About

I Support The Current Thing refers to a catchphrase often paired with the NPC Wojak character to mock people on social media who change their profile pictures to include symbols or filters that show support for a particular movement or ideology, which some deem as slacktivism. The most common ideologies made fun of relate to normie culture, MAGA culture and politically correct or PC culture. The phrase took off en masse in early 2022 amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict when notable people like Elon Musk tweeted about it and it was incorporated in image macros.

Origin

The earliest known posting of the NPC Wojak badge made with the catchphrase "I support the current thing" was tweeted by Twitter^[1] user empty_banks on March 1st, 2022, where over the course of 13 days it received roughly 6,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

On March 1st, 2022, it then was reposted by multiple Twitter users, the most notable being Twitter^[2] user ThomasEWoods whose repost received roughly 22,500 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, left). Also on the 1st, the Instagram^[3] account fakenewsnetwork used the catchphrase within the crowd of NPC Wojaks template to represent groupthink, earning roughly 3,700 likes in 13 days (shown below, right).

On March 1st, the Twitter^[4] account RogueScholarPr posted an exploited version of the badge, inserting in signifiers of LGBTQ+ culture and the Ukrainian flag in regards to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, earning roughly 3,000 likes in 13 days (shown below, left). Despite this being the earliest known posting, it is most likely not the origin. Also on the 1st, Twitter^[5] user alBTCorn posted a version that replaced the word "support" with "oppose," earning over 60 likes in 13 days (shown below, right).

On March 14th, 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reposted the image (shown above, left) to his Twitter,^[6] earning roughly 379,500 likes in 24 hours. This prompted people like Twitter^[7] user RomanianLibs to make a version that replaced the signifiers with ones related to conservative symbolism, such as MAGA and Donald Trump, earning over 290 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References