Become Ungovernable

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About

Become Ungovernable, or Be Ungovernable, is a slogan associated with anarchism and related movements. Starting in 2020, the slogan gained popularity as a caption for parody image macros in which people, animals or characters break social norms, often by abandoning practical approach for the sake of independent thought.

Origin

The slogan "become ungovernable" gained notable popularity online in late 2016 and early 2017, appearing in a number of blog articles about far-left and anarchist protests during that period.^[1]^[2]^[3] On January 21st, 2017, at Oakland Women's March, protestors carried a sign reading "Become ungovernable," with the photographs shared online^[4]^[5] and appearing in media (shown below, left and center). On February 4th, 2017, Tumblr^[6] user sproutdistro posted a "Be Ungovernable" poster, which gained over 1,200 likes and reblogs (shown below, right).

On September 4th, 2018, Facebook^[7] page Vacate the State posted the earliest known image macro captioned with the slogan (authorship unconfirmed; shown below).

Prior to April 20th, 2019, the now-defunct Facebook page Just Another White Guy Who Likes Guns posted an edit in which the caption was combined with the image of Killdozer (shown below, left). On April 20th, 2019, Facebook^[8] page Libertarian Party Tubular Caucus reposted the image, with the post gaining over 370 reactions and 130 shares in two years. In June 2019, an image macro of Killdozer captioned with the phrase gained spread^[9] (shown below, center). On June 4th, 2019, Facebook^[10] page Maki's 1911 posted a meme based on the macro (shown below, right).

Prior to January 2020, the now-defunct Facebook page Boogaloo Wholesale Store posted the first parody meme using the caption, a photograph of a Hershey's chocolate bar with a chunk cut out of it sideways (shown below). On January 10th, 2020, iFunny^[11] user TheGuylam reposted the image, with the repost gaining over 30,900 smiles in one year.

Spread

In May 2020, two parody Vaporwave memes that used the caption gained spread. On May 15th and May 19th, the Instagram^[12] page chipotlecookie and the Facebook^[13] page Masshole Moto made two earliest found reposts of the images (shown below, left and right).

In the second half of 2020, the image of a man preparing to discharge a shovel from a longbow gaining particular popularity with multiple viral reposts.^[14]^[15] In August 2020, an edited image of a penguin holding a machete went viral (shown below, left). On August 20th, 2020, Facebook page D'AAAAAWWWW made the earliest found post of the image.

Starting in February 2021, the Facebook^[16] page Libertarian Candidates posted multiple parody Become Ungovernable image macros. For example, on February 10th, the page posted a meme that received over 1,600 reactions and 2,100 shares (shown below, center). The trend was also adopted by Instagram meme accounts. For example, a February 11th, 2021, post by Instagram^[17] account shirtless_gatorade received over 47,700 likes in four months (shown below, right).

By April 2021, the format achieved significant popularity online with multiple viral posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition

Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition is a phrase originating from conservative and traditionalist image macros that has been used in memes to humorously point out the change to an object or place over time, positioning the earlier version as superior.

Return to Monke

Return to Monke encompasses a series of memes closely associated with anarcho-primitivism that romanticize a simplistic archaic lifestyle, with apes (often referred to as monkeys or monkes) serving as a symbolic representation of that lifestyle. The meme often features intentionally simplified language and is closely associated with similar traditionalist memes such as Reject Modernity, Return to Tradition and Consume Product.