我的二女儿璐璐是一位普通的美国大学生，她开学就要上三年级了。
对于政治，她不是那种事事冲在前面的激进分子，但也不是完全不关心政治的“绝缘体”。在她自己的圈子里，对于一些时事话题，她会关注，会讨论，会发声。
就是最常见的大多数，仅此而已。
7月21日下午，我和她在纽约首府阿尔巴尼参观美术馆。突然，她惊呼一声，然后告诉我：“拜登宣布退出总统竞选！”
那一天接下来的行程，我俩的对话总是要回到拜登退选这个话题上。我们甚至都觉得民主党大势已去，毕竟，距离总统竞选的时间还不到四个月了。而副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯（中文名字贺锦丽）的资历似乎还撑不起大梁。
两周过去了，这几天，因为哈里斯确定了竞选搭档沃尔兹，我又和璐璐聊起了总统竞选的事。
出乎我意料的是，璐璐竟然对哈里斯信心满满。两周前那种低沉和悲观一扫而空。
仔细一聊，发现了一个有意思的点：在非常短的时间里，哈里斯意外地在年轻人中爆火了。
成千上万在网络上成长起来的年轻人，因为互联网上的一个契机，开始认识哈里斯，进而开始关注这一次的总统选举。
这泼天的富贵，哈里斯能接住吗？
璐璐写了一篇文章，分享了这个有趣的现象。我不知道她的看法能有多大代表性。
但是，听一下年轻人的角度，也挺有意义。
卡玛拉·哈里斯如何在两周内赢得了Z世代选民的支持？
许璐璐
2024年7月21日，乔·拜登退出了与唐纳德·特朗普的总统竞选。同一天，卡玛拉·哈里斯宣布竞选2024年总统。在过去的两周里，她重新激励了全国数百万对未来感到怀疑的美国人，并赢得了许多Z世代和千禧一代选民的支持。
那么，她是如何做到的呢？
作为一名生活在蓝州的年轻大学生，我和我的同龄人都很关注我们国家当前的动荡局势。我和许多同学都目睹了最高法院推翻《罗伊诉韦德案》的裁决，这项法案原本是将堕胎权利作为一项基本权利受到保护。这项法案被推翻后，已有14个州不同程度地禁止了堕胎（有些州是大部分禁止堕胎，而有些州则完全禁止堕胎，甚至强奸或乱伦都不例外）。
经过几代人的努力，美国在LGBTQ权利、女性权利和种族平等方面取得了进步。如今，这些进步正随着这些基本法律的废除而倒退。
我们对政府感到失望，也对现任总统乔·拜登感到不满。他是我们国家的象征，但我们看到他最近在演讲和公开场合中的表现很不稳定。四年的总统任期似乎让他变成了一个大家都不愿再看到的老人。这就是为什么过去几个月里，我和同学们对即将到来的总统选举感到沮丧。拜登和特朗普之间有什么区别？他们都是老年白人男性，似乎都不关心美国人民，也没有和人民建立联系。那我们还要选谁？
作为年轻一代，Z世代感到沮丧，因为看到这两个老爷爷仍然站在台上辩论，而数百万人除了旁观外无能为力。我们对6月27日拜登和特朗普之间的辩论感到无奈。特朗普的幼稚行为在每个人的意料之中，但大家都对拜登似乎无法正常表现感到失望。有些人甚至猜测拜登可能患有老年痴呆。
看一下在过去两个月，都发生了哪些戏剧性事件。
6月27日：拜登和特朗普的辩论让全国感到沮丧，“不知道该笑还是该哭”。
7月13日：特朗普在一场集会上遭遇暗杀未遂。这反而激励了共和党人，令民主党人感到士气低落。
7月17日：拜登宣布感染COVID-19。全国都在担心他这样的年纪能否挺过新冠病毒。
7月21日：拜登退出2024年总统竞选，并支持副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯接替他。卡玛拉·哈里斯开始了她的总统竞选。
8月5日：明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·沃尔兹作为卡玛拉·哈里斯的竞选助手亮相。
在卡玛拉·哈里斯宣布她的竞选行动之前，许多Z世代选民对选举投票并没有太强的意愿。很多人的感觉可能是：“这有什么意义呢？我为什么要关心乔·拜登？他太老了，不可能再做四年总统了。”
但在乔·拜登辞职、卡玛拉·哈里斯接任的这两周里，人们不仅在谈论她，而且我这个年纪的很多人似乎真的喜欢她。许多Z世代和千禧一代的人觉得她很有趣、机智、聪明，并且有能力在今年击败特朗普。
大家都松了一口气，因为卡玛拉·哈里斯现在59岁，相比之下，乔·拜登已经81岁，而唐纳德·特朗普也已经78岁了。
在竞选的最后阶段让卡玛拉·哈里斯成为总统候选人，这一举动虽然有风险，但也带来了好处——特朗普的竞选团队花费了大量时间和金钱来嘲笑拜登，将他描绘成一个衰老、无力掌控国家的老人。“瞌睡乔”是特朗普用来嘲讽拜登的绰号，意指他的行为迟缓。每当乔·拜登在演讲中出错时，特朗普就会把这些视频片段上传到社交媒体上进行嘲讽。“你们真的想让这个老家伙竞选总统吗？至少我的大脑还在运转！”这似乎是右翼宣传特朗普的方式。
