About

It Appears My Superiority Has Led to Some Controversy is a catchphrase accompanied by smiling cartoon countries, states or territories that infers the location's "superiority" akin to humorous nationalism. The most common meme shows a crudely drawn map of the U.S. and is often posted after the American government or military does something controversial. The trend falls under the rage comic trend Coaxed Into a Snafu and later became associated with counter-signal memes. It started on 4chan in 2012.

Origin

On November 25th, 2012, an anonymous 4channer uploaded an image to the /sp/^[1] board that showed a crudely drawn map of America with a smiling face placed underneath red text reading, "it appears my superiority has led to some controversy" (shown below). The post is currently the first known online. Years later, on April 5th, 2015, Twitter^[7][8] user MauerEssPee claimed to be the anon who created the meme in 2012.

Spread

Soon after, the image spread to 4chan's /tv/^[2] board in December 2012 (shown below, left) and 4chan's /x/^[3] board in September 2013 (shown below, right).

Various remixes of the meme appeared on various 4chan boards predominantly starting in 2016. For instance, on April 7th, 2016, a Massachusetts version was posted to the /sp/^[4] board (shown below, left). On July 5th, 2016, an Indiana version surfaced on 4chan's /k/^[5] board (shown below, right).

Continuing into 2019, reposts went viral on iFunny. ^[6] Original variations also surfaced on iFunny in the 2020s. For instance, on November 2nd, 2021, iFunnyer^[9] CaptainSisko posted an upstate New York version that had text reading, "It appears that my insufferable city dwellers Have led to the underappreciation of my natural beauty," earning roughly 13,800 smiles in 13 months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References