About

“Freedom Ain’t Free” is an idiomatic expression used to honor the service of U.S. military members for defending what many consider to be core American values, such as liberal democracy and individualism. On 4chan, the phrase is commonly associated with an image macro featuring an overly proud Murican version of Le American Bear combined with a satirical caption ranting about American exceptionalism and conservative, right-wing values, which has also spawned several derivatives based on the snowclone "X ain't free…"

Origin

The expression "Freedom Is Not Free"^[2] was first coined in the 1980s by retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, Walter Hitchcock, of New Mexico Military Institute. While it remains unknown where or when the original image (shown below) was first posted, the earliest archived example can be found 4chan’s /tv/ board in April 13th, 2013^[1].

The image featured this accompanying text:

Freedom Ain't free. The tree of liberty and freedom gotta be litterd with the blood of Patriots. Barack HUSSEIN obama aka "B. O" is not my presidnet. he is Islamic gommunist and probbaly kenyan as well :DD. ADAM and eve not adam and STEVE ok. praise jesus.

Le American Bear

The character depicted in the image macro is derived from "Le American Bear," a caricature embodying the negative stereotypes of Americans that spun off from a Finnish cartoon character known as Spurdo Spärde, which in itself is a poorly drawn version of the popular meme Pedobear that gained international notoriety in the late 2000s.

Spread

On 4chan, the image became popular and various derivatives were created by the users. Many of them depict caricatures representing political and religious views, both modern and historical. The image macro series has grown especially popular on 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board, where it has been posted approximately 247 times, as of June 2015.^[3]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Note: This is the search interest for the phrase "Freedom Ain't Free," which has many other applications, including being the title of a popular song by Lupe Fiasco.

External References