'This is the future the liberals want' is the meme we need
What's the future that liberals want? We finally may have an answer.
The US presidential elections of 2016 were fought more on the internet than on ground. And nothing could have been more internet-esque in the elections than the continuous and almost toxic usage of a meme that was once rather harmless — Pepe.
The rise of the right-wing, mixed with a culture of trolling and edgy internet warlords resulted in a change in the international political discourse that we may never be able to recover from.
The world is now filled with hate-spewing flag-bearers of the ultra-nationalist right who think feminism is cancerous, who confuse threats with freedom of expression and use words like “cuck” to refer to anyone taking a liberal humanitarian, and usually a contrarian (in their view) stand.
The world now has to deal with an inexhaustible supply of hatred for tolerance, freedom and general progressiveness. But sometimes it is from the ashes of inflamed and mindless hatred like this is born a counter- reaction — a wholesome liberal meme that wishes for a happier future.
It all started with one photograph.
A post shared by SubwayCreatures (@subwaycreatures) on
An Instagram page called SubwayCreatures shared a rather beautiful photo of a woman in full niqab sitting next to a transgendered woman in the New York subway. The photo is a perfect example of peaceful coexistence, especially between two cultures that are as different from each other as possible. While one person comes from a religion that asks for one hundred per cent modesty, the other belongs to a culture of open flamboyance, both of which deserve equal space in a modern progressive society.
Of course, there are those, especially from the intolerant right, who did not find anything either peaceful or hopeful in this particular photo.
Enter a 4chan inspired alt-right Twitter handle with a considerable following called /pol/News Network. The account derives its name from the /pol/ messaging board on 4chan that likes to discuss political news, with just the right amount of overdose of political incorrectness, alt-right views and edginess that borders on plain rude.
The account tweeted the same photo with a caption that read, “This is the future that liberals want”.
This is the future that liberals want. pic.twitter.com/QwterpqQbH
— /pol/ News Network (@polNewsNetwork1) March 1, 2017
While it is, in fact, true. This is what liberals want. The tweet came with a negative connotation (context: check the other tweets from this account), and somehow insinuated that both, wearing a full niqab or subscribing to a non-binary gender identity, is somehow not how the future of humanity is supposed to look like.
Both these ideals are, of course, shared by a majority of Trump supporters, who are rabidly Islamophobic and intolerant of non-binary identification of gender and transgender rights. And while this is the kind of reactions one has now got accustomed to witnessing, this occasion saw people rising to challenge the regressive thought.
It began with simply accepting that, yes, this is what liberals want the future to look like:
@polNewsNetwork1 Sign me up!
— Chris Rollins (@chrisrollins_) March 1, 2017
@polNewsNetwork1 two people calmly sitting on a bus. oh the horror! I thought it was the SJWs who were supposed to be easily offended ????
— Sunny Burn ☀ (@sunweasel) March 1, 2017
@polNewsNetwork1 this is good
— Emil Seidel ???? (@mayorseidel) March 2, 2017
@polNewsNetwork1 oooo heaven is a place on earth
— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) March 2, 2017
One where people mind their damn business & don't harm others for being different? Affirmative. This is the present that I want. https://t.co/uP92YpGwHk
— Dwayne David Paul (@DwayneDavidPaul) March 1, 2017
Look a them minding their own business and coexisting in peace. https://t.co/eKQoJj0K48
— cici (@melaninporn) March 2, 2017
Two people peacefully riding public transportation?Diabolical. https://t.co/d2gOL0mmVC
— DarkSkintDostoyevsky (@daniecal) March 1, 2017
And then it moved forward to envisioning what else a liberal future would look like:
this is the future that liberals want pic.twitter.com/zVGLNjt35z
— Conor Battle (@conorbattle) March 3, 2017
this is the future that liberals want pic.twitter.com/9yx6kee689
— Bob Vulfov (@bobvulfov) March 2, 2017
Even the transwoman in the photo, Gilda Wabbit, has something pretty amazing to say.
I'd like to see a future where a woman can wear a niqab on the train and not have people make assumptions about her on a radio program!
— Gilda Wabbit (@gildawabbit) March 3, 2017
And now you have a war cry. Every time the edgelords of the interwebs try and decide for others why being progressive and liberal is toxic, you can just calmly say, "This is the future that liberals want."