Reconstructing an Antisemitic Meme on Social Media through Objective Hermeneutics

Social media and associated apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Co., have dramatically increased people’s ability to share visuals, including photos, video, graphics, illustrations, etc. Social media have revolutionized, especially the speed at which visuals can be shared. In this new environment, antisemitic memes function like Trojan horses, conveying their messages latently and therefore not always openly to their recipients. This chapter zooms in on one antisemitic meme to show in detail the risky potential of such visual communication of antisemitic content through examining it qualitatively using the method of objective hermeneutics. Meticulously reconstructing the latent layers and structures of meaning and messages conveyed in such a visually reproduced antisemitic illustration shows why such memes, due also to their hasty form of reception, are particularly suitable for the transport of antisemitic messages.