Change My Mind

Change My Mind

The "Change my mind" meme began after Far-Right conservative commentator, Steven Crowder posted the photo of himself to Twitter in February of 2018. The photo was taken while he was filming at Texas Christian University for his podcast *Louder With Crowder* where a recurring segment of his podcast is called "Change My Mind". The podcast generally has him touring a college campus, while he with some controversial view written on a large sign in front of his table as he invites college undergraduates to engage with him and "change" his mind of a controversial, conservative, take.

The segment itself is a longstanding feature of his podcast, but on the day in question, Crowder's sign read "Male Privilege is a Myth: Change My Mind", sparking outrage online. His post was followed by a 20-minute long YouTube video where Crowder argues his controversial stances.

On Reddit and Twitter, online users almost immediately parodied the image. The earliest known meme comes from Twitter user @Whatchamccaulit who replaced Crowder's head with the Crying Michael Jordan meme. Although, another contender for "first" meme comes from Twitter user @IanWhetstone who first altered the image's text to read "The clitoris is a myth: Change my mind". Both make fun of Crowder's take and begin mocking him for his stance. Now, it is more common that this meme is used by removing the original harmful sentiment with opinions of humorous internet controversies (such as pineapple's place on pizza) and pairing it with the phrase "change my mind".

## Recognizable Features

Although there are many iterations of this meme, the most common features include: 1) Crowder holding a cup of tea, 2) a folding table with a 3) mostly-blank poster for new text to be placed. The iconic phrase "Change my mind" is also required element of the meme, although this too can have alterations. There are some notable variations where the illusion of debate is completely dismissed and the modifier "[you can't]" precedes the iconic "Change my Mind" slogan.

In the empty text box, meme-ers are welcome to fill the space with images or phrases that make a definitive stand on an issue. In the text-box This meme is generally meant to share various online hot-takes and is generally self-aware of the polarity of its statement. There is little room for nuance in this meme because it's fundamental feature demands that the meme take a hard, often extreme, stance.

It is not uncommon for someone to edit Crowder to be edited out or a new, often replacing him with a stance-relevant face having been pasted on top of his face. Variations can be stance-specific, often with Crowder's replacement being a stand-in for another non-negotiable perspective. For example, in one example of this phenomenon Crowder is replaced with a cat and the sign below reads, "I belong on the counter: Change my mind". Obviously, a cat is not going to be persuadable and instead represents the greater dialectic of posing an opinion where opposition is not welcome. However, because these are also definitionally parodies, the stakes are never as high as the original post's intention because it is meant to devalue the impact of Crowder's original statement.

## Cultural Context (US and Canda)

Crowder is a Canadian-American commentator who has previously been a commentator on Fox News and now works on Glenn Beck's *The Blaze* where he hosts a show and frequently espouses Far-Right ideology. Between 2009 and 2012, he was a regular contributor on Fox News before starting his almost-daily internet presence in 2013. Since then, he and his online platform has been what Stanford Extremism Researcher Becca Lewis told Bloomberg News, disseminating White Nationalist ideals and features one of the most overtly racist Conservative channels . His "go to Universities and interview undergraduates" approach is not unique, and remains a staple of other Conservative agitators like Tomi Lahren, Kaitlin Bennett, and Charlie Kirk.

Per his YouTube Channel, Crowder has been doing the "Change my Mind" segment of his show almost seven years. His piece hinges upon student presuming that he is interested good-faith argument to become angry and appear "uninformed" on an issue. This is not generally the actual context of the segment, as the pieces are often edited to present college students as uninformed and the catchphrase provides plausible deniability as to the authenticity of his questioning.

## Audience

Rhetorically, much of the appeal of this meme comes from its easily exploitable nature. Unlike similar memes, which can be reactionary, this meme is encouraging the audience to make an aggressive argument. Crowder's original event was aimed at agitating dissenting opinion while appealing to people who generally agree with the sentiment already like conservative students (and likely their parents). Meanwhile, most of the meme-ers who create the "Change My Mind" meme are doing so mostly to critique Crowder or to present a controversial opinion.

