About

This Is What a Civil War Would Look Like refers to a catchphrase first used on Twitter in October 2021. Meme creators primarily pair the catchphrase, or similar versions of it like "You Do Realize This Is What a Civil War Would Look Like," with images of the U.S. and statistical maps sectioned state-by-state. The maps follow similar visuals to that of Map of USA Cultural Stereotypes and Pornhub search interest maps, among others.

Origin

On October 10th, 2021, Twitter^[1] user @S0Yteam6 quote tweeted a tweet^[2] from user @CasperFox who was making fun of the phrase, "I see a Civil War Coming." @S0Yteam6's quote tweet was a rebuttal of @CasperFox's statement. The quote tweet used the caption "You do realize this is what a civil war would look like?" with an attached image of America's Congressional districts color-coordinated by either Republican or Democrat affiliation. The quote tweet (shown below) received roughly 1,200 likes over the course of five days.

Spread

On October 12th, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @Liamjsm posted a tweet captioned, "This is what a civil war would look like." Attached, he included a map of the most popular boy names by state, most of them being Oliver or Liam. The tweet (shown below) received 96 likes over the course of two days.

Two hours later on October 12th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @sonyaisms posted a tweet captioned, "You do realize this is what a Civil War would look like?" Attached, she included a map of the most popular hentai tags on the English hentai website Fakku! The tweet (shown below) received roughly 2,500 likes over the course of two days.

Inspired by @sonyaisms's tweet, more Twitter^[5][6] users began to use the catchphrase on October 13th, 2021. Users began posting the catchphrases with other map-related memes like Jeb Bush Flawless Victory and the map from Skyrim, among others.

2023 Civil War Maps

Following the posting of a trailer for an upcoming A24 film titled Civil War by British director Alex Garland, online discussion of possible American Civil War scenarios increased. A map supposedly depicting the fictional political situation in the movie circulated on X, showing Texas and California as independent alongside entities called the "Western Alliance" and "Florida Republic." The map, seen below, was posted by @zackbeauchamp on December 18th and earned over 13,000 likes in two days.^[7]

Users criticized the map for not being a realistic Civil War scenario. Some doubted that Texas and California would ever ally against the federal government, while others argued that a Civil War would not pit state against state, but rather be a more disorganized conflict within and between states. The map memes circulated around the same time that talk of a Civil War gained more attention after a Colorado court ruled that the 14th Amendment prohibited Donald Trump from appearing on its presidential election ballot.

Others posted joking maps highlighting less-serious divisions in America. For example, X^[8] user @Dimosar posted the map seen below left about fast food chains, earning over 500 likes in two days on December 18th. X^[9] user @CommisarOzy posted the map seen below right highlighting regional differences in chain retailers, and earned over 11,000 likes also on December 18th.^[9]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References