Why Do People Make Fun Of 'Anarchist Supply Chains'? The Stick Figure Bean Drawing Explained

Everyone knows the common refrain about leftist infighting, but on X (formerly Twitter) there is perhaps no subsection of leftism that gets roasted more than anarchists do. Statists tankies, in particular, relish the opportunity to criticize the decentralized ideology, with jokes about the Anarchist Supply Chain emerging from one such dunk session.

If you've seen crude stick figure drawings referencing beans or other items traveling through an overly simplistic supply chain, here's where the joke originated.

What Sparked Jokes About 'Anarchist Supply Chains'?

Sometime in May 2022, various X (then Twitter) users engaged in online debates about how efficient an anarchist society could be, with some people raising concerns about how such a decentralized society could handle the difficult task of circumventing largely bureaucratized supply chains that create, among other things, life-saving medication like insulin.

X user @exiliaex received criticism along these lines on their post promoting anarchist thought, with them unable to adequately field a question about supply chains.

The rebuttal "why would I want to manage large supply chains" did not sit right with many people, and neither did @demonmamareal's proposal that one make "friends with chemistry degrees" or pick up a book on the topic oneself.

Various X users took note of the debate and the seemingly lackluster responses issued by anarchist proponents. X users @Paraglobalism posted a Never Ask A Woman Her Age meme while X user @yesvatore posted a crudely drawn image to represent @exiliaex's ideas of supply and demand.

How Did Jokes About Anarchist Supply Chains Spread?

Various other internet users riffed off of @yesvatore's crude MS Paint drawing, creating their own badly edited simplistic anarchist supply chain diagrams. X user @sock_dem even posted a meme referencing the infamous "movie theater bean incident."

Other people spun their own twist on the template, with X users @PghAutonomy and @spirit_cannibal making jokes mocking the inefficiency of an anarchist system by implying that people in such societies have to resort to scavenging and theft to survive.

---

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