Meaning
What does Autistic Screeching mean?
Autistic Screeching refers to a popular exploitable meme format depicting two men who are shaking hands, agreeing on something while a third person is crouching next to them with their hands in the air, with the captions “Autistic Screeching” over their head, to signify their disapproval of the agreement.
The format can be used in any context, but it is heavily applied in political and ideological context, and it also served as the foundation for the Reee meme on sites like Reddit, 4chan and Facebook.
Origin
What's the origin of Autistic Screeching?
The first comic was posted to the Facebook page titled Anachyball in July 2016, showing two “balls” closing a deal on paying money for services in exchange, while another man crouching next to them, wearing shirt with Che Guevara on it, is screeching with the caption “Oppreshun!” above his head, used as a way to satirize communist hardliners.
Later, the original meme was reposted to the Facebook group called Minarchyball with the term “Oppreshun!” replaced with “Autistic screeching” marking the first time the expression was used in a meme context.
Spread & Usage
How did Autistic Screeching spread?
Since the format is so simple and can be used to make fun of a wide variety of controversial topics, the use has spread like wildfire from the day it was first posted to Facebook.
The meme then began appearing on sites like 9GAG, Funnyjunk, and Reddit.
Due to the fact that the “Autistic screeching” meme was used in political contexts since day one, it was the perfect format for the /pol/ board of 4chan where it rapidly turned into a sensation, and where its popularity peaked in March 2017.
The titular phrase was first defined on Urban Dictionary on June 15th, 2017.
Since then, however, the meme has been constantly fading away, only appearing in an obscure reference in the comments of Incels on various social media platforms.