然而，突然之间，拜登不再竞选总统了。现在是卡玛拉·哈里斯，一位年轻的女性——比特朗普年轻得多。她充满活力，头脑比拜登清晰，在演讲中表现出色。共和党人花了几个月的时间攻击拜登年老、衰弱、不适合担任总统。而现在，这些都不重要了，因为一个更年轻的女性刚刚取代了拜登，“希望”再次回来了。
人们高兴的是，卡玛拉·哈里斯更年轻，她是“蓝色”的，她的个性讨人喜欢。但卡玛拉突然走红还有另一个因素——Z世代把卡玛拉·哈里斯变成了一个爆红的“流行现象”。
6月7日，英国歌手兼词曲创作人Charli XCX发布了一张名为《brat》的音乐专辑。这张流行音乐专辑在美国年轻人中迅速走红。专辑的音乐充满“趣味”，它的整体歌词和氛围与年轻人的目标产生了共鸣：享受乐趣、派对狂欢、尽管有缺点也要爱自己，并体验青春期的狂野和混乱情感。这张专辑发行后很快登上了美国音乐排行榜的榜首。
还记得2023年，《芭比》电影上映后，人们称那个夏天为“芭比之夏”吗？如今，2024年被称为“Brat之夏”。
(这是专辑封面的样子。)
那么，一张流行音乐专辑和卡玛拉·哈里斯以及2024年总统大选有什么关系呢？
你需要理解的是，Z世代的情感很容易受到互联网和流行文化趋势的影响。我们已经掌握了利用社交媒体的力量，让一件事看起来是正面还是负面。
因此，自从卡玛拉·哈里斯宣布竞选总统以来，Z世代在社交媒体上，一直在使用《brat》专辑中的片段、歌曲和网络笑话，将她变成了一个一夜爆红的“流行热点”。
以下是一些爆火的TikTok视频，这些视频利用了卡玛拉·哈里斯的公开露面或演讲作为“梗”。请注意，其中许多“梗”都包括了我之前提到的Charli XCX的专辑《brat》中的歌曲。
这个视频 在TikTok上有1670万次观看和330万次点赞。视频中使用了Charli XCX专辑《brat》中的一首歌。
这个视频在TikTok上有超过90万次点赞。
这个视频 使用了Charli XCX专辑《brat》中的歌曲，有70万次的点赞。
卡玛拉·哈里斯在一次演讲中说了一句让Z世代和千禧一代觉得非常搞笑的话。她说：“你以为你是从椰子树上掉下来的吗？哈哈哈。你存在于你所生活的所有环境中以及你之前的一切背景中。”我们觉得这句话特别好笑，很多TikTok视频中的“梗”都是围绕这句话展开的。
多家新闻频道已经报道了《brat》专辑与卡玛拉·哈里斯人气飙升之间这种奇怪的现象。
没有人能预料到，卡玛拉·哈里斯在Z世代选民中的人气，会因为一位英国流行歌手在她宣布竞选总统的同时发布了一张专辑而迅速上升。然而，通过将卡玛拉·哈里斯与一个流行文化现象联系起来，年轻人对她的看法变得比原本更加积极。请看上面展示的视频中，卡玛拉·哈里斯被描绘成一个充满活力、外向、有趣且善于社交的人。
发行《brat》专辑的艺术家Charli XCX后来在X平台（原Twitter）上发布了这样一条信息：
（这个帖子有5400万浏览量)
这是一条有趣的推文，既承认了卡玛拉·哈里斯因《brat》专辑而获得了超高人气，也表明了Charli XCX正式支持卡玛拉·哈里斯成为下一任总统。卡玛拉·哈里斯无意中撞上了大运——成千上万的年轻人通过发布段子和小视频来为她做宣传，而且现在他们正前往投票站投票支持她。
这些梗和笑话挺好玩，但它们也不容被忽视，因为它们为卡玛拉赢得了许多年轻人的支持。这些年轻人原本不关心此次选举。不过，他们也需要承担责任，研究他们支持的候选人，而不是盲目地跟随热点和潮流。这也让我对一些同龄人有些担忧——尽管最近的这些爆梗和网络潮流让他们对当前的政治稍微感兴趣，但对于我们这个年纪的人来说，进一步研究并了解他们所崇拜的政客是至关重要的。
虽然许多年轻人对卡玛拉·哈里斯的形象持积极态度，但也有人的确在研究她的背景并批判她的立场。在担任美国参议员和副总统之前，她曾是旧金山地方检察官，后来成为加利福尼亚州的总检察长。左翼批评她作为检察官时的立场，以及她在那段时间的行为是否公平或遵守道德。卡玛拉·哈里斯和乔·拜登也因他们在当前以巴问题上的立场受到许多年轻人的质疑。
尽管卡玛拉·哈里斯相较于乔·拜登可能是一个令人耳目一新的人物，但我和许多同龄人仍然认为，批评我们的政客，以及不盲目崇拜他们是重要的。作为一名年轻人，我认为我们不应该仅仅因为在TikTok上看到他们的一个搞笑视频而做出选择。我们需要看到他们愿意倾听我们的需求，并且我们需要看到他们的诚实和可信度。
卡玛拉·哈里斯可能通过成为网络红人而“撞上了大运”，但归根结底，她仍然是个政治家，而不是一个“妈妈”或“酷阿姨”。尽管她的竞选活动对许多人来说令人振奋和耳目一新，但我们仍然要记住，在投票时做出明智的选择是非常重要的。
英文原文：
How did Kamala Harris Win Over Gen-Z Voters in 2 Weeks?
