Soldiers Holding Up Society

Submission 36,842

Part of a series on Object Labeling. [View Related Entries]

About

Soldiers Holding Up Society refers to the painting "The Price of Peace" by British artist Brian Jay. The metaphorical painting, which depicts British soldiers supporting a peaceful life with their bodies, has been used in remembrance posts since 2012 and gained popularity as an object labeling meme in 2018, particularly as a way to highlight that someone or something unnoticeably plays a crucial role in a certain success.

Origin

Before June 2012, British Cornish-based artist Brian Jay created an unnamed painting that metaphorically depicted fallen British soldiers holding up peaceful life with their bodies.^[1] The landscape depicted in the picture is based on the British seaside town of St Ives. After the painting was used in November 13th, 2014, YouTube^[2] video commemorating St Ives soldiers who died in the World Wars, Jay named the painting "The Price of Peace."^[1]

The earliest known post online post containing the image was made Tumblr user pestenkerani (post no longer avaiable) before June 29, 2012. On June 29, 2012, a blog entry about the painting was posted on Turkish website Blog Arti.^[3] On the same day, Turkish Facebook account Rabbim Affını İstiyorum posted the image.

Spread

Starting in 2012, the image gained significant spread online, often posted by users in various countries on the respective Memorial Days. For example, on May 27th, 2013, Redditor^[4] frostbite225 posted the image to /r/MURICA subreddit. On November 11th, 2015, Twitter^[5] user @KierenMcmahon posted the image with #LestWeForget hashtag. On May 6th, 2016, LiveInternet^[6] user lira lara used the image to illustrate a post about Jewish expulsions.

Before February 15th, 2013, an unknown user created the first meme based on the format. On February 15th, 2013, the image was reposted to 9GAG,^[7] where it received over 37,800 points in seven years (shown below, left). On February 5th, 2016, a reedited version of the image was posted on Sott^[8] (shown below, right).

On March 24th, 2018, Redditor^[9] _Freedom2020 posted the earliest known object labeling meme based on the painting to /r/dankmemes, with the post gaining over 36,500 upvotes in six months (shown below). A March 25th repost to /r/funny^[10] received over 17,100 upvotes in the same period.

The format saw limited use on Reddit through 2018 until spiking in popularity in late November that year. For example, a November 17th, 2018, repost by Redditor^[11] stiffystephan received over 4,500 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). A November 30th /r/dankmemes^[12] post by an unknown user received over 9,400 upvotes in the same period (shown below, right).

In the following month, the format maintained popularity on Reddit, with multiple notable posts appearing in /r/dankmemes, /r/memes and others subreddits, as well as on other online platforms such as Instagram.