The election of President Trump marked a turning point in memes. It gave meme makers and consumers the impression that funny memes could change people’s hearts and minds. Prior to that the meme makers understood their audience well — namely, the people the meme was going to be shared with. Some memes were designed to have broad appeal, while others catered to more niche subcultures, but all of them were created with an understanding of the audience. Since 2016, that sense of audience has morphed to include… possibly the whole world. Anyone who’s understanding should be brought into line with the meme creator’s. Now memes tend to be instructive, pedantic. Without a real understanding of audience a meme is little more than a pictorial representation of a dogma. Like a lefty meme, but right. Example: https://poal.co/s/PoliticalMemes/712509 It’s correct. It’s on message. But is it entertaining? Does putting words over each actor really add anything to the symbolism of the event, which was instantly understandable to everyone who saw the picture without words two days ago? No shade on the poster of it, though. But seeing it made me realize what’s been going wrong with the memes this whole time.