Blog 5: Authenticty

The offline culture is setting standards for the religious and political implications of this post because the idea of "True love wins" comes from a pro- LGBT culture that the Instagram user does not agree with. While being against LGBT marriage is an unpopular stance, the user is replicating authenticate conservative Christians beliefs by putting them in a new context online. The offline culture does influence the online culture of this meme because the Christian beliefs come from the conservative offline culture that is considered to be the most authenticate in the eyes of conservative religious leaders. But the offline and online contexts can again be considered blurred since the user is taking the idea of Christ dying on the cross and merging it with a phrase that was meant for the LGBT community. The user has created a new realm, online, to argue ideals that began in the offline church.

This meme is undermining Hillary's credibility by insinuating that the founder of planned parenthood was racist. Both quotes were created in the offline media, and brought into the online media together to make a point. Because abortion is an important issue for evangelical Christians, this meme may delve into the blurred lines of offline and online because when Hillary praised Margaret Sanger, she was not necessarily praising her stance on Black Americans. This meme, creates a new realm by placing the two quotes side by side, making an argument against abortion for Conservative Christians. Abortion is treated as a sin in many conservative churches, offline and the meme follows closely to that to be considered authenticate by many conservative Christians. 

Blog 4

Christians typically hold an ideologies that are based on the Bible but not explicitly said, so the authority comes from a commonly shared belief. One of these is that Israel is important because they are God's chosen people. Another is that abortion is wrong. These ideologies are strongly held by this Instagram user and his or her followers. These are also strongly held by evangelical Christians. This authority emerges from the offline culture as it is something Christians have believed which emerged in the 1900s, much of when the online culture did not exist. But the second meme also calls upon the hierarchy authority since it was quoted by Ted Cruz. When the authority of the presidential candidate person is being used to back up the claims made by Christians and the republican party as a whole. Using the ideology of being against abortion as an authority creates a question for pop culture regarding Frodo from the Lord of the Rings. Christian culture says abortion is wrong and will stop the lives of very important people. The Logic of Continuity and Complementarity is being used because offline authority uses the internet to reassert influence. These memes are descriptive of commonly held Christian beliefs propagated by many Christian authority figures and doctrines of churches. The message being communicated is that Christians should never abandon Israel and Christians need to remember the importance of abortion in the elections. Both are hot topic issues that are influenced by evangelical beliefs. The memes point that if one believes the authority if the Christians doctrines, they will vote for the candidate who believes the same things. 

Post 3

Part of the debate between Hillary and Trump is the perspective of how to deal with terrorists. To many republicans, including Trump, the terrorists are to be called by the religion they identify with, Islam. To Hillary, the terrorists are to be excluded religion. This meme points out that the Amish are extremely religious yet there are no terrorists in the name of the Amish religion. To this Instagram user, the terrorists are committing crimes because of their religion, and infers that being extremely religious should not be a reason for mass murder. The meme is an over simplification of the users feelings toward terrorism. This meme uses an aspect of religion the user agrees with, Christianity, and one they disagree with, Islam, to demonize the radical sects of Islam while affirming the radical sects of Christianity. This is a blending of the offline and online realms of religion. The ideas of each religion appeared in the offline sphere as well as the idea of Islam being a contributor of radicalized terrorism. No new content is created. The user is propagating the idea of radical Islam informing terrorists actions and contrasting it with the ultra-radical Christian faith to make a point already explained in the offline spheres.

A second meme quotes Donald Trump talking about a radicalized Islam movement aimed at causing terror. The user is conveying a belief that they agree with Trump's stance on terrorism. It is similar to the first meme in that it is used to propagate an idea that a radicalized group is the problem according to the user and his/ her audience. This quote came from the offline and is being redistributed in the online culture to build solidarity between the user and his/ her followers. 

Almost every meme seen thus far has blended the offline and online realms of religion. The ideas of religious identities have originated offline and expressed online to build support for the idea being presented in the meme. New contexts are not created, merely repeated.

Blog 2

The belief being studied seems to fall under the non- Catholic Christian perspective. I believe it would be denominations such as Methodist or Baptist. The beliefs of this religion are being politically conservative by standing for pro-life movements, pro-gun movements, and praying in public and using Jesus' name in school. The groups' identity falls into a very strict conservative who bases their beliefs in politics alongside Christian beliefs. The group is pro-life and explicit about avoiding abortion, especially late term abortions. This belief stems from the Christian faith where Trump and Clinton have very different views. Digital Religion has is being used for self-expression and reflection. This page alone offers many resources for people who agree with this perspective to find funny, explicit retorts to democrats in an effort to defend their faith.

The first example is a meme with a picture of babies at 36 weeks talking about how Hillary and Bernie believe in abortion up at that time. It shows two fully formed babies outside the womb to portray a Christian value of being pro-life for the sake of the baby looking and feeling like a baby and not tissue. It also goes as evidence why this user would be supporting Trump, as Trump does not believe in late term abortions.

Another meme portrays Tim Tebow praying while Kaepernick is kneeling during the pledge. The meme asserts Tebow was persecuted by the media while Kaepernick was applauded. To this group, this is a case of discrimination toward Christians that does not happen to other faith systems. Compounded by the fact that Kaepernick was believed to be Muslim, the user most likely is asserting that depending on a person's race, the media will treat the individual differently. 

In conclusion, the group is Christian and that influences their political beliefs. Trump may not be the best Christian leader, but the groups core beliefs conflict greatly with Clinton and Bernie. They hold their views very strictly, and spend much of their time promoting memes to defend their strongly held views.

Blog 1

I will be following the Instagram page called "fabulous conservative". This page portrays conservative Christians who most likely fall under the broad category of Christian, non-Catholic. The Instagram page tries to argue that Christianity and Conservatism merge by pointing out inconsistencies in non- Christian Conservative logic. This account uses memes pointing at the Christian faith dealing with recent political events and issues brought on by the election. The account focuses on issues relating to how Christians feel about recent political events. I want to study how Conservative Christians deal with political pressure as well as the social pressure to create a better face for their religion. I want to study how Christians are trying to assert themselves in their political beliefs by using memes.

For example, one meme shows Donald Trump taking a picture with a woman wearing a hijab and her child. The meme points out that CNN would not post the picture because, in their opinion, the media does not show the full picture of Trump, and by proxy, does not show the full picture of Christian Conservatives.

A second meme portrays a similar theme. It quotes Trump talking about vetting Muslims and deporting illegal immigrants who are also criminals. In this Instagram account user's opinion, the media does not represent Trump fairly. They are asserting the media reports that Trump hates Muslims and Mexicans when the opinion of the user is that he is quoted as saying something completely different.

Both of these memes are meant to save face of the Conservative Christian in politics by undermining the medias interpretation of Trump and themselves.