Jacob Rees-Mogg reacting to memes of himself may be the purest thing ever

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Eurosceptic Tory politician or guy from the memes?

Jacob Rees-Mogg is a comical figure, whether he likes it or not. He’s a sort of joke: a relic from the past, a hangover from the British Empire. He probably still envisions bits of red on the map. The way he talks, dresses, acts – it’s all just a bit funny, really. Even his name makes me want to suppress a smirk. He’s a living, breathing caricature of your standard Tory.

It’s no surprise, then, that there are hundreds of memes of this man who is, basically, a walking meme himself. On Facebook, ‘Can’t Clog the Mogg’ – a page dedicated solely to the wonder that is Mr. Jacob Rees-Mogg – has over four thousand likes, whilst ‘Reem Memes with a Right Wing theme’ – which has a healthy dose of regular Rees-Mogg-related memes – has nearly fifteen thousand.

Goals

It’s not his fault everything he does is so inherently funny: he’s a living anachronism. You can’t not laugh when someone calls Boris Johnson ‘a great representative for the country on the world stage’. Boris Johnson. This man also literally used the word ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ in Parliament. Need I say more?

So what happens when a man who thinks we are in Victorian England is confronted with the greatest thing to come out of the 21^st century: meme culture?

Student Ivo Delingpole, everyone’s new hero, did just that. “I originally intended to interview him for the school magazine I edit,” he says. “My dad was already having lunch with him and was making a podcast in the process, and I thought that it was too good an opportunity to pass up.” And thank god the chance was not missed – the result is four minutes and fifty-two seconds of pure genius.

The truth hurts

“The video was actually made by an admin of the meme page who posted it – Reem Memes with a Right Wing Theme.” It consists of JR-M meme after glorious JR-M meme, coupled with live reactions from the man himself. “I decided to enlighten him about the cult-like fascination that he’s developed online, as a lot of the time people have no idea about the extent of their online reputation.” It’s safe to say, Jacob Rees-Mogg did not disappoint.

He certainly had no idea about the extent of his online reputation, let alone understanding of the memes he featured in. “I didn’t really understand the headline,” he says to a delightful snap of him reclining in the Commons with the caption ‘paint me like one of your French girls’. When Delingpole supplants him with the bleeding obvious – “it’s a reference to the Titanic film” – Rees-Mogg comes back with “Oh, is it?”. His levels of innocence – ignorance? – harken back to the purity of man before the Biblical Fall.

To this Rees-Mogg simply said ‘what? I don’t really understand’

The video has since been shared over two hundred times, with over 63,000 views and 1,100 reacts on Facebook. “I wasn’t completely sure how it would be received, mainly because I hoped it didn’t sound too cringey,” Delingpole says. “I’m glad that people enjoyed it, as I thought it would be fun to get the outside world and meme culture to intersect as they often don’t.”

Whilst the outside world and meme culture seldom intersect, the zealous nostalgia of a man like Rees-Mogg and most Millennial-related culture barely touches at all. How does he feel about the headbanging pigeon? Salt bae? The ‘Cash me ousside’ girl? (Actually, he’d probably be so repulsed by her, he’d likely fork over some actual ‘cash’ for elocution lessons or an Etonian education). If a politician doesn’t understand memes, what hope do they have of understanding our generation’s way of life? Does this mean we can never truly culturally communicate with our elders? Is Rees-Mogg’s cluelessness about memes emblematic of the ever-widening gulf between baby boomers and Millennials?

11/10 would bang

I don’t know, but the video is so funny, I almost don’t care.

All photos taken from the ‘Reem Memes with a Right Wing Theme’ Facebook page.