Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

it always baffled me with this meme, why is israel a cube? all the other countries are balls. yeah another country is a triangle but that's because it has a traiangular flag.
i asked people in the meme page and nobody answered so maybe you could help…

Not sure. Anybody more familiar with images/stereotypes/political history of Israel want to chime in? Now I'm curious.

For reference:

I think I put some perspective in this, being Jewish.

Israel, since its independence, has been constantly attacked on all sides by its belligerent Arab neighbors, and have thusly created the best defensive force on the planet, the IDF. The army has universal conscription, meaning that all able-bodied men and women must serve. It's kind of needed, due to the small population, but it has caused the Israeli culture to sort of focus on survival and self defense.

That's why we're a box.

well i do know that the polandball sterotype of israel that it's a religiuos bigot and enclosed in itself. that would kinda make sence…

still, haveing i donnu, an army helmet or someting like that.

by the way fridge, IDF stands for israel DEFENCE force. they are made for defence not for offence… =\

I did a search on "Israel Cube" (without quotes, natch) and found nothing particularly enlightening. It's a total stretch, but do you suppose it has anything to do with tefillin?

Edit to add: Also possibly related? http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/22/c_13888122.htm

But a sphere is a much more stronger shape than a box…

True, but not many people build spherical forts, do they?

ED says:

After Polandball became a successful meme, the moderators replaced the flags indicating the nationality of the posters on /int/ by flagballs (except for Kazakhstan, Israel and Singapore Tringapore, they get a brick, a hyper cube and a triangle).

Although that doesn't really explain why.

BTW, Singapore does not have a triangular flag, so that one's a mystery to me as well. (Nepal is the only country in the world with a non-rectangular flag , and they are depicted as that unusual shape.)

I also came across a site claiming that Great Britain should be depicted as a cylinder, but I've never seen this, so I don't know what they're talking about.

Well, depends on the fort and the era I guess.

Someone on this page makes the claim that Israel was re-imagined as a cube after the first comic that Olivia posted became popular.