About

Really makes you think… is a phrase often used as a joking way to mock shallow artwork, ideas, and conspiracy theories that attempt to be profound. It grew as a popular phrase in bait threads on 4chan's /pol/ to mock liberal memes and talking points during the 2016 United States Presidential Election. Although its posted mostly on /pol/, its also seen being used often on /tv/, /k/, /r9k/ and [s4s].

Precursor

"Really makes you think!" is sincerely used in response to something the speaker finds particularly profound,^[1] though is often used humorously to point out silly or obvious ideas, such as the one portrayed in the below image posted to /r/Im14AndThisIsDeep with the caption "Wow…Really makes you think."^[2]

Origin

One of the earliest known uses of "really makes you think" on /pol/ came on April 21st, 2016,^[3] as a comment accompanying the political cartoon, shown below.

Spread

Starting around the end of May 2016,^[4][5] many threads began getting posted to /pol/ with a variation on the title "Really makes you think." In the coming months, commenters filled /pol/ with threads captioned "Really makes you think" and "/pol/ BTFO! " After a few months, both phrases were appropriated by /pol/ posters as a means to make fun of left-wing memes and talking points. Often, a video of Bart Simpson saying "Really Makes You Think" would be posted in these threads. The comments section of the video, shown below, is filled with members of /pol/ talking about the election and mocking liberals.

Various Examples

(Note: Examples are images from threads captioned "Really Makes You Think")

Search Interest

External References