The Implementation of Racism and Sexism in Internet Memes A Critical Discourse Analysis of Ideologies in Memes in The Algerian Society

Abstract

Speech on social media platforms in Algeria, as in every other society- took a blind turn when memes -funny pictures- became a mean for racist and sexist individuals to showcase their biased beliefs about women, blacks, and Asians. Sexist and racist memes, what is also referred to as dark humour, is the least if ever investigated type of speech because jokes are to be laughed on, not thought of. For instance, an ideology as serious as racism that existed long time before should not be considered less serious when it is placed in a picture called meme with an image of a monkey on it as a humiliation to dark-skinned people. No wise man would laugh on an insult directed to a whole race. The same can be said about sexism, which limits women and holds them slaves to house chores, and prohibits them from approaching others, under the belief that they are less smart, and less skilled. Thus, there is a need to discuss and approach this kind speech, and reduce its serious impact on the society, otherwise, it is going to be a never ending cycle of marginalization that is based on nonsensical ideas set by society. Very few studies covered this area of discourse in Algeria before, making this research in hand the first one to tackle the presented issue. To carry this study, data was collected from Facebook and Instagram, and was analysed using Fairclough‟s model of critical discourse analysis to unveil the type of linguistic features used in racist and sexist discourse, and to raise awareness towards it. The findings of this study showed that sexist and racist vocabulary is used explicitly, yet, people interacted positively with it on social media, and this is highly attributed to the nature of the discourse that took the form of a meme. As a result, contrary to what has often been assumed, memes are not all the time mere jokes, they are social weapons that if not controlled can lead to an extreme power abuse in the society.