The implication of the phrase is that the audience can and should come to the opinion with an open mind and participate in good natured (and good-faith) debate. However, in actuality, the meme (and the original poster) works because they are rhetorically aware they are so sure in their convictions that their polarizing perspective. There is no argument to be had because the various assertions are being seen as deeply held beliefs.

The meme itself was born out of parody. There then is an argument to be made that in distributing a light-hearted or satirical opinion (which may or may not be polarizing on the internet), the meme becomes a countermeme. Or, as Bree Hadley puts it, becomes a meme which challenges or recontextualizes another meme "as part of [the creators'] own political resistance to the problematic stereotypes they are subject to" . In repurposing Crowder's image and forum, the audience too morphs into one where Crowder is the butt of the joke and the phrase "change my mind" is brought to the forefront, instead of his harmful original message. It is likely that due to the repurposing of the meme, that the original statement is obscured.

## Circulation

This meme is primarily a visual one which circulates on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. However, at it's conception, much of its initial traction came from Twitter users who saw an opportunity to take the phrase "Change My Mind" and make it light-hearted instead of perpetuating Crowder's sexist beliefs. Due to it's easy-to-edit text box function, the meme easily becomes a vehicle for a variety of hot-takes.

Initially, the meme got popularized when Crowder used the hashtag "#ChangeMyMind" to promote his original photo and Twitter users bandwagon-ed the hashtag to get their countermemes to reach a wider audience. The hashtag can be found to find versions of this meme on Facebook and Tumblr. However, especially on Reddit, not all of the "Change My Mind" memes using the #ChangeMyMind handle are necessarily trying to directly counter Crowder's stances. For example, one of the earliest memes on the site was posted to the /r/dankmemes subreddit where Redditor user Xereeto posted a homophobic and transphobic version that disparaged transgender women and gay men, where it received more than 5,000 points and 120 comments in 24 hours.

It is a photo-based meme that is usually widely shared on Twitter and works similarly to the Lisa Simpson Presentation Meme, the Spiderman Presentation meme, and the "You Guys Are Just Mean" memes which started circulating around the same time. While the presentation genre is different, in that they generally are interested in presenting their hot-take as a researched claim, the "Change My Mind" meme is similar because it too builds on perpetuating controversial stances (of various degrees of seriousness).

Using irony, the meme functions as a parody and works best when the stance is extremely comical, or when the stance is divisive. It is not interested in a deep break-down of Crowder's take or even the polarizing position itself, but rather capitalizes on witty, short quips to get its point across. Following in Katherine DeLuca's model of Metis, the "Change My Mind Meme" works because it is pithy and generally easy to consume. It gets most of its milage from being as aggressive as it is comical and play up the level of belief the creator may or may not have towards a particular opinion.

## Ethical Issues

It must be addressed that Crowder is a Far-Right Conservative Online personality who actively puts out harmful perspectives as a way to "troll" for views. His perspectives are extreme and often purposefully malicious because the meme is itself taking a non-negotiable stance. While he likely did not intend to become a meme, he has capitalized on his popularity to spread more hateful perspectives and take more extreme positions. On his store website, one can buy anything from sweaters to cups with his "Change My Mind" slogan. Also on his Instagram, he uses his likeness to recreate the meme with increasingly dangerous dog-whistles for White Supremacist ideals. Further, as an increasingly homophobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and racist voice in Conservative media, it would not be an unfair concern that circulating his likeness and slogan could serve as a vector for traumatizing (or re-traumatizing) LGBTQIA, non-Christian, and BIPOC individuals to see his meme circulated widely.

That said, as stated earlier, the bulk of the meme circulation is that of a countermeme. What trade-offs must people make between interacting with the countermemeing culture around the meme and feeding an online troll? It's difficult to answer because even the slogan is trademarked by Crowder and allusions to that phrase invoke his likeness. When using this meme, some would argue that repurposing Crowder's image and forum, the audience is enough to alter the message and recenters Crowder as a joke. Yet, perhaps an alternative solution would be to replace the likeness of Crowder altogether, as the "Crying Michael Jordan" meme tried to achieve.