Lulu Xu
On July 21st, Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 election race against Donald Trump. On that same day, Kamala Harris announced her 2024 campaign for president. In the two weeks that have passed since then, she’s revitalized millions of doubtful Americans across the United States, and has secured many votes from Gen Z and millenials. How?
As a young college student living in a blue state, my peers and I are up to date with the current uneasy state of our country. Many of my classmates and I watched in horror as the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, a law that protected abortions as a fundamental right. Since then, fourteen states have banned abortions to various degrees of intensity (some states have a near-total ban, while other states totally ban it with no exceptions for rape or incest). After generations of progress that led the U.S. to become the much more diverse, accepting country it is today in terms of LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and racial equality, we’re watching as these essential laws are taken away from people in real time.
We’re frustrated at our government, and we’re frustrated by Joe Biden, our current president. He’s the face of our country, but we can see that he’s been recently fumbling through his speeches and public appearances. Four years of presidency seems to have aged him into an old man who no one wants to have leading the country anymore. That’s why for the past few months, my classmates and I have been groaning about the upcoming election. What’s the difference between Trump and Biden, if they’re both just two old white men who don’t really seem to care or relate to the people of America?
Being the younger generation, Gen Z feels frustrated at seeing these two incredibly old grandfathers still standing on the podiums, arguing with each other while millions of people can’t do anything but watch. We had no choice but to laugh at how horribly the June 27th debate between Biden and Trump went. Nobody was surprised that Trump’s behavior was childish, but everyone was disappointed that Biden seemed to be unable to hold himself together properly. Some even have gone to speculate that Biden has dementia.
The past two months have been a lot in terms of this election season.
June 27th: The Biden and Trump debate leaves the nation frustrated. “Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry”.
July 13th: Trump survives an assassination attempt at one of his rallies. (Picture here). This invigorated republicans and demoralized democrats.
July 17th: Biden breaks the news that he has COVID. The nation wonders if someone at his age could survive the virus.
July 21st: Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race, and endorses Kamala Harris to step up. Kamala Harris begins her presidential campaign.
August 5th: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, debuts as Kamala Harris’s running mate for her 2024 campaign.
Before Kamala Harris announced her campaign, many Gen-Z voters did not feel strongly about voting. I’m sure many of the feelings were, what’s the point? Why should I care about Joe Biden? He’s gotten too old. There’s no way he can possibly keep doing this for another four years.
But in the two weeks since Joe Biden has resigned and Kamala Harris has stepped up, not only are people talking about her, but people my age seem to really like her. A lot of Gen Z people and millennials think she’s funny, she’s witty, she’s smart, and that she’s capable of beating Trump this year. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that Kamala Harris is 59 years old, in comparison to Joe Biden being 81 years old and Donald Trump being 78 years old.
The move to make Kamala Harris the presidential candidate so late in the game was risky, but comes with its benefits– Trump’s campaign has spent lots of time and money mocking Biden and portraying him as a senile man, too old to run the country. “Sleepy Joe” is the nickname Trump coined to mock Biden’s sluggish behavior. Whenever Joe Biden messed up his speeches, Trump would post those video clips onto social media to mock him. “Do you really want this old guy running for president? At least my brain is functioning!” Seems to be how the right is marketing Trump.
Then, all of the sudden, Biden is no longer running for presidency. Now it’s Kamala Harris, a younger woman– much younger than Trump. She’s youthful, more clear-headed than Biden, and witty during her speeches. Republics had spent months targeting Biden for being older, for being too senile and unfit. And now, none of that matters, because a younger woman has just replaced Biden and “hope” has returned.
