Yet, it was no meme page or troll account posting that image: It was posted on Biden’s own X page early on Monday. Coming against the backdrop of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza that has killed more than 28,000 people and that the US has backed, the image prompted particular criticism of Biden by some social media users.
Many suggested that Biden’s post was distasteful and insensitive as it came amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza.
While calling for an end to civilian deaths in Gaza, the Biden administration continues to sell and supply weapons to Israel.
“But I don’t think Biden is thinking of the global audience here,” he said. “He is mostly thinking about his US audience.”
“The meme in itself is a political communication tool,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is being weaponised by different parties in order to attract attention and distract from other issues.”
Biden is not the only politician who has used memes to relay political messaging. Social media teams and followers of politicians including former US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have banked on memes and internet trends to further political messages.
While you were commenting here hundreds of Rohingya refugees died. Why do you endorse the murder of innocent refugees.
… /s obviously that’s fucking dumb but it’s pretty equivalent to the your point. Lots of things happen contemporaneously, sometimes those things are done to distract from real issues… in this case a staffer saw an opportunity to make conspiracy theorist Republicans look dumb and try to make it less likely that Trump is reelected. I think this meme was, on the whole, good.