About

John Locke is a character played by Terry O'Quinn on the show Lost

The John Locke meme is basically a three pane image that goes

1. Something wonderful or a image of Euphoria
2. John Locke
3. Something pertaining to the first image, except ruined or made worse

The earliest known example of the John Locke 3-pane being referred to as "John Locke Ruins Everything" occurred on May 24th, 2007 on a 4chan-related Facebook group, where one Facebook user asked, "Was anyone present for the birth of the new "John Locke ruins everything" meme?"