So, people are happy that Kamala is younger, that she’s “blue”, that she has a likable personality. But there’s another factor that plays into Kamala’s sudden rise in popularity– Gen Z has turned Kamala Harris into a 梗.
On June 7th, Charli XCX (a british singer and songwriter), released a music album called “brat”. This pop music album has blown up in popularity with the youth in America. The music is “fun”, and the overall lyrics and mood of the album resonate with the goals of young people: to have fun, party, love yourself despite your flaws, and experience the emotions of being wild and messy in your youth. This album soared to the top of the US music charts after it was released. Remember 2023, when the Barbie movie came out and everyone called that summer “Barbie summer”? Now, 2024 is called “Brat summer”.
This is what the album cover looks like.
Now what does a pop album have to do with Kamala Harris and the 2024 presidential race? See, what you need to understand is that Gen-Z’s feelings about certain topics are easily swayed via the internet and pop culture trends. We’ve mastered the power of using social media to make things appear positive or negative. As such, since Kamala Harris has announced her campaign for presidency, Gen-Z social media creators have been using clips, songs from the “brat” album, and internet jokes to turn her into a “meme” (梗). Here are some viral tiktok videos that use Kamala Harris’s public appearances or speeches as “memes”. Notice how many of these memes include songs from “brat”, Charli XCX’s album that I mentioned previously.
https://www.tiktok.com/@jqsids/video/7394543209814248737 This video has 16.7 million views and 3.3 million likes on tiktok. It includes a song from Charli XCX’s album, “brat”.
https://www.tiktok.com/@theonlycb3/video/7394591059856084255 Here is a social media comedian re-enacting the “Coconut Tree” speech. It has over 500k likes on tiktok.
https://www.tiktok.com/@aedevii/video/7394891030337686816 Here is a tiktok video of Kamala Harris with over 900k likes on tiktok.
https://www.tiktok.com/@bettythanrevenge/video/7392713817110793518 Here is a tiktok video of Kamala Harris, which includes a song from Charli XCX’s album, “brat”.
https://www.tiktok.com/@flextillerson/video/7388373417835121962 This is a tiktok video of Kamala Harris with almost 700k likes, which includes a song from Charli XCX’s album, “brat”.
Kamala Harris said something during one of her speeches that gen-z and millennials found hilarious. She says, “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? Hahaha. You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you”. We found this incredibly funny, and you’ll see in many of the tiktok videos that the meme is based around this one line.
Multiple news channels have reported on this strange phenomenon between the “brat” album and Kamala Harris’s rise in popularity.
Nobody could have predicted that Kamala Harris’s popularity with gen-z voters would have sprung up because a British pop artist released an album during the same time Kamala announced her presidential campaign. But by associating Kamala Harris with a pop culture sensation, the youth feel a lot more positive about her than they would have otherwise. Notice how in the videos I showed, Kamala Harris is portrayed to be lively and outgoing, fun and social. Charli XCX, the artist who created “brat”, would later post this on X (formally Twitter):
This is a funny tweet that acknowledges the popularity Kamala has gained due to the album, but it’s also Charli XCX officially endorsing Kamala Harris as the next president. Kamala Harris struck gold accidentally– thousands of youths are doing her marketing for her by posting memes and song remixes, and now they’re going to the polls to vote for her.
The memes and jokes are fun, but they should also be taken seriously as they’ve gained Kamala the favor of many young people... Young people who otherwise wouldn’t have cared to vote in this election. Young people who need to take responsibility and research the people they’re supporting instead of blindly following memes and trends. I’m concerned for some of my classmates– I’m glad that the recent “memes” and internet trends have made them interested in current politics a little bit more, but it’s crucial for people my age to do their research and to look into the politicians they’re idolizing.
While many young people feel positively about Kamala Harris’s image, there are those who are also making sure to research her background and critique her stances. Before serving as a US senator and then the Vice President, she was the San Francisco District Attorney and later the Attorney General of California. The left has criticized her position as a prosecutor, and whether her actions during that time were fair or ethical. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are also both facing scrutiny by many youths over their position on the current Israel-Palestine issue. Although Kamala Harris may be a refreshing figure in comparison to Joe Biden, many of my peers and I feel as though it’s still important to criticize our politicians and to not fully idolize them. As a young person myself, I think it’s important that we do not pick our politicians just because we thought a tiktok video of them was funny. We need to see that they’re willing to listen to our wants and demands, and we need to see that they’re honest and trustworthy. Kamala Harris may have “struck gold” by becoming an internet meme, but at the end of the day she’s still a politician, not a “mom” or “cool aunt”. And while her campaign has been exciting and refreshing for many, it’s important to remember that we still have to make informed choices when it comes to voting.
Images from NPR
