@jonathancolton

America's oldest meme predates the Declaration of Independence. It was a picture of a chopped-up snake. Eight pieces. One message. Binary choice. Join, or Die. Ben Franklin published it in 1754 because the colonies were acting like isolated entities when they faced a common threat. Each colony operated in its own interest while the French coordinated against them all. The colonies couldn't see that their fragmentation was the vulnerability. The snake made the coordination problem visible. Not through argument. Through a simple visual fact: fragmented = dead. Unified = alive. CC: @nounishprof

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