Microaggression Meme

 

Memes are familiar templates relaying relevant information in a humorous manner. However, sometimes they contain microaggressions, which often go unnoticed by whoever said it, but not to who was receiving the message.

Microaggressions are indirect, subtle statements or assumptions that may unintentionally offend marginalized groups such as minorities or they might play on stereotypes. Another relevant but necessary definition; Xenophobia is having an innate dislike for other countries or people from said countries.

For this meme assignment I chose the familiar Spongebob template showing him reading something then burning it, rendering it useless. On the page he is burning, I typed "Big news. HUGE. Jackie Chan fights CHINA VIRUS with KUNG FLU."

I intentionally left some words in all caps to allude to former President Trump's common speech style. He repeatedly called COVID-19 the China Virus and the Kung Flu. I chose to make Jackie Chan the victim because he is often remembered as a Chinese actor in fighting movies.

This specific meme template is appropriate because it relays the microaggression message in such a way that we can acknowledge it, but learn from Spongebob that this headline would be one that gets tossed in the bin.