What Is The 'Political Compass'? The Political Memes Targeting Everyone Explained

Political compass memes are an everlasting online classic. Ever since the political compass started circulating online, people started using it as a basis for their online debates, especially when targeting the other side of any political argument.

These political compass posts are often controversial, politically charged and pretty entertaining at times too. Here's everything you need to know about the format, from how to read the political compass to how to make a political compass meme yourself.

What Is The Political Compass?

The political compass is a chart meant to represent the political spectrum. It places people somewhere on the chart based on their political beliefs, meaning everyone lies somewhere between authoritarian and libertarian, and everyone lies somewhere between economic-left and economic-right.

This creates four sections: authoritarian left, authoritarian right, libertarian right and libertarian left. Some people also consider those towards the middle of the chart part of a separate "centrist" section, but in most cases, these four are the main political groups that internet users identify with.

Pace News Limited trademarked the term "political compass" in 2001. There's a website called Politicalcompass.org, where people can find out where they lie on the political spectrum. Over the years, it's caught on as a very widely-used way to visualize politics.

While the visual may make politics seem more palatable, and it's interesting to find out where one lies on the spectrum, there is a downside. Wherever someone falls on the spectrum, they wind up lumped in with the negative stereotypes of that particular group, regardless of where exactly they lie on the chart. This is why there are so many political compass memes.

How Are Political Compass Memes Used?

Often, they're meant to bash one particular political alignment. They can appear as traditional image macros, but sometimes have a designation like "economic left" in the caption, and sometimes are overlayed with the associated color, too.

Other times, they use the political compass itself as a template for their memes, usually using cutout images to show reactions to something from each part of the spectrum. They usually spark a lot of debate online, too, which is why they're not always welcome in typical meme forums and have their own subreddit, /r/PoliticalCompassMemes.

Sometimes, it's just a take on how everyone is the same in the end; every side thinks the other side is wrong, no matter what. Other times, people all agree on the same issues, surprisingly — though this is rare, these memes can sometimes bring people together instead of dividing everyone.

For the full history of the political compass, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.