Which Way Western Man

1978Catchphrase / political image macroactive

Also known as: Which Way American Man · Which Way Western Man

Which Way, Western Man? is a political image-macro catchphrase derived from William Gayley Simpson's 1978 book, presenting binary choices between tradition and perceived degeneracy.

"Which Way, Western Man?" is an internet slogan derived from the title of a 1978 white supremacist book by William Gayley Simpson. Online, the phrase is used in memes that present a binary choice between "tradition" and values deemed "degenerate" by the poster5. The meme gained worldwide attention in August 2025 when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's official X account posted a variation, "Which way, American man?", as part of an ICE recruitment campaign, drawing sharp criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and extremism researchers1.

culture war memessnowclone memesmanosphere memesco opted memes4chan memes

Overview

The meme takes the form of an image showing a figure at a fork in the road or crossroads, with signs or labels pointing toward two opposing paths. One path typically represents a return to traditional or conservative values, while the other depicts outcomes framed as cultural decline5. The caption reads some variation of "Which way, Western man?" The format reduces complex social and political issues into a stark binary, and the imagery often draws on vintage illustration styles, propaganda posters, or AI-generated art6.

While some users deploy the phrase casually or ironically, the slogan carries a specific ideological lineage rooted in white nationalism2. The memes frequently target LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants, and feminism as the "wrong" path5.

The phrase originates from *Which Way Western Man?*, a book written by William Gayley Simpson and first self-published in 1978 through his own Yeoman Press imprint in Cooperstown, New York4. Simpson was a former left-wing Christian activist and Franciscan who shifted toward Nietzschean philosophy and eventually white supremacist ideology4.

The book argues that "World Jewry" is conspiring to destroy Western civilization, advocates for the deportation of all Black people and Jewish people, and describes Christianity, communism, capitalism, and democracy as Jewish plots4. Simpson cites antisemitic texts including *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*4. The original edition runs 758 pages. William Luther Pierce, founder of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, was impressed by the book and distributed it through the organization's publishing arm4. Pierce advertised it alongside *Mein Kampf* as a book "every responsible, racially conscious White person must read"4.

A revised second edition of over 1,000 pages was published posthumously by National Vanguard Books in 2003, fulfilling a promise Pierce made to Simpson before Simpson's death in 19914. Despite the book's poor sales due to its extreme length, it influenced prominent white supremacist figures including John Tyndall, Ben Klassen, David Duke, and Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order4.

The phrase migrated to internet spaces in the 2010s, adopted as a meme format on platforms like 4chan and Telegram, where users paired the caption with fork-in-the-road imagery6.

Origin & Background

Platform
White supremacist publishing (book), 4chan / Telegram (meme format), X/Twitter (mainstream virality)
Key People
William Gayley Simpson, Unknown
Date
1978 (book), ~2010s (meme format), 2025 (mainstream breakout)

The phrase originates from *Which Way Western Man?*, a book written by William Gayley Simpson and first self-published in 1978 through his own Yeoman Press imprint in Cooperstown, New York. Simpson was a former left-wing Christian activist and Franciscan who shifted toward Nietzschean philosophy and eventually white supremacist ideology.

The book argues that "World Jewry" is conspiring to destroy Western civilization, advocates for the deportation of all Black people and Jewish people, and describes Christianity, communism, capitalism, and democracy as Jewish plots. Simpson cites antisemitic texts including *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*. The original edition runs 758 pages. William Luther Pierce, founder of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, was impressed by the book and distributed it through the organization's publishing arm. Pierce advertised it alongside *Mein Kampf* as a book "every responsible, racially conscious White person must read".

A revised second edition of over 1,000 pages was published posthumously by National Vanguard Books in 2003, fulfilling a promise Pierce made to Simpson before Simpson's death in 1991. Despite the book's poor sales due to its extreme length, it influenced prominent white supremacist figures including John Tyndall, Ben Klassen, David Duke, and Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order.

The phrase migrated to internet spaces in the 2010s, adopted as a meme format on platforms like 4chan and Telegram, where users paired the caption with fork-in-the-road imagery.

How It Spread

For years, "Which way, Western man?" circulated in far-right online spaces as a relatively niche dog whistle. The phrase appeared in memes across Telegram channels, 4chan boards, and fringe social media, typically presenting viewers with a choice between idealized traditionalism and what posters considered cultural decay. The format was well-known enough within extremist circles to be catalogued by hate-monitoring organizations.

