# Where Is Poor
Where Is Poor began as an uncredited Russian political cartoon showing an obese cigar-smoking man peering through binoculars at the poverty he claims not to see, while his gut hides a hungry panhandler at his feet. Redrawn copies circulated on the Russian imageboard Pikabu as early as August 2012, and English-speaking Reddit took hold of the exploitable in 2019 before a Russian VK revival drove it to peak visibility in early March 2022.
## Origin
Memepedia traces the cartoon to a political drawing by an unknown artist, originally captioned "Ну и где эта бедность?" (translated from Russian: "Well, where is this poverty?"), in which a millionaire looks for the poor through binoculars while a child sits unseen below his stomach[1]. The earliest documented appearance on the Russian imageboard Pikabu was posted on August 31, 2012, by which point the image was already circulating as a redrawn version rather than the untouched original[2].
- **Platform:** Pikabu (Russian imageboard) / Reddit and VK (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2012
## Overview
The joke works through one visual gag with endless variations. A heavyset character looks through binoculars for something he claims he cannot find, usually with the question "Where is X?" above his head, and the thing he wants is hidden by his own belly[1]. In the Russian original the character is a wealthy capitalist and the hidden object is a starving child, read as a jab at the rich ignoring the poor beneath their feet[1].
Postironic subreddits like r/okbuddyretard and r/comedyheaven lean on the format because the setup is so blunt that drawing attention to it becomes the whole joke[3]. Common edits replace the panhandler with a video game weapon, a lost Pokémon or a political ideal, and sometimes redraw the fat character himself as a cartoon or anime personality[4].
## How to Use
Editors typically keep the fat man and the binoculars but change the question text and the hidden object, often substituting both characters for a video game, anime or pop culture reference. A common convention is to keep the Russian or English "Where is X?" caption intact so the structure stays legible even when the subject is absurd[4].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Where Is Poor?
Where Is Poor is an exploitable image macro based on a Russian political cartoon in which an obese man asks "Where is poor?" through binoculars while his belly blocks a panhandler from view[1].
### Where did Where Is Poor come from?
The underlying image is a Russian political drawing by an unknown artist, with the earliest documented redrawn copy posted to the imageboard Pikabu on August 31, 2012[2].
### What does Where Is Poor mean?
The original cartoon mocks the wealthy pretending not to see poverty beneath their feet, with a cigar-smoking rich man unable to spot a starving child because of his own stomach[1].
### How do you use Where Is Poor?
Editors keep the fat man and the binoculars but change the question text and the hidden object, often substituting both characters for a video game or pop culture reference[4].
### Is Where Is Poor still popular?
Its biggest spike was a Russian VK revival in early March 2022 led by meme pages like Peplix[5], and the template is still used on English-language postironic subreddits[7].
## References
1. [https://memepedia.ru/nu-i-gde-eta-bednost/]()
2. [https://pikabu.ru/story/nu_i_gde_yeta_bednost_1519074]()
3. [https://www.reddit.com/r/comedyheaven/comments/c9m2ms/where_is_poor/]()
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddyretard/comments/nkrqvj/i_need_the_golden_scar_for_victor_royle/]()
5. [https://vk.com/wall-134304854_167239]()
6. [https://vk.com/wall-34223764_1441783]()
7. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/where-is-poor]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/where-is-poor
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library