This entry contains content that may be considered sensitive to some viewers.

Confirmed 294,310

About

IQ Bell Curve, also known as Midwit, refers to a series of memes that use the IQ distribution diagrams to mock one of the three main groups represented by the diagram, usually the largest group of people towards the center of the curve who possess average intelligence. The concept of IQ Bell Curve memes utilizes the horseshoe theory, implying that the groups with low intelligence and high intelligence often choose to follow the same goals while being guided by different reasoning. Those who possess average intelligence are referred to as "midwits." While there were many versions of memes illustrating the concept, a variant of the meme using three different Wojaks gained particular popularity in the 2020s on X / Twitter and Reddit.

Origin

The word "mid-witted" was popularized by far-right activist and writer Vox Day. On February 17th, 2012, Vox Day^[1] published the blog post "The tragedy of the mid-witted" in which he commented on a life story article "Lessons of a very sexy pirate costume" by Jennifer Wright.^[2] In the blog post, Vox Day wrote, "Those who possess above-average intelligence and trouble to occasionally read newspapers and magazines tend to genuinely be under the erroneous impression that they possess superlative intelligence" (extract shown below).

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012 The tragedy of the mid-witted It is truly remarkable what the moderately intelligent consider to be markers of superior intelligence: I was a terrific little snob who thought she knew everything, and subsequently, I was about to learn a great deal. As soon as I started, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. Fortunately, the other cocktail waitresses were quick to make suggestions. My first night on the job, a fellow shot girl offered practical advice. “You have to be a little cold," she explained. “Make them feel like you're doing them a favor by letting them buy shots." But it's difficult to maintain a Queen of Sheba demeanor while trying to rub globs of green glitter out of your eyes. Instead I became a level of friendly you typically only see at Disneyland, if Disneyland reeked of vomit and spilled appletinis. I doled out shots as people in cartoon costumes offer hugs. The manager would point out that I wasn't being sexy enough, which was surprising, because I was wearing 6-inch heels and less clothing than I ever had. It quickly became clear that I was not the first literate person to don a miniskirt. Sometime during that first week, I was hiding in the backroom reading Margaret Atwood. I was sitting on the counter next to baskets of party mix because my feet hurt, which they did for the entirety of my shot-selling career. One cocktail waitress swept in, asked what I thought of Atwood's novel “Oryx and Crake," did a tricky little analysis where she compared it to "The Handmaid's Tale," mentioned some other female dystopian writers l'd never heard of, and then went out balancing a tray of shots on one hand. As ridiculous as it sounds, that was the first time I became aware that clever people are buried in every nook and cranny of life. It is astonishing that no one pointed this out to me sooner. As we often see on this blog, those who possess above-average intelligence and trouble to occasionally read newspapers and magazines tend to genuinely be under the erroneous impression that they possess superlative intelligence. But while having an IQ between one and two standard deviations above the norm is unusual, it is hardly rare, and in historical terms it is distinctly pedestrian.

The term "midwit," meaning a person of average intelligence, saw use on 4chan starting in late 2013 (example posts shown below).^[3]^[4]^[5]

IQ Test.png, 324KIB, 1784x984 Anonymous ID: kxdQYcop Sat 29 Aug 2015 18:14:09 No.50667913 013 >tfw midwit feels badman. I think I'm just smart enough to understand just how much stuff I'll never be able to grok like actually smart people do. I'm also low SES so I've ne averageness to any use. even put my above

Anonymous Thu 05 May 2016 04:32:36 No.28347169 Quoted By: >>28347254 Sargon is a smug midwit cuck, any thoughts he has which are original to himself are incredibly dumb.

On January 1st, 2017, an anonymous 4chan^[6] user made the earliest found post that used the IQ bell curve diagram to argue about the similarity of political views of groups with low and high intelligence (shown below).

Democrat 34% 34% Republican Republican 68% 14% 14% 2% 95% 2% 0.1% 0.1% 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 IQ score (average = 100) frequency in population

The format did not see further use until December 2018. On December 14th, 2018, an anonymous /pol/ user^[7] used the diagram to make a claim that people of both low intelligence and high intelligence are racist (shown below, left), with another user posting^[8] an edited version of the diagram on the same day (shown below, right).

Note: the images contain an uncensored racial slur; discretion advised.

"I'm not racist" "I hate n------" "I hate n------" 11 2.14% 2.14% 0.13% 13.59% 34.13% 34.13% 13.59% 0.13% 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 White IQ bell curve

"I'm not racist" III hate niggersll 2.14% hale 2.14% 0.13% 55 13.59% 34.13% 34.13% 70 85 13.5 130 115 0.13% 145 White IQ bell curve

Spread

Throughout 2019, the the edited image was reposted^[9]^[10] on 4chan multiple times. On June 24th, 2019, an anonymous /pol/^[11] user posted a Manlet meme referencing the horseshoe theory interpretation of the IQ bell curve (shown below, left). Several variations of the format were posted on /pol/^[12]^[13]^[14] in late 2019 and early 2020 (example shown below, right).

HORSESHOE THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE AVERAGE IQ RETARD GENIUS

The viral popularity of the format began on March 10th, 2010, when an anonymous 4chan^[15] user posted a meme about Ted Kaczynski and the anarcho-primitivistic ideology (shown below, left). On the same day, the user^[16] launched the first "midwit memes" thread which gained 12 replies (shown below, right).

Wow! I f------ love Technology! Tech bad 34% 34% Tech bad 68% 14% 14% 2% 95% 2% 0.1% 0.1% 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 IQ Score

[13 /6/11] Wowt I f------ love Technology! Midwit memes Anonymous ID:LTDCE7CB Tue 10 Mar 2020 12:05:58 No.247369006 E View Reply Original Report Quoted By: >>247371144 Post em Tuch had View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace + 43n2vreylql41.jpg, 91KIB, 750x745 30 34% CoV react based on Tech bod PANIC TAKE YOUR HAPPENING MEDS 14% 14% HOAX 2 0.1% 70 100 115 130 145 135KİB, 490x500, 1583856226081.png Trace AnonymouS ID:LTDCE7CB Tue 10 Mar 2020 12:06:11 No.247369027 View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Report

In mid-March, the meme format in which the IQ bell curve was used to ridicule people of average intelligence, referred to as "midwits," gained significant popularity on /pol/ board, with multiple variations of the meme being posted^[17]^[18] in the following weeks. After the viral spread on 4chan, the format also gained notable popularity on Facebook, with variations of the meme also appearing on other platforms in the following months.

Crossover Beyond 4chan

A version of the meme featuring three different Wojaks arrayed on an IQ Bell Curve chart gained increasing popularity in the early 2020s. At the lowest IQ level is a variant of Brainlet, in the middle of the curve is a Midwit crying Wojak and at the top end is a monk-like Wojak wearing a cloak. In this version, the Monk Wojak and the Brainlet Wojak agree with one another while the Midwit Wojak offers an unnecessarily complicated analysis. The earliest version of this posting came from the X account @owenbroadcast on July 11th, 2020 (seen below), earning over 2,200 likes in the course of three and a half years.^[19]

owen cyclops @owenbroadcast NOOOO you have to have complex reasons for what you're doing. what is the point what is your goal if its good i do it 21 0.1% 2% IQ score 55 9:36 AM Jul 11, 2020 14% 70 311 34% 85 68% 95% 100 34% 2.2K 115 14% 130 if its good i do it 2% 0.1% 40 145 : (→

Following the @owenbroadcast post, versions of the meme using these three Wojaks and this background became dominant across X, Reddit and other platforms. On /r/dndmemes on January 3rd, 2021, the meme (seen below, top) earned over 4,100 upvotes in three years.^[20] On /r/okbuddyphd on October 15th, 2022, a posting (seen below, bottom) riffing off the IQ bell curve format earned over 2,100 upvotes over the course of a year.^[21]

