Memetyzacja komunikowania politycznego u progu XXI w.

Regarding the contemporary role of mass media, especially television, and rising allegations of trivialization of the political life it is worth to consider how these opinions are justified. It evokes the question whether we are dealing with a situation in which public debate through the media seems to be based not on rational and logical conclusions, but on the competition, whose participants focus exclusively on creating their own images and pursuing symbolic politics. These trends cause that democracy evolves towards mediocracy, and the nineteenth-century ideologies lose their attraction to the simple message, free of thought. This phenomenon is considered in this paper in the meme theory context. The theory, introduced by Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural transmission, and in politics can be interpreted as short, blunt message, image or symbol, catchy enough to take over the imagination of the recipient. It is characterized by aggressive persuasion, apparent ambiguity and it is aimed to falsify the reality. Besides, its emotional assessment excludes any rational debate. It seems interesting, therefore, the trend of contemporary democracy, and question whether the public debate limited to an exchange of simplified, emotional arguments involves the danger of civil society erosion.