## Impact

The "Change My Mind" meme is still alive and common on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit. While not as popular as it once was, it is still a classic meme that makes its rounds regularly. Since it is not attached to a single memetic event, it is allowed to be evergreen, and because it is not a reactionary meme, but rather implicitly working the offense, it can be tailored to nearly any event where someone has a strong opinion the do not want to argue, but feigns space for discussion.

The impact of this meme does not happen inside a vacuum. While the image caught traction almost immediately and was largely ridiculed, it helped bring Crowder back to the national stage after having been relatively obscure after his departure from Fox News. having been posted about a year into former President Trump's term in office, Crowder incites division and wildly mischaracterizes the students he interviews for the segment. The style of interviewing college students to mock them was a popular trend which served not to convince anyone of the particular standpoint, but move Conservatives, particularly conservative youths, further to the right. Yet, because the meme is primarily a parody of the original content, it works to establish a counternarrative for the original sexist text.

The ironic nature of the text helps add to the meme as a utility in online spaces to navigate gradually more radical spaces, especially because the meme is self-aware enough to know that there is no room for debate when the position is brought forth.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Keogh, Joey. "The Origins Of The 'Change My Mind' Meme" *The List*, 2021. https://www.thelist.com/593835/the-origins-of-the-change-my-mind-meme/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Crowder, Steven. "Male Privilege is a Myth: Change My Name" *YouTube*. 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Knowyourmeme.com. "Change My Mind Meme", K*now Your Meme*. 2022. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/steven-crowders-change-my-mind-campus-sign
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sung, Morgan. "Troll gets trolled with some quality sign Photoshopping" *Mashable*, 2018. https://mashable.com/article/steven-crowder-change-my-mind-photoshops
5. ↑ Wholesome Memes. "You are Amazing and I love you: can't change my mind meme" *Facebook*. 2018. https://www.facebook.com/wholesomememers/photos/d41d8cd9/2124991824415219/?paipv=0&eav=AfaYChoonzLWA8Q6Bi4FHvjJWJrO61sQelXJqFWTfmJY8ScxEDw1R8qbWZy9ZdFtG7s&\_rdr
6. ↑ Sacramento SPCA. "I should be allowed on the counter meme" *Facebook*. 2021. https://www.facebook.com/SacSPCA/photos/a.655650007788122/4093536453999443/?type=3
7. ↑ Media Matters Staff. "The Blaze's Steven Crowder launches vile personal attacks on Brittany Griner: 'She's not the best among us'". *Media Matters*. 2022. https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/blazes-steven-crowder-launches-vile-personal-attacks-brittany-griner-shes-not-best
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Bergen, Mark. "A Conservative YouTuber Thrives By Pushing Conflict With Site" *Bloomberg News*. 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-12/youtube-can-t-win-with-steven-crowder?leadSource=uverify%20wall
9. ↑ Wilson, John. "Conservatives have turned against academic freedom again. Here’s why" *The Washington Post*. 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/26/conservatives-repress-free-speech-campuses/
10. ↑ Crowder, Steven. "@StevenCrowder" *YouTube*. 2022.
11. ↑ Hadley, Bree. “Cheats, Charity Cases and Inspirations: Disrupting the Circulation of Disability-Based Memes Online,” *Disability & Society.* 2016.
12. ↑ Knowyourmeme.com. "Presentation Edits" *Know Your Meme*. 2022. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/presentation-edits
13. ↑ DeLuca, Katherine. “Fostering Phronesis in Digital Rhetorics: Developing a Rhetorical and Ethical Approach to Online Engagements,” *Digital Ethics*. 2020.
14. ↑ Louder with Crowder Shop. "Featured Products", *Crowdershop.com*. 2022.
15. ↑ @louderwithcrowder. "Steven Crowder Main Page." *Instagram*. 2022.