A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics is a catchphrase built around a single question, 'do you regard these men with respect, or disgust?' paired with photos, GIFs, or video clips of people doing something1. The joke leans on the framing that your gut reaction to a rugged, mundane, or completely absurd image supposedly says something about your politics3.

The setup stays the same across every version. A clip or picture, plus a variant of the original wording. Parodies swap in film characters, historical photos, video game screenshots, and cartoon frames while keeping the deadpan phrasing intact2.

Grab an image or short video of a person, group, or character doing an activity, then post it with a variant of 'This [image/video] is a pretty good litmus test for politics: do you regard [these men / this man / etc.] with respect, or disgust?' The joke typically lands when the subject is either mundane, absurd, or deliberately ridiculous, since the caption's earnest framing clashes with what you actually see2.