While memes usually rely on brevity and visuals for their effect, if you spend any time at all on Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen the long strips of screencaps, showing two men in a heated argument, one throwing a chair, the other rocking a handlebar mustache.
It’s the American Chopper meme and it’s my very favorite thing on the internet.
You don’t have to have any knowledge of American Chopper. (I didn’t.) The show ran from 2003 to 2010, and the images used are taken from a scene in which one of the men is fired. The meme, though, is based on creating a dramatic contrast between the men’s rage and the text superimposed over it. A version of the meme popped up in 2011, but it only fully exploded in its current debate-based form last month. The setup can be applied to any argument, be it personal, political, or abstract.
me talking to my cat 5 times a day pic.twitter.com/XldODAfqAg
— mothma’am (@drakesgurl420) April 4, 2018
— 😺 GARF GAB 🙀 (@GarfieldFanArt) March 22, 2018
#NetNeutrality is not a partisan issue. Here are some of the conservative / libertarian / free market arguments against the FCC’s repeal of basic open Internet protections: https://t.co/bhBtczfx4G pic.twitter.com/tTI8I91dJ2
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) April 4, 2018
— dirtbag winemom (@floozyesq) March 28, 2018
— amelia (@backhoe_mix) April 5, 2018
You may have issues with the meme, either its format or content. Those issues are valid, and they’ve likely already been worked out–within the meme itself, obviously.
— Alex Geoffroy (@EsPyramid) April 4, 2018
— gay and undead (@kamilumin) April 2, 2018
Because ultimately, the American Chopper meme is a way to work through both sides of an argument, something most people don’t care to do these days, especially not on the internet. Essentially, it’s a miniature version of Plato’s dialectics, using a dialogue to reach truth through reasoned discussion. The visual of these two impassioned men throwing chairs serves as a catchy contrast to the factual discussion happening in the text, making it a fantastic method for disseminating information.
We made one pic.twitter.com/DQEEfiuo29
— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) April 6, 2018
ME: haha this American chopper meme is funny. I used to watch that show lol
TWITTER: THE AMERICAN CHOPPER MEME IS THE EPOTHIOSIS OF MODERN ENLIGHTENED THOUGHT. NEW PARADIGMS HAVE BEEN RIPPED OPEN BY ITS GENIUS AND NOW WE MUST OPEN OUR EYES TO NEW MODALITIES OF PHILOSOPHY
— KT NELSON (@KrangTNelson) April 4, 2018
tired: plato’s dialogues
wired: american chopper meme— ira! (@solarsystern) April 4, 2018
At the rate memes come and go, this one is already on its way to joining Distracted Boyfriend in the internet graveyard. (Most of those tweets above are from a week ago, nearly the entire lifespan of internet virality.) But I’ll miss this one, as it proved that Twitter actually can be a place for rational, respectful debate. Just so long as it’s in meme form.
— shrillmonger (@theshrillest) April 3, 2018
(image: Pexels.com)
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