Maybe we should have been blogging in dialectics all along.- Derek Thompson April 6, 2018Īfter all, one hallmark of the Chopper meme is that for a given instance of it to be any good, the author needs to genuinely understand Junior’s stance and present a coherent and sympathetic version of it - an attitude that is antithetical to much of current social media practice. I find myself learning and retaining actual information and points of disagreement from the American Chopper meme. Just imagine these two arguing about effective communications strategies for an elite aquarium: They’re the social and political antithesis of the young, debt-burdened recent college graduates living in expensive cities and struggling to make a living in creative fields - the sort of people who’ve been enthusiastically creating and sharing the Chopper meme. The Teutuls are, in this sense, the perfect Trump-era Republicans - a couple of lowbrow regular guys who happen to be incredibly rich business owners who’d probably appreciate a big tax cut for pass-through income. This dichotomy between economic status and the sociocultural aspects of “class” has become a hallmark of the Trump years, in which political disagreements between white Americans have come to be deeply polarized between the more and less educated even while the policy orientation of the GOP remains overwhelmingly focused on the wealthy. At the same time, the dispute is clearly taking place in an office setting - reflecting the reality that the Teutuls are wealthy business owners and television stars rather than struggling workers. Part of what makes the meme work is that you don’t actually need to be familiar with the show to read the facial hair and cap as class signifiers. The Chopper meme implicates Trump-era class politics The central joke of the Chopper meme is to reimagine this scene as a heated disagreement about a highbrow topic rather than a profane dispute about work schedules. It was canceled after two seasons, but a rebooted version of the show is scheduled to come out this May - with the producers doubtless hoping the meme will have enough staying power to still be around at the premiere. Junior that detailed the rivalry between their two shops. The Teutuls then returned in a somewhat different format with a show called American Chopper: Se nior vs. The meme ( which was created in 2011 but didn’t really explode until March 2018) is based on the pivotal scene from the original series in which Senior fired Paulie in a profane, violent, not-that-convincingly-acted moment: But after one particularly heated argument in 2008, Junior left both the program and the chopper shop to start his own business. (known as “Senior”) and his son (known as “Paulie” or “Junior”), was the central driving force of the show for most of its run. The stylistic differences and vocal arguments between the show’s main protagonists, Paul Teutul Sr. The show focused on Orange County Choppers, a custom motorcycle manufacturing company located in the town of Newburgh, New York, in the Hudson Valley. The meme derives from a reality television show, American Chopper, that aired on the Discovery Channel and then later its sister network TLC between 20. And by forcing the meme author to sympathetically engage with both sides of an argument, it manages to disrupt some of the most dysfunctional elements of online discourse. The American Chopper format touches on important cultural themes about class, money, politics, and reality television that are relevant to 2018. And beyond demonstrating your personal virtuosity, dialectic - the argument between two opposing points of view - turns out to be a fairly effective way to convey ideas and information, one that dates back to Plato’s famous dialogue but can be difficult to replicate in conventional media formats. More broadly, in an era of performative social media dunking and tribalism run amok, the Chopper offers a lighthearted way to demonstrate that you actually understand the viewpoints of people on both sides of an issue. If the Distracted Boyfriend meme captivated us with its stark simplicity, then the American Chopper more than makes up for its aesthetic shortcomings with its ability to present complicated ideas. Its popularity speaks in part to the fickle nature of mass taste. Me talking to my cat 5 times a day /XldODAfqAg- mothma'am April 4, 2018
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