# Anarcho Capitalism

Anarcho Capitalism, or Ancap, is a right-libertarian meme built around a black-and-yellow smiley face that gleefully privatizes every public service. It grew out of Reddit and 4chan communities in the late 2000s and locked in its comic format by 2016.

## Overview
Anarcho Capitalism, commonly shortened to Ancap, is a right-libertarian political meme built around the abolition of the state and its replacement by private property, voluntary contracts and unregulated markets[3]. Online it is instantly recognizable by its black-and-yellow color scheme, borrowed from the Swedish Anarkokapitalistisk Front flag, and by a smiley face mascot that shows up in most Ancap image macros[1].

The meme circles a running joke where every social service, from roads to police to courts, gets replaced by a private company in cartoonishly literal ways. Ancap comics usually depict the black-and-yellow smiley face cheerfully proposing dystopian free-market fixes to ordinary problems, with the humor coming from how far the punchlines push libertarian first principles[1]. The underlying philosophy draws on classical liberalism and the American individualist anarchist tradition of Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker and Murray Rothbard[3].

## How It Spread
Ancap picked up cultural furniture across the early 2010s. On March 18th, 2011, YouTuber Morrakiu uploaded a parody of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" rewritten around the movement's flag colors[2]. Later that year, on October 8th, 2011, the Anarcho-Capitalism Facebook page was created and eventually pulled in more than 67,000 likes[3]. On May 9th, 2012, the Learn Liberty YouTube channel published a Nigel Ashford lecture that became a common introductory link for newcomers[4].

The visual style locked in with the launch of the Anarchyball Facebook page on June 21st, 2013, which drew Polandball-style comics around anarchist factions[6]. Academic-flavored discussion moved to /r/AnCap101, created for less shitpost-heavy debate[7]. The mascot format hit critical mass on August 9th, 2016, when Redditor MemesThief posted a bundle of black-and-yellow smiley-face comics to /r/Anarcho_Capitalism[1]. The same day, a matching "Ancap Meme Thread" was posted on 4chan's /pol/ board, and by that month iFunny already hosted more than 2,300 images under the #ancap tag[3].

## How to Use
Ancap image macros typically pair the black-and-yellow smiley face with a caption in which a public service is privatized to an absurd degree, like a toddler being billed for using a sidewalk. The joke works whether the reader is a self-identified libertarian celebrating the punchline or a critic mocking it, which is why the same templates get shared across pro and anti-Ancap pages[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Anarcho Capitalism?
Anarcho Capitalism is a right-libertarian meme and political ideology that argues for replacing the state entirely with private property, voluntary contracts and free markets[3].

### Where did Anarcho Capitalism come from?
Its online presence started with a 2007 Urban Dictionary entry by user Robin d'Hood[5], followed by the /r/Anarcho_Capitalism subreddit launched on November 18th, 2008[1].

### What does Anarcho Capitalism mean?
It refers to a stateless society organized around private property and unregulated markets, drawing on the tradition of Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker and Murray Rothbard[3].

### How do you use Anarcho Capitalism?
The meme format pairs a black-and-yellow smiley face with captions that privatize public services in exaggerated ways, a template popularized by MemesThief's 2016 Reddit post[1].

### Is Anarcho Capitalism still popular?
It is a classic political meme with active communities on /r/Anarcho_Capitalism and /r/AnCap101, though its peak visual output was around 2016 when iFunny already hosted over 2,300 tagged images[3].

## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarcho_Capitalism/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarcho_Capitalism/>)
2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r99Ae6gmgg](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r99Ae6gmgg>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anarcho-capitalism](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/anarcho-capitalism>)
4. [https://www.youtube.com/user/LearnLiberty](<https://www.youtube.com/user/LearnLiberty>)
5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Anarcho%20Capitalism](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Anarcho%20Capitalism>)
6. [https://www.facebook.com/anarchyball/](<https://www.facebook.com/anarchyball/>)
7. [https://www.reddit.com/r/AnCap101/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/AnCap101/>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/anarcho-capitalism
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