Why India Couldn't Stop Laughing — and Couldn't Stop Sharing: The Psychology Behind the CJP Meme

Psychologists studying viral political content say the Cockroach Janta Party's meme has hit a rare combination of triggers: humour that is simultaneously self-deprecating and defiant, an in-group identity that costs nothing to adopt, and the cathartic pleasure of turning an insult into a badge of pride. The Week India speaks to cognitive scientists and political psychologists about why this particular meme worked when hundreds of others didn't — and what it reveals about the emotional state of a generation that has been told to be grateful for a system that keeps failing them.