Common Sense Vs. Ermahgerd

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “common sense” that helped sparked the American Revolution in the early 1700’s became a very popular piece of work that was able to communicate his idea’s to fight for independence from Britain. Paine increased the circulation of his pamphlet and was glad to see that it was being reprinted elsewhere all over the world. Because of this success, people were less reluctant to talk about independence and outwardly support the matter. This work proved that “In unison with the feelings and sentiments of the people, it produced astonishing effects” (Standage 146). This amazing and unusual, at the time, circulation of letters, pamphlets and newspapers is what resulted in the interchange of ideas and the ability to unite because of a common cause. This new sense of circulation, distribution and consumption in the 18^th century acted as a way of signaling and synchronizing opinion.

The first articulation looks at how media modes of productions are simultaneously a mode of communication, modes of affect, and a mode of accumulation. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “common sense” embodies these media modes of production as the modes of communication hold meaning in them. The pamphlet held meaning by the way in which he wrote it. “Its heavy use of italics and commas helpfully indicated where stress should be placed and breath should be taken.” (Standage 143) Using a plain and nervous style text, his target audience widens and allows for almost any individual to understand and follow along with his arguments. His language convinced the Americans on independence, which would be aligned with the mode of affect. Lastly, the mode of accumulation, meaning that the message in some ways aims to gain power or social control. This pamphlet definitely had the motive behind it to move an audience and take control.

The second articulation concerns how media artifacts and messages are brought into being spread through a culture, community, or society, and is manifested in the spatio-temporal dynamics of different factors. These factors include relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulation, and relations of consumption and reception.

The Ermahgerd meme is something very different from the “common sense” pamphlet in the late 1700’s. This meme started off on Reddit, where it gained popularity from their users and eventually was sent and shared to other internet sites like Facebook, twitter, buzz feed, Instagram etc. The macro series featuring a girl holding the “goosebumps” novels while standing with a grossed out look on her face had tittle submissions all over reddit, where the winning ‘Ermahgerd’ title blew up. Within 16 days of this, the post received over 8,700 votes and from then on out almost all social media users will recognize this specific meme. This ties in to the second articulation more as this message is spread through a culture, community and society and is manifested. There is no particular meaning, use or mode of affect behind this piece of media, but it is entertainment and it is shared vastly to create a undeniable amount circulation, therefore leading to reception and recognition.

Today, because of the technical developments and almost unlimited amount of circulation things easily become viral. A simple share on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, or post on Instagram and suddenly, something that may have only been seen by a few people can be opened up to any internet user. In the last 1700’s when cell phones and the internet were not available, messages needed to be very clear, concise and hold a very important meaning and message behind them to be circulated. Our society has grown tremendously because of our technology and what it allows us to do, but suddenly it is now up to us all to cut through the clutter to find the true message of this circulating information.