As the hashtag #NewSongsForPoliticians trended on Twitter Friday morning, users rewrote popular song titles to mock politicians.
A few were cute:
But most were kind of mean.
We tracked the hashtag back to this tweet, from an account called @2GirlsAndATag:
Turns out, the two people who run that account create hashtag games like #NewSongsForPoliticians all the time. Their cover photo says "New Game Every Fri, 10am EDT/7am PDT," and they brag about being in @HashtagRoundup's Top 10 Featured list.
We had no idea — none — that there are people who create hashtag games. There's even an app.
And if this hashtag makes it look like people hate politicians, that's because they do. Congress' job approval rating is just 11 percent, nearly an all-time low, according to Gallup. And a Washington Post-ABC News poll last year found that three in four Americans are dissatisfied with the way the political system works.
Of course, people mocking politicians goes way back — political cartoons, flyers — and actual songs making fun of them. And with this hastag, that tradition is alive and well on the Internet. Unlike some of our previous memes, politicians of all stripes were mocked, not any single politician in particular. Equal opportunity mocking.
Which gives us two big takeaways from this week's meme.
1. The Internet loves to mock politicians. All politicians.
2. The Internet loves puns.
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