On Wednesday September 10th, 2025, at 12:23 pm on the Utah Valley University campus, Charlie James Kirk was shot and killed during his American Comeback Tour, a debate series across college campuses. Kirk was notorious for his right-wing beliefs, most of which he propagated through social media, podcasts, and YouTube channels such as Jubilee. Since his death, there has been massive “meme-ificiation” of Kirk, his platform, his sayings, and his death. The phrases “highkirkenuenly” and “lowkirkenuenly” can still be heard and seen in memes today; the songs “Charlie Charlie Kirky” and “We Are Charlie Kirk” were used in brainrot memes and remixed to oblivion; and there exists an innumerable amount of pictures of Kirk’s face edited onto images of celebrities, politicians, or just general meme reaction photos.
This massive public reaction to Kirk’s death sparked questions: Should memes like these even exist? Where should a line be drawn? Whether or not the creation and continued publication of these memes is callous is not the key debate; rather, the question is whether or not meme-ifying politics is beneficial to society. To put it shortly: absolutely.
Charlie Kirk was already a well-known figure in the political landscape, not because he was particularly academic and educated, but because of his engagement with college students.
Charlie Kirk served as an antithesis to the academia, prestige, and pompousness often equated with liberal ideals. To young people, he made conservative ideology a consumable package. Ironically, this simplification is the core power of meme-ifying anything. Memes are consumable to everyone no matter their level of education—academic papers and journals are not. In this sense, memes foster political engagement and awareness in their own right.
Our modern day and age is defined by fast-paced, dopamine-driven overconsumption. Throughout the world, even in developing countries like the Philippines, TikTok and other social media platforms inundate the population with trends, memes, and less-than-serious (and often less-than-credible) news sources. There is a constant bombardment of information in everyday life, compounded with the stressors of pursuing education or working jobs to make ends meet. Because of this, no one has the time to actually sit down and read about politics.
With the progression of generative AI and an increased amount of software designed to summarize and simplify information, fast and stimulating consumption has become much more desired over long-winded reads of factually-driven articles and research papers. Tasteful memes and shorter-form media fulfill this need.
Political memes often engage audiences by mixing dark humor with current events, i.e. the plethora of memes surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death. While the essence of memes could be seen as too rudimentary to actually be proper political commentary, the meme and related short-form media is the most ideal way to truncate, simplify, and refine information for both younger and significantly older audiences.
The memes surrounding Charlie Kirk’s death stimulate younger audiences: those who lean right express disdain in “Kirk-ification” memes and revel in the ostentatious Erika Kirk funeral services while those who lean left ridicule and belittle Kirk, rebranding right-leaning “it’s not that deep” rhetoric to describe Kirk’s death. Yes, it is callous, but it does politically engage youth much more than a bland 6 a.m. news headline would. In this sense, memes can serve as a foot-in-the-door to help foster political engagement.
Furthermore, short-form news and satirical skits can enlighten masses and expose political ironies. The Democrats account on TikTok has more recently abandoned professionalism and embraced meme-based content at the expense of the opposition party. Clips of Donald Trump talking about war in 2024 versus in 2026 and clips of Donald Trump being around Jeffrey Epstein are among the many topics they’ve meme-ified to identify irony in the present administration. NowThis Impact is a left-leaning short-form news network that posts TikToks explaining current events and their implications, also incorporating memes and sensationalist posting to inform and engage audiences with a fair amount of bias. Two prominent modern satirists are Saturday Night Live (SNL) and South Park. Both greatly hyperbolize modern events and make mockeries of many politicians and political situations, but they help create conversation in the process.
Be it discourse over whether a political joke went too far or discussion over whether Kamala Harris is “Mamala,” political conversation helps keep civic engagement alive. It is easy to be numbed and callous in a world where there is a constant bombardment of dreadful headlines and an even more persistent craving for dopamine. Political conversation and education prompted and perpetuated by memes and satire do great work in stimulating the need for dopamine while also guiding attention towards important issues.
Change begins with awareness and memes are certainly eye-catching enough for modern day internet users to at least leave a like and take note—a small step in the direction of universal political literacy.
Artwork via Thump News