The meme broke into mainstream consciousness on August 10, 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security's official X account posted "Which way, American man?" over a 1936 political cartoon titled "Uncle Sam at the Crossroads". The post was a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On August 13, the Anti-Defamation League issued a public response on X, calling it "the latest problematic ICE recruitment post" and noting the reference to Simpson's book, describing the author as "a white supremacist and antisemite".

The DHS post was not an isolated incident. A month earlier, the agency had posted "Remember your Homeland's Heritage" with both H's capitalized, a detail that both progressive commentators and X's own AI chatbot Grok identified as a possible reference to "HH," shorthand for "Heil Hitler". Other DHS posts during this period included imagery from John Gast's 1872 painting "American Progress," which depicts white settlers displacing Native Americans, captioned "A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending".

The White House X account later posted its own variation: "Which way, Greenland man?" alongside an image of sled dogs with Danish flags, with paths leading toward either a U.S. flag or Russian and Chinese flags. Multiple extremism researchers identified these posts as deliberate signals. Robert Futrell, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who has studied far-right movements for over two decades, said the phrasing connected to "movement rhetoric" and "a white supremacist canon".

Proud Boys members on Telegram circulated the DHS posts with comments like "Message received". Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, described the posts as "no longer dog whistles" but "bullhorns".

How to Use This Meme

The "Which Way, Western Man?" format typically works like this:

1

Find or create an image showing a figure at a crossroads, fork in the road, or decision point.

2

Label one path with something the poster considers positive (often framed as traditional values, strength, or cultural preservation).

3

Label the other path with something the poster opposes (often framed as decline, weakness, or cultural change).

4

Caption the image with "Which way, Western man?" or a localized variation like "Which way, American man?"

Cultural Impact

The meme's adoption by official U.S. government accounts in 2025 marked one of the most discussed examples of extremist internet rhetoric entering institutional communications. Six academics consulted by NBC News, all of whom had spent their careers studying extremism, identified the posts as references to far-right ideology connected to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push.

The ADL's criticism was particularly notable because the organization had been relatively measured in its criticism of the Trump administration, making its public objection stand out. The controversy drew coverage from major outlets including NBC News, NPR, Haaretz, CNN, and The Guardian.

The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles was flooded with inquiries after DHS used John Gast's "American Progress" painting in a related post. Museum director Stephen Aron described the painting as offering a "whitening vision of the West" that erases conflict and violence from westward expansion.

The episode also raised questions about the administration's broader social media strategy. The DHS and White House accounts had been posting a steady stream of meme-format content celebrating immigration enforcement, including an "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight" video and promotion of a detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz".

Full History

The path from obscure white nationalist text to mainstream political controversy spans nearly five decades. Simpson began writing in the 1970s, drawing on his rejection of Christianity and his adoption of biological racism. He joined Pierce's National Alliance and found his ideas championed within that network. The book's first print run was distributed by the National Alliance, and it was reissued multiple times: by the NA in 1980, by Willis Carto's antisemitic Noontide Press in 1986, and again by the NA in 1989. It was one of only four books directly sponsored by Pierce, alongside Pierce's own novels and *Serpent's Walk*.

In the book's contents, Simpson identifies Jews as "Enemy No. 1" and claims a "hard core within world Jewry," specifically the Rothschilds, conspired to take control of Europe and then the world. He promotes a new "European religion" to replace Christianity, which he calls "an alien, Oriental, Jewish infection". He advocates eugenics and racial segregation, arguing that the "Nordic" or "Aryan" race is biologically superior.

The phrase's jump to internet culture happened gradually. Far-right online communities adopted "Which way, Western man?" as a rhetorical framework for memes that stripped the book's ideology down to a simple visual binary. These memes circulated through platforms with minimal content moderation, building a visual language that could be read as innocent commentary by outsiders while signaling specific ideology to insiders.

The August 2025 DHS posting campaign marked an inflection point. The agency was in the midst of a massive hiring push, seeking over 10,000 new ICE agents fueled by a budget influx from Trump's tax and spending bill. The social media strategy accompanying this recruitment effort mixed retro-style Uncle Sam posters, patriotic artwork, and videos of armed agents conducting raids. Ryan Milner, a professor of communication at the College of Charleston, told NPR the approach "speaks to the people who enjoy the irreverence, who enjoy the cruelty, who enjoy the 'owning the libs'".

