror of conversations with those who slipped under the spell of propaganda and refused to acknowledge the reality of the world around them. I hope never to see another outbreak.

"Besides being poorly educated, at least thirty percent of the population at the time were most comfortable within a binary morality system of good versus evil and inclined to support someone who would tell them what to do. (8) The populace I'm referring to wasn't taught to question anything; they were taught to obey mindlessly, and many chose to use violence to force others, if not to their way of thinking, then to silence. (9) They were primed to believe and support Trump. (10) They hated whoever Trump hated, no matter how contradictory the reason. And so his followers automatically hated the new President, Joseph Robinette Biden, with an untoward passion.

"The conservative movement latched onto this unthinking hatred for their own power grab. (11) And so, no matter how stupid and unbelievable a conspiracy theory was, they egged on the mob and swore allegiance to Trump, submitting to the insane worldview he insisted upon. Until it became clear, they weren’t ruling the mob; the mob, who was only listening to Trump and his firehose of lies, was ruling them." (12)

I didn't understand, "How does this relate to the meme thing we were talking about?"

Alex smiled. "One of the memes to come out this time happened because of the phrase, 'Let's go, Brandon,' which was the result of a sports reporter suggesting the noise behind the person he was interviewing, whose name happened to be Brandon, was the audience shouting his name in support. (13) What they were chanting was a pejorative, 'Fuck Joe Biden,' and the phrase became a standard mechanism to slur Biden and, at the same time, promote their adherence to the MAGA movement. The same movement those in power were becoming increasingly afraid of. (14)

"Images ranged from just the phrase itself against a plain background to displaying the phrase alongside cartoons, other images and even of Biden himself, usually portrayed in an unflattering manner. They were designed to be an in-joke, drawing those who knew and agreed with the meaning into a tribe arrayed against those who didn't.

"Supporters of Biden fought back with memes of their own, specifically an image with Joe Biden’s eyes shooting lasers, a reference to his preference for wearing dark sunglasses outside. They labeled these memes 'Dark Brandon' and used the images to promote the policies Biden had put in place to help those who were the backbone of the nation, the middle and lower classes. (15) There was even a video the President released of himself on social media of him taking a drink from a cup with the image showing his eyes as red laser beams, saying, 'I like my coffee dark.' (16)

"For those of us who read mythology, it was obvious the left, consisting of the population who had liberal or progressive ideals, was embracing Biden as a protector, a much more appropriate use of the name, even though they probably were unaware of its origins."

I thought it sounded like a battle and said so.

"It was a war, futile, ugly and stressful," she said. "Did you know I spoke to him? Joe Biden. It was a few hours after the Pharos project was triggered, and we streamed it out. News organizations worldwide picked up our live feed, and the world watched as we humiliated those we had lured into our trap. They even brought their own cameraperson from their propaganda network, which aired their perspective and voices from the microphones each wore. (17)

"We were very careful not to mention the word nuclear. Unfortunately, those on the other side were not as cautious, which drove what happened next: a summons for the Foundation to appear and explain ourselves to the leaders of the nations around the world. Because of the large number of officials involved on both sides, it was decided the meeting would be a dialog between the President of the United States, in whose country the incident happened, and the Foundation's spokesperson, me."

Storytime.