KEY EVENTS 

On November 27, 2020, Viveca S. Greene presented The Use of Memes and 

Satire by the Alt-right and Gen Z Activists – Exclusion vs Inclusion at the 2020 

CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a 

group panel for questions and answers. Main discussion topics included humour 

studies, the Alt-Right, satire, and memes.  

NATURE OF DISCUSSION 

Presentation 

Dr. Greene conceptualized the link between humour studies and alt-right 

extremism; memes and dark humour; and how humour is used to disseminate 

extremist sentiments. 

BACKGROUND 

Presentation 

Through examining various memes in a chronological order, using the 2016 

United States presidential election as a starting point, Dr. Greene illustrated how 

the alt-right uses memes and satire to disseminate values. The political 

environment allows opportunities for humour to be used as a tool to share more 

extremist narratives. The four tools of satire used to promote extremist messaging 

are aggression, play, laughter, and judgment. This can result in memes and 

images that seem humorous but contain violent and graphic messaging. In many 

cases where memes seem harmless, they are instead effective invitations to white 

supremacist ideology and provide clues into who is embracing those ideologies, 

along with perhaps how to embrace it as well.  

THE USE OF MEMES AND SATIRE BY THE 

ALT-RIGHT AND GEN Z ACTIVISTS - 

EXCLUSION VS INCLUSION 

Date: November 27th, 2020 

Disclaimer: This briefing note contains the 

encapsulation of views presented by the speaker and 

does not exclusively represent the views of the 

Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence 

Studies.  



Viveca Greene  Page 175 
 

The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare 
 

 

An increase in these memes can result in humour which can potentially allow for 

the relaxation of norms around extremist sentiments. Social psychology research 

suggests that if one holds racist views themselves, they become more likely to 

tolerate discriminatory actions and speech; and arguably, they potentially 

participate when exposed to disparaging humour. Memes created by the alt-right 

are intended to “red pill normies”, which means that they are designed to wake 

up those suffering from the alleged false consciousness of liberal thinking, 

represented by the blue pill. Through this perspective, the alt-right and memes 

go together like peanut butter and jelly that has been spread into a swastika.  

As social interaction has moved online, especially in recent months, memes have 

become an increasingly common method of establishing one's political 

subjectivity; increasing one's social capital; and receiving the likes and 

affirmation that people have become so dependent on within their own online 

communities. While memes may not be inherently right-wing extremist vessels, 

they remain vessels which have the opportunity to travel and influence people.  

KEY POINTS OF DISCUSSION 

Presentation 

• Satire and humour are tools used to share extremist messaging in subtle ways. 

• An increase in memes that normalize hateful humour can potentially allow 

for relaxation of norms around extremist sentiments.  

• Memes remain vessels that can travel and influence people.  

 

 

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 

© (Viveca S. Greene, 2021) 

  

Published by the Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare and Simon Fraser 

University 

Available from: https://jicw.org/ 

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