Post #2

When selecting memes for this study I have come up with a strategy. I first spend a lot of time reading through a large quantity of memes before I select the ones I want to use. The reason I do this is to make sure that I am selecting the best possible memes to provide in my study. Also, I try to make sure that when I am selecting memes that they are easy to understand rather than selecting the over complicated ones. I believe that these two strategies are effective in selecting good memes for this study. I gather my memes from google images and the reason for this is because google images is constantly being updated with more memes on a daily basis so it helps give me more of a growing base of memes. 
 
In the two memes that are below, they both hit on the stereotype that Jewish people are greedy. In the first meme on the left, stereotypes Jewish people a whole. In the attempt to be funny it is also very educational in the sense that it alludes to Jewish people being very frugal with their money and how people view that as being greedy instead of being careful. In the meme on the right, it kind of makes fun on the meme on the left in the sense of it makes fun on the apparent greediness, but also hit on another stereotype at the same time. A lot of people identify Jewish people as all looking like rabbis and in this meme that is brought out as an identifier. 


The memes that I spoke about last week in my blog which is presented above is a good identifier when it comes to the religious stereotypes. The meme on the left is an example of how Jewish religious culture is looked upon on the outside. Since the stereotype that everyone that is Jewish apparently looks like a rabbi.  The meme on the right again hits in the stereotype of greed within the Jewish religion. This meme is directed at a rabbi as a practical joke but also alludes to how the temples in the Jewish religion hold collections within there service and how it is important to fund the temple. 
www.googleimages.com/jewishmemes

Comments

  1. HeadlinerOctober 19, 2017 at 7:12 AM

    I agree that the digital media often depicts Jews as greedy and that they are often presented as dressing like the Charedi sect. In these memes, Jews are stereotyped as frugal people, yet as you mentioned, these Jews are often just trying to be smart and cautious with their money as opposed to frugal. However, Jews are depicted often in a negative light as greedy people.

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  2. UnknownOctober 19, 2017 at 5:44 PM

    It would be interesting to know the person behind the creation of these memes. Are these self-deprecating Jews, non-biased jokesters, bigots? Understanding the motivation behind these memes would speak volumes to their content. Additionally, it would be interesting to compare the audience of these memes with those who would find them most humorous, offensive, etc.

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  3. Laurel DOctober 19, 2017 at 6:05 PM

    This religion is framed in the digital media in a very negative light. As you pointed out, Jews are portrayed as greedy and frugal, or that everyone in the community is ultra-orthodox. Both of these are clearly not true, yet these stereotypes have persisted for a while. In my opinion, these memes have been influenced by stereotypes, and hurtful ones too. I agree with your anylasis and think it could be interesting to see if there are any memes that do not fit these molds.

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  4. Soup Twin-1October 24, 2017 at 8:03 AM

    Some good initial observation on your memes. Remember, It is important to contextualize your research observations with course readings and lectures in more concrete ways.

    ReplyDelete

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