About

Go Ahead, Justify This refers to a series of image macros based on a tweet by fugitive American system administration Edward Snowden. The tweet, which reads "Go Ahead, Justify This," captions an absurd and humorous picture that either comments on a real world event or simply makes a surreal joke.

Origin

On July 21st, 2016, Edward Snowden^[1] tweeted a news report on Charles Kinsey, an elderly African American and therapist, who was aiding an autistic patient, shot by police while lying on the ground with his hands visible. Snowden captioned the video "Go ahead, justify this," rhetorically asking for an explanation for police shooting an unarmed man. The tweet (shown below) received more than 7,000 retweets and 7,400 likes.

Spread

On October 6th, ShitpostBot 5000 ^[2] user PRINCESSPUDDING posted a template of the meme, including just Snowden's caption and a blank space for am image. The user titled the image "SnowdenJustify."

A week later, Facebook ^[3] user Shitposthony Botano posted the caption with a picture of YouTuber and meme reviewer Anthony Fantano.

On March 25th, 2017, Facebook^[4] user AshenKnightBoyd posted a statement from the video game website Kotaku, explaining an issue with the Dark Souls video game. The post (shown below, left) received more than 75 reactions and 16 shares in five months.

Five months later, Redditor ^[5] dankbob_memepants_ posted a variation of the meme featuring Jake Paul's YouTube subscriber numbers in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit under the thread "I see potential in this format." The post (shown below, right) received more than 730 points (97% upvoted) and 25 comments in 17 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References