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Sorry beforehand for the intrusive politics, but it's kind of unavoidable for me in this case.
This is almost a textbook example of the Marxist concept of alienation. Once a brand takes over a meme, people are alienated from
- the meme itself - because nobody wants to sound like an ad board
- from the creative process behind the meme - because creating a new meme gets that sour taste in the mouth, as you feel that corporations might hijack it
- from human nature and themselves - because memes are a form of self-expression
- from each other - because memes are intrinsically social and it's yet another social link being removed by the corporation hijacking the meme
I'd say the outcome is alienation; the process as the comic demonstrates it is a kind of recuperation, the process through which ideas (especially subversive or dangerous ones) are neutered and commodified.
I swear I can find an applicable Marx excerpt for almost anything. His work has strengthened my anti-capitalist conversations a ton.
Well, that's what you get when an old style journalist has a knack for philosophy. I heavily recommend his texts, even to non-communists - not as some sort of political proselytism from my part, but because the content is useful/interesting even if you aren't a communist, you know?
Maybe because people keep attributing concepts that have been around for thousands of years to him lol
Multiple people can have their own variations of a critique. Crisis Theory is a good example.
You...think Marx invented the concept of alienation?
Yes! He also invented airplanes, internet shitposting, Santa Klaus, and Brezeln.
I'm joking of course. No, he didn't invent the concept, he took it from Hegel. However that specific usage of the concept is the one from Marxism.
The fact that the word "alienation" already existed doesn't mean Marx didn't have a specific theory about alienation in specific contexts that ended being pretty influential for philosophy. Like, holy shit, Marx's theory of alienation isn't obscure. Do a minimum of research before spouting ignorant bullshit.