The Uncanny Meme
The argument of my final phase 3 assignment is that in the US we are experiencing the repercussions of structural policies that further the extinction of native languages through social, economic, educational, and language policies to this day. The intended audience for this meme is policy makers, students, and anyone who is not aware of this issue. I believe that there is not enough awareness for this issue because it is engraved into our everyday lives that we only use standard English in our schools, courts, news, etc. The genre I used to demonstrate my argument was through a meme because I believed it would be easier to comprehend for anyone who comes across it.
I chose this argument because I was inspired by Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And The Future Life of Willie Jordan by June Jordan. For example, June Jordan argues how Black English is not used in our schools since White standards of English control the official language in our country and threatens to eliminate other forms of Englishes. I chose my intended audience because they hold the power to combat the injustices against non-standard speakers. Furthermore, I chose the uncanny meme because there are many layers to this topic and historical events relevant to my argument. The imagery of the iceberg used emphasizes how deep and complex linguistic imperialism is and the face of Mr. Incredible becoming more traumatized and uncannier with every new piece of information he discovers. I found this meme template on Reddit because this meme was recently viral everywhere.
The first rhetorical appeal I used was logos by introducing a fact within every layer as the iceberg gets deeper and darker while simultaneously Mr. Incredible’s face becomes scarier as the facts get darker. In other words, the description of how dark a fact is, is signified through the creepy disfiguration of Mr. Incredible’s face and how deep you dive the iceberg. This imagery of the iceberg applies emphasis on the text detailing the chain of events on colonialism being linked to language extinction, racism, and genocide. The rhetorical strategies I used to demonstrate these points was by including details of historical events that are linked to language domination and linguistic imperialism. I accomplish this by stating “Realizing that language extinction is linked to racism in efforts to disconnect native speakers of their culture, identity, heritage, communities, and employment opportunities. Discovering that language extinction is also linked to genocide of native communities in efforts to eradicate their culture and people.” By offering the cause and effects of historical events that are related to each other unravels the steps and processes towards creating a society that runs on oppressive monolinguistic standards. Overall, it reveals the interconnectedness of historical events and current events that allowed linguistic imperialism to occur.
The second rhetorical appeal I used was pathos by connecting with my audience through their emotions with harsh descriptions that have occurred in the past. Such as the mentioning of genocide of native communities to eradicate their culture and people. Furthermore, how the government is responsible for imposing oppressive policies against them. The darkness of these issues was accentuated with the imagery such as the vanishing of the iceberg and Mr. Incredible’s face becoming more horrifying. The rhetorical strategies I used to evoke an emotional response with my audience was by using emotionally loaded language describing historical events. This was accomplished by the progressive distortion of Mr. Incredible’s face overtime. As well as depictions of historical events that discuss racism and genocide in relation to the preservation of oppressive linguistic standards in the United States. Therefore, readers who come across my dark meme may feel angry and shocked to learn that linguistic standards are still oppressing non-standard speakers to this day.
