Diogenes Posting

2015greentext / image macroclassic

Diogenes Posting is the internet practice of writing greentext stories and philosopher-panel memes about Ancient Greek Cynic Diogenes of Sinope, casting him as the original shitposter of Western thought. It started on 4chan's /his/ board in October 2015 and jumped to Tumblr and Reddit through 2016 into 2018, powered by real anecdotes like the plucked-chicken argument and the Alexander sunlight line.

Overview

Diogenes Posting is the practice of building greentext stories and philosopher-panel memes around the Ancient Greek Cynic Diogenes of Sinope, staged as if his real biographical anecdotes were proto-4chan shitposts. The most recycled bit is the "Behold the Man" argument, where Diogenes plucked a chicken and dropped it in Plato's Academy to refute Plato's definition of a human as a "featherless biped"1.

In captioned philosopher panels he is drawn as the "chad" answer opposite a "virgin" Plato, with posters picking a real Diogenes story or dropping him into panels where he answers a modern debate with the bluntest, most obscene reply. The character owes his meme popularity to a mix of genuine ancient bite and the /his/ tradition of naming historical figures as "based" or "the original shitposter"3.

How It Spread

The bit jumped off 4chan in 2016 via Tumblr. On October 1, 2016, user librarianarchy retold the "Behold the Man" story in a short post that gathered more than 205,000 notes over the following two and a half years. On January 5, 2017, user nonlinear-nonsubjective replied to a Tumblr thread arguing that a coconut could count as a mammal by dropping the plucked-chicken anecdote, and that reply rolled past 491,000 notes1. Both posts were reposted to Reddit soon after.

By August 2018 the philosopher-panel format took off on r/animemes, where Plato, Aristotle and Diogenes gave takes on divisive topics and Diogenes was usually drawn as the weeaboo of the three3. Explainer videos on YouTube also fed the trend, including a well-viewed Sam O'Nella Academy clip on the philosopher that handed newcomers the source anecdotes2.

How to Use This Meme

Posters typically pick a real Diogenes story, like the plucked chicken or telling Alexander the Great to stop blocking his sunlight, and stage it as a greentext or a labelled philosopher panel. A common convention is drawing him as the "chad" or the weeaboo opposite a "virgin" Plato and having him answer a modern discourse question with the bluntest, most obscene reply1.

Frequently Asked Questions