About

"Consider the Following…" is an expression often used to preface an argument of two opposing viewpoints on discussion forums and image boards.

Origin

The phrase became popularized through the 1990s PBS science educational program Bill Nye the Science Guy^[1] in a recurring feature segment called "Consider the Following," in which Bill Nye presents a series of scientific facts on a particular subject or topic.

The earliest known colloquial use of the phrase on 4chan can be traced back to a reply comment in an /a/ (anime) board thread posted on July 18th, 2009. In the post, the commenter

I surely can sire.
But i can't handle your obvious attempts to kill /a/.
You sire, are cancer.
Please consider the following 2 options.

1: Kill yourself
2: Contribute

I appreciate your cooperation.

Spread

Throughout 2010, the term continued to gain popular usage on 4chan,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} typically paired with a photograph of Bill Nye or a popular fictional character pointing to the right side of the image, and by early 2011, it had been as used as the title of several posts on Reddit^[9] and Tumblr^[2]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References