Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon)

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About

Mental Gymnastics refers to an exploitable counter-signal meme comparing two groups of people partaking in opposing interests. The format compares the groups' logic behind their preferences, with one group's reasoning being a simple one-step process and the other performing complex "mental gymnastics" to prove their point.

Origin

On December 11th, 2016, Facebook^[1] page Vegan Sidekick posted a cartoon which compared two people explaining their position on veganism. In the first, a person provides a simple reasoning for their choice, while the other providing five elaborate reasons, with the illustration depicting them performing complex "mental gymnastics."

I love animals Vegan Mental Gymnastics I care about animals so I avoid harming them. Non-vegan Mental Gymnastics top of the food chain, look at my Ocanine But killing them is totally legit right I did them a favour by breeding them and then killing them 16 www.vegansidekick.com and plants have feelings anyway

Spread

On January 15th, 2018, an anonymous 4chan^[2] user posted the earliest found edit of the cartoon in thread on the /v/ board, compared with different approaches towards selecting their in-game gender (shown below, left).

In the same thread,^[3] another user responded with a reversed version of the meme (shown below, right).

NORMAL PEOPLE MENTAL GYMNASTICS I roleplay as my own sex to immerse myselif. GENDER SWAPPING MENTAL GYMNASTICS but female avatars usually have better fashion options you'te SUPPOSED to take on somebody else's role, so naturally I take on the role of a kawaii teenage cheerleader I don't want to stare at a man's ass all day I do it to stick it to the SJWs I don't have gender dysphoria

In the following years, both images received multiple reposts in /v/ and on other 4chan boards. Prior to June 24th, 2019, an anonymous 4chan^[4] user posted the earliest derivative meme based on the format (shown below).

NORMAL PEOPLE MENTAL GYMNASTICS A p-------- is someone sexually attracted to children, so being sexually attracted to children is p--------- Lolicon MENTAL GYMNASTICS It's just a drawing of a kid having sex, Looney Tunes shows pain and not a real kid having sex, so it's not stuff, so why isn't it considerd Nobody is getting ir hurt so it's not p--------- p--------- a snuff film what's next, banning r---/i----- p---? She's a 300yo dragon

On November 24th, 2020, Redditor^[5] caterpillerman posted a Santa Deniers meme based on the format that gained over 2,900 upvotes in three months (shown below). A same-day repost by Twitter^[6] user @Anna1312__received over 13,400 retweets and 87,700 likes in the same period.

Santa believer mental gymnastics Santa brings everyone their presents on Christmas night with his magic Santa denier mental gymnastics Regular people just buy and wrap ALLL these Christmas presents But also literally all parents are part of the same conspiracy to make their children behave Santa at the mall is just an imposter in disguise He's made up by corporations to sell Christmas stuff The cookies just happen to be eaten next day

Following the viral spread of the Santa Deniers version, the format saw a surge of popularity online, with multiple viral instances of the format being posted on Instagram and Twitter in the following months.

Various Examples

"Vegeta is better" Mental Gymnastics "badass kills" "anatomy of an antihero" video compilation better father video essay character arc "Goku is better" Mental Gymnastics friendly

Template

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Facebook – Vegan Sidekick

^[2] 4chan – /v/ Post #403505090

^[3] 4chan – /v/ Post #403519461

^[4] 4chan – /v/ Post #467764436

^[5] Reddit – Rule

^[6] Twitter – @Anna1312__

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Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Reddit Moments	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Philipp	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Triplem	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Pepe 3 & Wojak
Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Lugamo	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Pepe 3 & Wojak	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by lil skooters fan	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by mnemeros
Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Pepe 3 & Wojak	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Mr. Nobody Returns	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by A Mr Mime	Mental Gymnastics (Cartoon) Uploaded by Mr. Nobody Returns

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Top Comments

mandrac

Feb 03, 2021 at 06:37PM EST

This doesn't mean shit to be honest. Sometime the simplest solution is the best solution but some time it isn't and you have to scratch the surface a bit to understand a subject clearly.
For example:
[Simple]The earth is round like every other observable celestial body
[Complicated]The earth is flat because the reptiluminazi are trying to take over the world but they have to hide it otherwise people will rebel and gopro is helping the reptiluminazi by making fish eye lenses that make photo taken of the flat earth with gopro look round and they have to mind wipe their employee so that the conspiracy doesn't leak and nasa and helo musk and every space agency knows the truth and and….

Second example:
[Simple]Black people are criminals more often than not.
[Complicated]Black populations in the US started as slaves and were held back by a multitude of racist measure from segregation to CIA sposored drug distribution in black neighborhood making them today one of the poorest part of the population. In order to survive poor people often have to resort to theft and other illegal activities. Individuals generally regroup in gangs in order to defend themselfs against other criminals. So in other word poor people are more likely to turn to criminality and black people happen to be among the poorest.