Kamala Memes For Kamala

Analysis of hollow virtue signaling is my forte. Why can't I answer the call?

Please forgive the brief interruption to the Art Monster series. When I started this project, I told myself I would do a post every week, but you know how that tends to go. In this case, aside from the usual distractions and commitments, I’ve been stuck in an odd state of paralysis regarding the (presumptive) presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Part of me was grateful not to have the kind of regular gig that would require whipping up a “take” on deadline. The other part of me was itching to say something. Actually, it went beyond an itch and was more like the emanations of a raging and rapidly spreading rash. That’s because within 24 hours of the big Democratic Party rollout, the insufferable (or, as the kids would say, “cringe”) meme-ification of Harris as a girlboss revolutionary was practically giving me hives. 

As the week went on, competitive virtue signaling online became its own Olympic Games, with White Women: Answer the Call begetting White Dudes for Harris and now AANHPI Men for Kamala Harris. (AANHPI stands for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander, not that it’s my job to educate you about that.) A tweet thread that should have won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor had it not been completely serious issued a set of instructions for white women seeking to support Harris by emulating the rituals and dress code of her college sorority. (Pro tip: Do 👏🏻Not 👏🏻Do👏🏻It.👏🏻)