# A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics

A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics is a Twitter catchphrase from November 2022 that pairs the question 'do you regard these men with respect, or disgust?' with images or videos of people doing various activities. It started with an oil well worker clip and quickly turned into a parody format across Twitter and Reddit.

## Overview
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 something[1]. The joke leans on the framing that your gut reaction to a rugged, mundane, or completely absurd image supposedly says something about your politics[3].

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 intact[2].

## How It Spread
Parodies started rolling in almost immediately. On November 20th, 2022, Twitter user @ViceApologist attached the caption to a clip from the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island, racking up over 3.6 million views, 3,000 retweets, and 47,300 likes in two days[2].

The format jumped platforms the same day. Redditor SirGiedonOfnirReal posted a Dark Souls version on /r/shittydarksouls that pulled over 850 upvotes[4]. Twitter user @SouthernAtlas paired a modified version of the caption with a historic photograph of The Clinton 12, and the post earned over 170 retweets and 1,800 likes in two days[5].

Different fandoms picked up the template through late November 2022, mixing gaming screenshots, film stills, and archival photos with the same deadpan wording[3].

## How to Use
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 see[2].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics?
It is a Twitter catchphrase that pairs the line 'do you regard these men with respect, or disgust?' with an image or video, usually for parody[1].

### Where did A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics come from?
Twitter user @erichhartmann posted the original wording on November 18th, 2022, over a clip of two oil well workers[1].

### What does A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics mean?
It parodies the idea that your instant reaction to a photo or video reveals your political leanings, so users pair the caption with unlikely subjects for comedic effect[3].

### How do you use A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics?
Post an image or short video of someone doing something, then attach a variant of the original caption so the earnest framing clashes with the content[2].

### Is A Pretty Good Litmus Test For Politics still popular?
The catchphrase peaked in November 2022 with viral parodies on Twitter and Reddit, including a Kong: Skull Island edit that hit 3.6 million views[2].

## References
1. [https://twitter.com/erichhartmann/status/1593799658047930374](<https://twitter.com/erichhartmann/status/1593799658047930374>)
2. [https://twitter.com/ViceApologist/status/1594445396021846016](<https://twitter.com/ViceApologist/status/1594445396021846016>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/a-pretty-good-litmus-test-for-politics](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/a-pretty-good-litmus-test-for-politics>)
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/shittydarksouls/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/shittydarksouls/>)
5. [https://twitter.com/SouthernAtlas](<https://twitter.com/SouthernAtlas>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/a-pretty-good-litmus-test-for-politics
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