Diogenes Posting

2015greentext / image macroclassic

Published August 17, 2026

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.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /his/ (viral spread on Tumblr and Reddit)
Date
2015

The trend started on October 31, 2015, the same day 4chan opened its History & Humanities board, /his/3. In an early philosophy thread that day, posters called Diogenes "based," and follow-up threads across the next week labeled him "the original shitposter" and "/ourguy/." By November his image was being requested as board mascot material, and the "chad Diogenes vs virgin Plato" shorthand had settled in among /his/ regulars.

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