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin defended the posts, telling CNN that "Calling everything you dislike 'Nazi propaganda' is tiresome" and describing the Uncle Sam image as simply depicting America "at a crossroads, pondering which way America should go". White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to NPR's inquiries by stating: "The White House consistently posts banger memes".

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, argued the posts conjured a narrative "that we had a wonderful white civilization and culture that has been decimated by these people who don't belong here, who just happen to not be white people for the most part". The Labor Department also drew scrutiny for posting "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage," which critics compared to the Nazi slogan "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer".

Jessie Daniels, a professor of sociology at CUNY's Hunter College who has studied far-right extremism for over three decades, said there was "zero doubt" the posts were intended to signal allegiance to white supremacist ideology. The controversy highlighted how effectively internet meme culture could move extremist language into official government communications, blurring the line between ironic shitposting and sincere ideological signaling.

Fun Facts

The original book sold poorly, likely because of its extreme length at over 700 pages in the first edition and over 1,000 pages in the revised edition.

X's own AI chatbot Grok flagged one of the DHS posts as potentially containing white supremacist dog whistles, writing that the "HH capitalization … and a painting symbolizing white colonial expansion over Native lands mirrors known white supremacist dogwhistles".

Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order, credited Simpson's book as one of his key influences.

The book was one of only four titles directly sponsored by William Luther Pierce, who also authored *The Turner Diaries*.

Derivatives & Variations

"Which Way, American Man?"

— The DHS variation posted August 10, 2025, using a 1936 political cartoon of Uncle Sam at a crossroads as an ICE recruitment ad[3].

"Which Way, Greenland Man?"

— A White House X account variation showing sled dogs with Danish flags choosing between U.S. and Russian/Chinese flags, referencing territorial disputes over Greenland[1].

Casual/ironic versions

— Users apply the format to mundane decisions (food choices, lifestyle habits) as humor, though these still trade on the original template's structure[6].

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Way Western Man

1978Catchphrase / political image macroactive

Also known as: Which Way American Man · Which Way Western Man

Which Way, Western Man? is a political image-macro catchphrase derived from William Gayley Simpson's 1978 book, presenting binary choices between tradition and perceived degeneracy.

"Which Way, Western Man?" is an internet slogan derived from the title of a 1978 white supremacist book by William Gayley Simpson. Online, the phrase is used in memes that present a binary choice between "tradition" and values deemed "degenerate" by the poster. The meme gained worldwide attention in August 2025 when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's official X account posted a variation, "Which way, American man?", as part of an ICE recruitment campaign, drawing sharp criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and extremism researchers.

culture war memes snowclone memes manosphere memes co opted memes 4chan memes

Overview

The meme takes the form of an image showing a figure at a fork in the road or crossroads, with signs or labels pointing toward two opposing paths. One path typically represents a return to traditional or conservative values, while the other depicts outcomes framed as cultural decline. The caption reads some variation of "Which way, Western man?" The format reduces complex social and political issues into a stark binary, and the imagery often draws on vintage illustration styles, propaganda posters, or AI-generated art.

While some users deploy the phrase casually or ironically, the slogan carries a specific ideological lineage rooted in white nationalism. The memes frequently target LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants, and feminism as the "wrong" path.

The phrase originates from *Which Way Western Man?*, a book written by William Gayley Simpson and first self-published in 1978 through his own Yeoman Press imprint in Cooperstown, New York. Simpson was a former left-wing Christian activist and Franciscan who shifted toward Nietzschean philosophy and eventually white supremacist ideology.

The book argues that "World Jewry" is conspiring to destroy Western civilization, advocates for the deportation of all Black people and Jewish people, and describes Christianity, communism, capitalism, and democracy as Jewish plots. Simpson cites antisemitic texts including *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*. The original edition runs 758 pages. William Luther Pierce, founder of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, was impressed by the book and distributed it through the organization's publishing arm. Pierce advertised it alongside *Mein Kampf* as a book "every responsible, racially conscious White person must read".

