They Brainwashed You

Submission 11,203

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

About

They Brainwashed You refers to an exploitable template of two restroom icons standing next to each other with one saying "They brainwashed you" and the other responding with "Really?," alluding that the other figure is the one who's actually brainwashed. Meme creators object label the two figures with contrasting symbols, originally centered on wokeness versus conservative values. The template originates from Spanish-speaking and Brazilian meme circles on Facebook in 2019.

Origin

On November 21st, 2019, Spanish-speaking Facebook^[1] page Memes Bautistas Cristianos posted an image that is the original They Brainwashed You meme, instead reading, "Te Lavaron El Celebro… / ¿Te Parece?" Over the course of three years, the meme received roughly 4,400 reactions (shown below).

Spread

The next day, November 22nd, 2019, the Brazilian Facebook^[2] page Catholicum Regnum reposted the meme, translating it to Portuguese. The meme (shown below) received over 400 reactions and roughly 2,400 shares over the course of three years.

Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking meme creators started remixing the template going into the rest of 2019. For instance, Facebook^[3] user Johann Garcia posted an ironic iteration of the meme, earning over 550 likes in three years (shown below). On November 28th, 2019, Twitter^[4] page brazilianboomer reposted the meme, earning roughly 2,300 likes over the course of three years.

The template received increased usage in early 2021 after it was translated into English. The first page to do so was Facebook^[5] page The Barony, which posted the translation on January 16th, 2021 (shown below). Over the course of one year, it received five reactions.

On February 20th, 2021, Instagram^[6] page woodworkingirony posted a remix of the template, inserting an ironic wood-working reference and earning over 250 likes (shown below, left). On June 30th, Redditor Agent-Monkey posted a version to /r/OkBuddyRetard, ^[7] earning roughly 3,400 upvotes over the course of eight months (shown below, right).