The Bureau of Memetic Warfare — September 2015 (CW)
“He that controls the memes, controls the world.”
This is blog # 1 in a series of blogs about 4chan trolling tactics during the 2016 election. View the entire series here.
I found the /bmw/ linked in the first pastebin titled “Advanced Meme Warfare” and thought it deserved it’s own chapter. This 8chan thread titled “The Bureau of Memetic Warfare” begins with a GIF of a rolling black sun, one of several symbols frequently used by the alt-right.
“Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun), sometimes called the sonnerad: symbol has become synonymous with myriad far-right groups who traffic in neo-Nazi and/or neo-Volkisch ideologies.” — SPLC
Below is another version of the same symbol and reference to the /bmw/ layered over a photo of a scales of justice statue. The usage of classical roman statues and art is a core design feature of Identity Evropa propaganda posters.
The OP (Original Poster) of the /bmw/ claims to have worked in the marketing and advertising industry and explains various components of effective graphic design such as composition, rule of thirds, typography and text treatment, web design and instructions on how /pol/ should “normalize” their message to blend in with the normies.
They also hate jews.
An example meme which the OP uses to explain Semiotics and color communication.
“what is trendy today is being the victim, so if you play your cards correctly you can probably create a promotional video with some similarities that burger kike or any other jew media applies.” — Bureau of Memetic Warfare
The OP also linked the thread to CGPeers, an invite-only torrent tracker for graphics software and tutorials.
Good design means the difference between effectively communicating a message to an audience or a message being ignored. Canister Creative (not affiliated with anything in this blog) has a great guide to identifying effective communication design if you don’t have any design experience. The bottom line: if your graphics suck, no one will pay attention. If you want to red pill the world with memes, then you would want to study and learn proper design theory and tools.
As a graphic designer I am both fascinated and horrified that anti-semitic /pol/ trolls took an interest in learning effective graphic design. Given how pervasive “the red pill” is now, seems like their efforts paid off.
Next Up:
This is blog # 1 in a series of blogs about 4chan trolling tactics during the 2016 election. View the entire series here:
