Are You Far-Left or Far-Right

Submission 13,761

Part of a series on Misinterpretation (Comedy Trope). [View Related Entries]

About

Are You Far-Left or Far-Right refers to a series of misinterpretation snowclone memes in which a person replies to the inquiry "are you far left or far right," defining themselves as something unrelated that also starts with "far." The format gained notable popularity online in August 2020.

Origin

The exact origin of the joke is unconfirmed. On April 29th, Twitter^[1] user @terioh posted the earliest found post containing the joke, reading "Far-right this Far-left that i just b far-ting and shidding." The tweet received 6 retweets and 14 likes.

The joke did not see spread until on July 9th, 2020, Redditor^[2]^[3] ArchVileSoup posted a meme featuring a Zombie from the Far Future game world of Plants vs. Zombies 2 and captioned "Everyone be like "are you far-right or far-left" bitch im far future" (shown below). The post received over 1,100 upvotes in /r/PlantsVSZombies and 120 upvotes in /r/okbuddyzomboss subreddits in one month.

Spread

Later on July 10th, 2020, Redditor^[4] im66n posted the earliest found derivative of the meme based on a fan art of a dabbing minion (shown below, left). The post received over 50 upvotes in /r/ComedyNecrophilia. On the same day, Redditor^[5] youneverjustflex posted another meme that received over 2,100 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard in one month (shown below, right). The post received viral spread online in the following days; for example, a July 11th repost in /r/Jreg subreddit^[6] received over 3,100 upvotes. A July 23rd repost in Facebook^[7] meme group "lol like just shitpost bruh it ain't that hard lmao" gained over 470 reactions and 200 shares in one month.

In late July 2020, the snowclone format gained moderate popularity on Facebook. For example, on July 24th, 2020, Facebook^[8] group Depressed Doge posted a meme that received over 1,100 reactions and 540 shares in one month (shown below, left). On July 29th, Facebook^[9] meme group Lego Star Wars II-core posted a Lego Yoda meme that received over 2,300 reactions and 2,700 shares in one month and was widely circulated in the following weeks (shown below, right).

On August 18th, 2020, Redditor^[10] GabeExists posted a viral Lord Farquaad meme based on the snowclone, boosting its popularity in /r/okbuddyretard and sparking an influx of Demotivational Poster Conversations in the subreddit.