man in sunglasses holding signs that read GET A BRAIN! MORANS GO USA

Get A Brain Morans

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

Get A BRAIN! MORANS

About

Get a Brain! Morans is an exploitable photograph of a man seen at a protest outside a Boeing plant in St Charles, Missouri in 2003. The infamously misspelled sign came to embody the "proud to be ignorant" stereotype sometimes placed on midwestern or southern Americans.

Origin

Get A BRAIN!tis MORANS USA


Though the man's identity is unknown, the photo was taken on March 23rd, 2003 outside of St. Louis, Missouri.[1] On that day, approximately 350 pro-peace activists got together with civilian weapons inspectors at the Boeing missile factory, asking to investigate the weapons of mass destruction being produced there. When they were denied access, the protestors sat in front of the main gate in protest. Approximately 75 pro-war supporters came to the factory with signs discouraging the sit-in. One of these supporters held the "Get a Brain Morans" sign. The photo was initially shared on the St. Louis Indymedia Center[2] in 2003.

Spread

Memewatch[3] caught on to the photo quickly, posting the image to their site on March 31st, 2003. The phrase was added to Urban Dictionary[4] on June 29th, 2004. By November of that year, Relentlessly Optimistic[5] posted the image, saying it was "ubiquitous," linking to the Google image search page, alluding to the fact that it was already widely spread. On September 9th, 2005, the first YTMND[6] was posted, with the Price is Right losing horn playing. That month, the Moran appeared in a photoshop series at Democratic Underground[7] forum.

HAISTEN'S RESS &AWNING CO Get A BRAIN! MORANS USA


Over the years, the photo was used widely on blog posts as a reaction image to something a poster considers to be idiotic, like this example from April 10th, 2007 on Stampede Blue.[8] In 2008, he was seen on Cracked[9] and Gizmodo.[10] The photo is also the example on the TV Tropes "Humans are Morons" page.[11]


It was rumored that the message was actually intended to critique Democratic Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia.[12]. On March 3rd, 2003, Moran spoke at an anti-war forum stating that the war was being pushed forward by the Jewish community.[13] He received much criticism for it and was called to resign by Jewish leaders. Other than personal blog posts and comments, there is no solid connection between the sign and the politician.

Usage


Get A BRAIN!tis MORANS USA

While "get a brain, morans" has become primarily associated with liberal criticism against pro-war activism, the image of the picket sign has been also used to criticize the long-time Virginia congressman Jim Moran (D) on various political forums and blogs like Democratic Underground[17], Death by Trolley[15] and Alarming News.[16]

Notable Examples

DON'T BE A MORAN BRAIN! MORANS vote FOR Me s.org VOTE ME FOR PREZUDANT Get A BRAIN! MORANS BRAIN! MORANS USA
Get A MORANIS MORANS SPELLING LCAN HAS,FREEDUMA BRAIN! MORANS 거


Search Interest

While "get a brain" itself has a common use, search for it has similar peaks to "get a brain morans" through April 2010. "Get a brain" had its first peak in April 2006,
"Get a brain morans" did not see much search traffic until January 2008.

External References

[1] Shii.org – Get A Brain Morans

[2] Internet Archive – The best of Stupid

[3] Memewatch (via Wayback Machine) – Morans

[4] Urban Dictionary – get a brain morans

[5] Relentlessly Optimistic (via Wayback Machine) – Get A BRAIN, Morans!

[6] YTMND – Moron/Moran

[7] Democratic Underground (via Wayback Machine) – Get a Brain, Morans! A Pictoral Essay (Image-heavy)

[8] Stampede Blue – Mel Kiper has you fooled, chump

[9] Cracked – The 25 Most Nonsensical Protest Signs

[10] Gizmodo – Toshiba Thinking About Blu-ray for Laptops

[11] TV Tropes – Humans are Morons

[12] Wikipedia – Jim Moran

[13] CNN – Lawmaker under fire for saying Jews support Iraq war

[15] Death by Trolley – He was making a pun!!

[16] Alarming News (via Wayback Machine) – Why I hate them

[17] Democratic Underground – Search results for 'Get a brain' and 'Jim Moran'

Recent Videos 1 total

Recent Images 71 total


Top Comments

TheStudio
TheStudio

"Get a Brain! Morans is an exploitable photo of a man photographed at a protest outside a Boeing plant in St Charles, Missouri. His misspelled sign represents the “proud to be ignorant” stereotype sometimes placed on midwestern Americans." That's a really weird spelling of Southern.

+4

+ Add a Comment

Comments (31)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Greetings! You must login or signup first!