A revised second edition of over 1,000 pages was published posthumously by National Vanguard Books in 2003, fulfilling a promise Pierce made to Simpson before Simpson's death in 1991. Despite the book's poor sales due to its extreme length, it influenced prominent white supremacist figures including John Tyndall, Ben Klassen, David Duke, and Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order.

The phrase migrated to internet spaces in the 2010s, adopted as a meme format on platforms like 4chan and Telegram, where users paired the caption with fork-in-the-road imagery.

Origin & Background

Platform
White supremacist publishing (book), 4chan / Telegram (meme format), X/Twitter (mainstream virality)
Key People
William Gayley Simpson, Unknown
Date
1978 (book), ~2010s (meme format), 2025 (mainstream breakout)

The phrase originates from *Which Way Western Man?*, a book written by William Gayley Simpson and first self-published in 1978 through his own Yeoman Press imprint in Cooperstown, New York. Simpson was a former left-wing Christian activist and Franciscan who shifted toward Nietzschean philosophy and eventually white supremacist ideology.

The book argues that "World Jewry" is conspiring to destroy Western civilization, advocates for the deportation of all Black people and Jewish people, and describes Christianity, communism, capitalism, and democracy as Jewish plots. Simpson cites antisemitic texts including *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*. The original edition runs 758 pages. William Luther Pierce, founder of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, was impressed by the book and distributed it through the organization's publishing arm. Pierce advertised it alongside *Mein Kampf* as a book "every responsible, racially conscious White person must read".

A revised second edition of over 1,000 pages was published posthumously by National Vanguard Books in 2003, fulfilling a promise Pierce made to Simpson before Simpson's death in 1991. Despite the book's poor sales due to its extreme length, it influenced prominent white supremacist figures including John Tyndall, Ben Klassen, David Duke, and Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order.

The phrase migrated to internet spaces in the 2010s, adopted as a meme format on platforms like 4chan and Telegram, where users paired the caption with fork-in-the-road imagery.

How It Spread

For years, "Which way, Western man?" circulated in far-right online spaces as a relatively niche dog whistle. The phrase appeared in memes across Telegram channels, 4chan boards, and fringe social media, typically presenting viewers with a choice between idealized traditionalism and what posters considered cultural decay. The format was well-known enough within extremist circles to be catalogued by hate-monitoring organizations.

The meme broke into mainstream consciousness on August 10, 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security's official X account posted "Which way, American man?" over a 1936 political cartoon titled "Uncle Sam at the Crossroads". The post was a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On August 13, the Anti-Defamation League issued a public response on X, calling it "the latest problematic ICE recruitment post" and noting the reference to Simpson's book, describing the author as "a white supremacist and antisemite".

The DHS post was not an isolated incident. A month earlier, the agency had posted "Remember your Homeland's Heritage" with both H's capitalized, a detail that both progressive commentators and X's own AI chatbot Grok identified as a possible reference to "HH," shorthand for "Heil Hitler". Other DHS posts during this period included imagery from John Gast's 1872 painting "American Progress," which depicts white settlers displacing Native Americans, captioned "A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending".

The White House X account later posted its own variation: "Which way, Greenland man?" alongside an image of sled dogs with Danish flags, with paths leading toward either a U.S. flag or Russian and Chinese flags. Multiple extremism researchers identified these posts as deliberate signals. Robert Futrell, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who has studied far-right movements for over two decades, said the phrasing connected to "movement rhetoric" and "a white supremacist canon".

Proud Boys members on Telegram circulated the DHS posts with comments like "Message received". Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, described the posts as "no longer dog whistles" but "bullhorns".

How to Use This Meme

The "Which Way, Western Man?" format typically works like this:

1

Find or create an image showing a figure at a crossroads, fork in the road, or decision point.

2

Label one path with something the poster considers positive (often framed as traditional values, strength, or cultural preservation).

3

Label the other path with something the poster opposes (often framed as decline, weakness, or cultural change).

4

Caption the image with "Which way, Western man?" or a localized variation like "Which way, American man?"

Cultural Impact

The meme's adoption by official U.S. government accounts in 2025 marked one of the most discussed examples of extremist internet rhetoric entering institutional communications. Six academics consulted by NBC News, all of whom had spent their careers studying extremism, identified the posts as references to far-right ideology connected to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push.

