While Wojak’s exact origins aren’t confirmed, the internet culture encyclopedia Know Your Meme says that the illustration may have been discovered in 2009 on an imageboard known as Vichan.

Just about 100 years later, on February 17, 2012, far-right activist Vox Day coined the term “mid-witted” in a blog post, and it was later adopted by the worst of 4chan users. A bell curve ...