What is Become Ungovernable?

It is an image macro format where a picture of someone or something breaking a rule of physics, biology, or common sense is captioned with the anarchist slogan "Become Ungovernable".

Where did Become Ungovernable come from?

The phrase started as a real protest slogan tied to Kali Akuno's Ungovernable 2017 project and Women's March signs in early 2017, then got repurposed as an ironic caption on Facebook starting in 2018.

What does Become Ungovernable mean?

In its original political use it meant refusing to comply with state authority, especially the incoming Trump administration. In meme form it strips out the politics and celebrates any small, absurd act of defiance.

How do you use Become Ungovernable?

Take a photo of a person, animal, or object doing something that visibly ignores a norm, like a penguin with a machete or a candy bar cut sideways, and label it with the caption.

Is Become Ungovernable still popular?

The format peaked between 2020 and 2021 across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter meme pages, with viral posts from accounts like shirtless_gatorade and Libertarian Candidates, and it is still recognized as a classic caption template.

Become Ungovernable

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Published August 1, 2026

Become Ungovernable is a protest slogan turned image macro caption used to label pictures of people, animals, or objects breaking basic rules of physics, biology, or common sense. It jumped from anarchist and left-wing protest signs in 2016-2017 into a mainstream parody format by 20203.

catchphrase memes protest memes image macro memes absurdist humor memes co opted memes

Overview

Become Ungovernable, sometimes shortened to Be Ungovernable, started life as an anarchist and far-left protest slogan before flipping into a parody image macro caption1. In its meme form, the phrase is slapped over a photo of a person, animal, or object doing something that ignores physics, common sense, or basic social rules, a chocolate bar cut sideways, a penguin holding a machete, a shovel launched from a longbow3.

The joke works because the caption treats a small act of chaos as a serious political stance. Pairing anarchist rhetoric with absurd images drained the slogan of literal meaning and turned it into shorthand for gleefully doing the wrong thing on purpose3. Libertarian and boogaloo-adjacent Facebook pages helped popularize the format between 2019 and 20213.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Protest signs / Tumblr (early spread), Facebook (image macro format)

Date

2017

The straight-faced political version of the slogan appeared in blog posts and reporting around far-left organizing in late 2016 and early 20173. Organizer Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson launched an Ungovernable 2017 project on election night 2016, framing noncompliance with the incoming Trump administration as a political program1 2. On January 21st, 2017, protesters at the Oakland Women's March carried a sign reading "Become ungovernable," and photos of it circulated widely online3. Two weeks later, on February 4th, 2017, Tumblr user sproutdistro posted a "Be Ungovernable" poster that pulled over 1,200 likes and reblogs4.

How It Spread

The pivot from earnest slogan to meme happened on Facebook. On September 4th, 2018, the page Vacate the State posted what is documented as the earliest known image macro built around the caption3. Before April 20th, 2019, the now-defunct page Just Another White Guy Who Likes Guns paired the slogan with a photo of Killdozer, the armored bulldozer used by Marvin Heemeyer in his 2004 Colorado rampage, and Libertarian Party Tubular Caucus reposted it that April to over 370 reactions5. By June 2019 the Killdozer version was circulating as its own template3.

The fully absurd branch of the meme showed up in early 2020. The now-defunct Facebook page Boogaloo Wholesale Store captioned a photo of a Hershey's bar with a chunk cut out sideways with the phrase, and on January 10th, 2020, iFunny user TheGuylam reposted the image, racking up more than 30,900 smiles inside a year6. In May 2020, two vaporwave edits using the caption spread through Instagram page chipotlecookie and Facebook page Masshole Moto3.

By the second half of 2020 the format was everywhere: an edited penguin holding a machete went viral in August, and the shovel-fired-from-a-longbow image kept getting reposted3. Facebook page Libertarian Candidates leaned into the trend starting February 10th, 2021, with posts pulling more than 1,600 reactions, and Instagram account shirtless_gatorade got over 47,700 likes on its own Become Ungovernable post the next day7.

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How to Use This Meme

The template is loose. People typically take a photo of someone or something breaking a minor rule of decorum, biology, or physics, cutting a candy bar the wrong way, an animal wielding a weapon, an object used for the opposite of its purpose, and add the caption "Become Ungovernable" or "Be Ungovernable" in plain text3. The gag lives in the mismatch between the grandeur of the slogan and the pettiness of the act, so subtler images often land harder than gory or extreme ones.