The ADL's criticism was particularly notable because the organization had been relatively measured in its criticism of the Trump administration, making its public objection stand out. The controversy drew coverage from major outlets including NBC News, NPR, Haaretz, CNN, and The Guardian.

The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles was flooded with inquiries after DHS used John Gast's "American Progress" painting in a related post. Museum director Stephen Aron described the painting as offering a "whitening vision of the West" that erases conflict and violence from westward expansion.

The episode also raised questions about the administration's broader social media strategy. The DHS and White House accounts had been posting a steady stream of meme-format content celebrating immigration enforcement, including an "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight" video and promotion of a detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz".

Full History

The path from obscure white nationalist text to mainstream political controversy spans nearly five decades. Simpson began writing in the 1970s, drawing on his rejection of Christianity and his adoption of biological racism. He joined Pierce's National Alliance and found his ideas championed within that network. The book's first print run was distributed by the National Alliance, and it was reissued multiple times: by the NA in 1980, by Willis Carto's antisemitic Noontide Press in 1986, and again by the NA in 1989. It was one of only four books directly sponsored by Pierce, alongside Pierce's own novels and *Serpent's Walk*.

In the book's contents, Simpson identifies Jews as "Enemy No. 1" and claims a "hard core within world Jewry," specifically the Rothschilds, conspired to take control of Europe and then the world. He promotes a new "European religion" to replace Christianity, which he calls "an alien, Oriental, Jewish infection". He advocates eugenics and racial segregation, arguing that the "Nordic" or "Aryan" race is biologically superior.

The phrase's jump to internet culture happened gradually. Far-right online communities adopted "Which way, Western man?" as a rhetorical framework for memes that stripped the book's ideology down to a simple visual binary. These memes circulated through platforms with minimal content moderation, building a visual language that could be read as innocent commentary by outsiders while signaling specific ideology to insiders.

The August 2025 DHS posting campaign marked an inflection point. The agency was in the midst of a massive hiring push, seeking over 10,000 new ICE agents fueled by a budget influx from Trump's tax and spending bill. The social media strategy accompanying this recruitment effort mixed retro-style Uncle Sam posters, patriotic artwork, and videos of armed agents conducting raids. Ryan Milner, a professor of communication at the College of Charleston, told NPR the approach "speaks to the people who enjoy the irreverence, who enjoy the cruelty, who enjoy the 'owning the libs'".

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin defended the posts, telling CNN that "Calling everything you dislike 'Nazi propaganda' is tiresome" and describing the Uncle Sam image as simply depicting America "at a crossroads, pondering which way America should go". White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded to NPR's inquiries by stating: "The White House consistently posts banger memes".

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, argued the posts conjured a narrative "that we had a wonderful white civilization and culture that has been decimated by these people who don't belong here, who just happen to not be white people for the most part". The Labor Department also drew scrutiny for posting "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage," which critics compared to the Nazi slogan "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer".

Jessie Daniels, a professor of sociology at CUNY's Hunter College who has studied far-right extremism for over three decades, said there was "zero doubt" the posts were intended to signal allegiance to white supremacist ideology. The controversy highlighted how effectively internet meme culture could move extremist language into official government communications, blurring the line between ironic shitposting and sincere ideological signaling.

Fun Facts

The original book sold poorly, likely because of its extreme length at over 700 pages in the first edition and over 1,000 pages in the revised edition.

X's own AI chatbot Grok flagged one of the DHS posts as potentially containing white supremacist dog whistles, writing that the "HH capitalization … and a painting symbolizing white colonial expansion over Native lands mirrors known white supremacist dogwhistles".

Robert Jay Mathews, leader of the neo-Nazi terror group The Order, credited Simpson's book as one of his key influences.

The book was one of only four titles directly sponsored by William Luther Pierce, who also authored *The Turner Diaries*.

Derivatives & Variations

"Which Way, American Man?"

— The DHS variation posted August 10, 2025, using a 1936 political cartoon of Uncle Sam at a crossroads as an ICE recruitment ad[3].

"Which Way, Greenland Man?"

— A White House X account variation showing sled dogs with Danish flags choosing between U.S. and Russian/Chinese flags, referencing territorial disputes over Greenland[1].

Casual/ironic versions

— Users apply the format to mundane decisions (food choices, lifestyle habits) as humor, though these still trade on the original template's structure[6].

Frequently Asked Questions