Hate and Humor in a Conflict: The Study of Memes on the India and Pakistan Conflict

Abstract

The conflict between India and Pakistan has been a heated debate for over seven decades since their independence from British rule. The masses from both the countries have expressed their feelings about the conflict and show support for their respective country through memes on social media. The memes frequently used in war and conflict could have spread more hatred among masses of the countries. This study focuses on understanding the themes and tones used in the memes from both sides of the border. Thematic analysis of  selected memes yielded the themes of belittling the enemy, trivialisation of conflict, references to history, warmongering, jingoism, division and distrust, and peace-building. Though the hatred by mocking others, showing superiority and provocation were the prevalent themes in most of the memes from both India and Pakistan: few of the memes attempted to normalise the situation and tried to spread  the message of peace between the two countries. This study provides insight into how user-generated content can serve as a tool for both conflict escalation and de-escalation.