Divorce Leads Children to the Worst Places

Submission 28,067

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About

Divorce Leads Children to the Worst Places refers to a comic by Iranian cartoonist Behrouz Firoozi that metaphorically illustrates possible effects of a divorce on a child. First gaining popularity among Spanish-speaking users in October 2020, the format gained wider spread in early June 2021.

Origin

Prior to April 12th, 2013, Iranian cartoonist Behrouz Firoozi posted a cartoon that metaphorically illustrates an effect parent's divorce may have on a child (original post no longer available, shown below). The cartoon depicts a married couple walking away from each other as their child is holding onto their clothes, about to fall into the pit with two people taking drugs sitting in it. Firoozi later remade^[1] his drawing (shown below, right).

Spread

Starting in 2013, the image and versions of it captioned in various languages were widely circulated online. On April 12th, 2013, Facebook^[2] user Anlamlı Karikatürler made the earliest found repost of the image, captioning it "think before divorcing" in Turkish (shown below). More reposts on Facebook,^[3] Instagram and various blogs^[4] were made between 2013 and 2020.

On September 3rd, 2020, Facebook^[5] page Hondurancomedy posted the earliest found meme based on the comic (shown below, left), editing a version of the caption in Spanish. The post gained over 5,000 reactions and 1,700 shares in nine months.

In the following months, multiple versions of the meme based on the Spanish version of the comic were posted on Facebook (examples shown below, center and right). For example, on September 21st, 2020, Facebook^[6] page Dibujantes posted an edit that gained over 2,800 reactions and 7,300 shares.

The format remained contained within Spanish-speaking meme communities until May 2021, with an exception of out-of-format ironic use by Redditor^[17] Qadeeb1337 on April 19th, 2021. On May 19th, Facebook^[7] page Aesthetic Intellectual Meme Stash posted a version of the comic captioned in English for further use as a meme template, also posting^[8] the first meme based on it (shown below, left and right). The meme gained 36 reactions and six shares in two weeks, with a May 20th repost to Facebook^[9] page Dolphinger Center for Memetic Studies gaining additional 57 reactions.

Prior to June 2nd, 2021, Facebook page Autobaza 2.0 posted a version of the meme that went viral on Facebook (shown below, right). June 2nd reposts by Facebook^[10]^[11] pages The Romanian Cringe Channel and Bukureștiul gained over 790 and 250 reactions in one week, respectively.

On June 3rd, 2021, Redditor leansippers6 posted a version of the meme captioned "league of legends" that gained over 9,200 upvotes in the /r/LeagueOfMemes^[12] subreddit in one week (shown below).

The post went viral, with reposts on Facebook,^[13] Instagram,^[14] Twitter^[15] and Reddit.^[16] In early June 2021, the format gained a significant presence on all major social media platforms.