allow you to get what you want”. A fondness for American brands is positively correlated with favourable views of the American government. What has changed is that the culture the country exports has expanded to encompass its politics. And in the age of social media, it is memes, not McDonald’s, that are the main vehicle for America’s cultural influence. Take Brazil. Its political scene is full of YouTubers and Facebook influencers. “There is a lot of influence, even unconscious, of the [American] discourse. What’s happening there, comes here,” says Mr do Val, citing debates on face masks or race. This is not as simple as copying and pasting American arguments, he cautions. Rather, America provides the templates that anyone anywhere can apply. According to Whitney Phillips, a media researcher at Syracuse University in New York, America’s role in shaping political debates comes not just from the norms it promotes. It also “flows from its cultural production – the actual stuff of media and memes”, she writes in You Are Here, a new book examining global information flows. One reason America’s influence is greater now, she says, is that “social media is global. And there are way more people outside the United States who use Facebook than in the United States.”
correlated gjensidig forbundet / gjensidig forbunden discourse debatt, samtale template modell, forbilde, mal / modell, førebilete, mal to erupt å bryte ut
Black Lives Matter sweeps Nigeria Consider the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests which erupted in America in 2020. They inspired local versions everywhere from South Korea, where there are very few people of African descent, to Nigeria, where there are very few people who are not. In Britain, where the police typically do not Chapter 2: Changing the World
139
