Schizophrenia Rides / Schizo Whips

Submission 9,023

Part of a series on Schizoposting. [View Related Entries]

About

Schizophrenia Rides, also known as Schizo Whips, Schizo Rides, Schizophrenia Whips, Schizophrenia Cars or Schizo Cars, is a slang term referring to a type of car, van or truck that is covered in writing and objects which relay conspiracy theories, religious manifestos, alt-right and alt-left political beliefs, as well as any other topics likened to schizophrenic hallucinations (such as gangstalking). Pictures of schizophrenia rides trended across social media in the early 2020s, starting on Reddit in 2018 and 2019 with the creation of the /r/InfowarriorRides and /r/SchizophreniaRides subreddits. The term "schizophrenia rides" later shifted to "schizo whips" due to virality on Twitter and TikTok. The trend and concept are notably associated with schizoposting as a whole.

Origin

On March 23rd, 2018, the /r/InfowarriorRides^[1] subreddit was created as a place for Redditors to share pictures of vehicles with text written all over them, likening the text to fans of the Info Wars podcast with Alex Jones who is known to discuss conspiracy theories.

Inspired by the /r/InfowarriorRides subreddit, on April 12th, 2019, the /r/SchizophreniaRides^[2] subreddit was then created for the purpose of sharing similar vehicles without the Info Wars association. The first post to the /r/SchizophreniaRides^[3] was uploaded on April 12th, 2019, by Redditor pianoflames, earning over 80 upvotes in four years (shown below). The post was a crosspost from /r/InfowarriorRides where it earned over 260 upvotes in the same time period.

Spread

The /r/SchizophreniaRides subreddit continued to gain engagement with its posts in 2019, 2020 and 2021. For instance, on November 7th, 2019, Redditor LULAARO posted a car to /r/SchizophreniaRides,^[4] gaining roughly 1,600 upvotes in four years (shown below, left). On January 16th, 2021, Redditor t_a_6847646847646476 posted a picture of a car to /r/SchizophreniaRides^[5] that had a back windshield decal reading, "SCHIZOPHRENIA WAS INVENTED!" The post received roughly 1,900 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).

Starting in 2022, the term "schizophrenia rides" began competing with the term "schizo whips," predominantly started by Twitter^[6] user nutnutnutnate on August 5th, 2022, when they tweeted four images of schizophrenia rides with the caption, "schizophrenia whips actually go hard," earning roughly 20,800 likes in five months (shown below).

The term "schizo whips" was then referenced on TikTok in late 2022. For instance, on November 3rd, 2022, TikToker^[7] spinalcordsword posted a photo slideshow with schizo whips, gaining roughly 21,600 plays and 2,600 likes in two months. On January 25th, 2023, TikToker^[8] spinalcordsword posted another "schizo whips" slideshow, gaining roughly 16,100 plays and 3,100 likes in one day.