Annoyed Picard
January 23, 2012 â December 2014
"Why the fuck did this format die?"
Obituary
WHY THE FUCK / do people still do this?
On January 23, 2012, a Quickmeme page emerged featuring a different Picardânot the facepalm, but the outburst. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, arms spread wide, face contorted in exasperation, demanding answers from an indifferent universe. The image came from the 1990 episode MĂ©nage Ă Troi, where Picard recites Shakespeare to rescue Lwaxana Troi.
But the internet didn't care about Shakespeare. The internet cared about the pose.
WHY THE FUCK / would you put ketchup on a steak? HOW THE FUCK / do you forget your password twice a day? WHAT THE FUCK / is the point of a 7 AM meeting?
Annoyed Picard became the format for righteous indignation about minor annoyances. The rhetorical questions weren't seeking answersâthey were demands for the universe to explain itself. By August 2012, there were over 6,400 submissions.
Where Picard Facepalm expressed quiet resignation, Annoyed Picard was loud, confrontational, and extremely relatable. He said what we all wanted to say in meetings, in traffic, in line at the grocery store.
The format peaked in 2012 and faded by 2014, replaced by newer vehicles for exasperation. But somewhere, in an alternate timeline, Captain Picard is still spreading his arms wide, still demanding to know why the fuck any of this is happening.
Why the fuck do memes die? We may never know.
Engage.