I Have Been Drafted

Submission 9,203

Part of a series on Demotivational Posters. [View Related Entries]

About

I Have Been Drafted refers to a catchphrase often used in Demotivational Tunnel -style memes which imagine various people and fictional characters being drafted into the Vietnam War and other conflicts. The format saw moderate use in the second half of 2019, seeing a surge in popularity in early 2020 in connection to World War III memes which followed the Death of General Qasem Soleimani.

Origin

On August 27th, 2019, Redditor^[1] oracle9297 posted a demotivational tunnel meme depicting SpongeBob SquarePants character Squidward looking away to the /r/bruhmoment subreddit. The caption announced that Squidward had been drafted into the Vietnam War.

Spread

In the following weeks, the image has been reposted on Reddit,^[2] Instagram and iFunny^[3] multiple times, with no known variations of the meme appearing until mid-October 2019. On October 12th, 2019, iFunny^[4] user Wet_Memes reposted the earliest known derivative meme based on the Weezer's Blue Album Cover made by an unknown author (shown below, left). A Lego Yoda meme of unknown origin was reposted to iFunny^[5] on October 23rd and to /r/memes^[6] subreddit on October 24th (shown below, right).

Starting in late October 2019, the format gained moderate popularity in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit. For example, an October 31st post by Redditor^[7] ham055 received over 470 upvotes in two months (shown below, left). A November 9th repost of a Walter meme made by Instagram^[11] user @qooter by Redditor^[8] TheRealJujuBB gained over 1,900 upvotes in the same period (shown below, right).

In early January 2020, the format saw a surge in popularity on iFunny and in /r/okbuddyretard in connection to the 2020 Iranian-American Conflict and the following influx of World War III memes. For example, a January 3rd edit of the original meme by iFunny^[9] user Resentment received over 1,700 smiles (shown below, left). A January 7th Ironic Big Chungus meme by Redditor^[10] Acutal_Meme gained over 2,200 upvotes in two days (shown below, right).