-prepares for 30 hours -has every book available -makes sure to have a statistically adequet amount of PC spotlight im going to wing it 0.1% 2% 10 score 55 14% 70 ATT T 34% 85 68% 95% 100 34% 115 THE DM EXPERIENCE im going to wing it 14% 130 2% 145 0.1%

-1 - 10. NOOOOOO !! WE'RE STUCK -1/2 just move around 1/2 1 just move around -1 31 -1/2 0 1/2 1 1/2 1 0 -1/2 −1

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Vox Day – The tragedy of the mid-witted

^[2] Salon – Lessons of a very sexy pirate costume

^[3] 4chan – /pol/ Post #23691479

^[4] 4chan – /pol/ Post #50667913

^[5] 4chan – /r9k/ Post #28347169

^[6] 4chan – /pol/ Thread #105290193

^[7] 4chan – /pol/ Post #196643836

^[8] 4chan – /pol/ Post #196672446

^[9] 4chan – /pol/ Thread #227414002

^[10] 4chan – /pol/ Thread #228648992

^[11] 4chan – /pol/ Post #10751356

^[12] 4chan – /pol/ Thread #228648992

^[13] 4chan – /pol/ Post #236324288

^[14] 4chan – /pol/ Post #240385631

^[15] 4chan – /pol/ Post #247368790

^[16] 4chan – /pol/ Thread #247369006

^[17] 4chan – /pol/ Post #248043341

^[18] 4chan – /pol/ Post #248044758

^[19] X – @owenbroadcast

^[20] Reddit – /r/dndmemes

^[21] Reddit – /r/okbuddyphd

Recent Images 111 total

Liberalism f------ sucks. Liberalism f------ sucks. 34% 34% ་ 14% I'M TIRED OF “LIBERAL" BEING USED AS AN INSULT LIBERALISM GAVE YOU THE VOTE LIBERALISM GAVE YOU EQUALITY LIBERALISM GAVE YOU FREE SPEECH LIBERALISM GAVE YOU YOUR INALIENABLE RIGHTS LIBERALISM IS THE ENEMY OF TYRANTS, AND I'LL BE FOREVER PROUD TO DEFEND IT 14% 0.1% 2% 2% 95% 0.1% IQ score 55 70 70 85 100 115 130 145

Death is an absolute evil, with the help of science and technology we will defeat aging and all other causes of death and live forever, colonizing and exploring the universe. 34% There is no God, death is a part of life, and life is suffering. 85 100 I will live forever after death, that's wonderful.6 "Tik-Tok" 0.1% 10 score 55 2% 14% 70 70

There are 3 boxes. Each box contains 2 balls. One box contains 2 gold balls, another box contains 2 silver balls, and the final box contains one gold ball and one silver ball. You pick a box at random. You put your hand in and take a ball from that box at random. If it's a gold ball, what is the probability that the next ball you take from a box will also be gold? Note: You can't see into any of the boxes only got 2 boxes with gold balls in em, so is gotta be 50% There's actually three scenarios in which you can pick up a gold ball, in two of those you get another, making it 66%, look at this code i wrote to prove my answer right with science! The question asks us immediately after an action has already been taken to select a first ball. While the action of selection can have three potential outcomes, the moment after selection only has two your box either contains an additional gold ball, or not, a simple 50/50 split. 2.14% 0.13% 13.59% 34.13% 2.14% 34.13% 0.13% 13.59% 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 IQ bell curve

It's called a horsey Nooo it's a knight 14% 0.1% 2% 10 score 55 70 imgflip.com 70 34% 34% 68% It's called a horsey 31 14% 2% 0.1% 85 100 115 130 145

View All Images

Recent Videos 0 total

There are no recent videos.

Load 110 Comments

IQ Bell Curve / Midwit

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.