Bell Curve Meme Template

The “IQ Bell Curve” or “Midwit” format uses three points on a bell-curve graphic to satirize how a supposedly average thinker overcomplicates an issue while the low-end and high-end characters converge on a similar conclusion for different reasons. Know Your Meme traces the IQ-diagram format to 4chan posts, with early found examples in 2017 and a three-Wojak version becoming prominent in the early 2020s. This is an internet joke about perceived reasoning styles, not a valid measure of intelligence or evidence that any demographic, education level, or real person is less capable. It is often used to poke at jargon, needless process, fake expertise, or false sophistication; keep the target on a low-stakes decision or an idea, not a person or protected group.

A blue IQ-style bell curve has three characters arranged left to right: a relaxed simple-faced figure at the low end, a crying bespectacled figure at the peak, and a calm hooded figure at the high end. The three caption boxes match that order: slot 1 left, slot 2 center, slot 3 right.

Slot 1 (left, low end) states a short, intuitive conclusion. Slot 2 (center, midwit) expands the same issue into an anxious, jargon-heavy, or needlessly elaborate analysis. Slot 3 (right, high end) repeats slot 1’s short conclusion. Keep slots 1 and 3 identical or nearly identical in meaning; slot 2 must overcomplicate that same problem rather than offer a genuinely necessary safeguard.

1. Left/low-end caption: state the straightforward conclusion in a few words.
2. Center/midwit caption: overcomplicate that same issue with anxious analysis, jargon, or unnecessary process.
3. Right/high-end caption: return to slot 1’s conclusion, optionally reframed as concise first-principles insight.

• Contrasting direct customer feedback with elaborate speculation about user needs
• Joking about heavyweight productivity systems built for a simple next action
• Mocking excessive jargon around a basic, low-risk product decision
• Showing how first-principles reasoning can reach a simple conclusion after an overbuilt analysis
• first principle thinking
• raigbait
• scarsm

• Do not change the subject between slots; all three captions should address the same decision or problem.
• Do not make slot 3 disagree with slot 1; their conclusions should match even if their implied reasoning differs.
• Do not make slot 2’s added complexity genuinely necessary for safety, compliance, accessibility, or correctness; choose a low-stakes case where it is unnecessary.
• Do not present the character labels as real IQ assessment or claim that actual low- or high-IQ groups think this way.
• Do not use the format to demean a real person or protected group, or to disguise a harmful oversimplification as wisdom.