6 or 9 meme format.

6 or 9

Updated Mar 22, 2024 at 01:33PM EDT by Zach.

Added Mar 22, 2024 at 11:30AM EDT by Phillip Hamilton.

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Related Explainer: Does This Meme Show A Six Or A Nine? The Answer To The Viral Debate Explained

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About

6 or 9, also known as Six or Nine and Two People Arguing 6 vs. 9, is an exploitable used in a series of memes based on an image of two men pointing at a figure drawn on the ground which could be either a six or a nine, one man saying "6" and the other saying "9." The image is meant to represent the idea of relativism and perspective, suggesting that, without prior context from the person who drew the symbol, it could be either a six or a nine depending on the way you look at it, suggesting both men are correct in their claims. Some also claim the symbol could be neither a six nor a nine without prior knowledge that it's meant to represent a number at all. Variations of the image have been posted online since as early as 2007, becoming the subject of debates and memes throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s. Alternatively, a similar image using an optical illusion showing either three or four rods has also become the subject of memes.

Origin

On October 23rd, 2007, LiveJournal[1] user Lopuchin posted a single-panel comic purportedly by Russian artist Igor Vorobyov in 1972 in which two men stand on either side of a symbol on the ground depicting either a six or a nine, depending on the way you view it, one man claiming it's a "6" and the other "9" (shown below). This is the earliest known user to post the image online.


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Spread

The image and variants of it featuring slight alterations to the artwork gained viral spread over the following decade-plus.

In 2016, a version of the meme with an added caption about relativism, reading, "Just because you are right does not mean I am wrong," began to gain viral spread on social media (shown below, left).[2]

On May 14th, 2017, WordPress[3] user sjwiggett posted a version of the image to explain their growth that year, writing, "2016 was the year I realised that the world is not always an exact, black and white environment. I realised that two people can be equally right at the same time although they hold different views."

On October 6th, 2017, the Facebook[4] page March for Science posted an image macro using the meme in which they crossed out the added caption "Just because you are right does not mean I am wrong" and added an additional caption rejecting the idea that the number is either a six or nine, garnering over 31,000 reactions and 32,000 shares in seven years (shown below, right).


SIX NINE Just because you are right, does not mean, I am wrong. You just haven't seen life from my side. SIX NINE Just because you are right, does not mean, I am wrong. But one of those people is wrong, someone painted a six or a nine, they need to back up and orient themselves, see if there are any other numbers to align with. Maybe there's a driveaway or a building to face, or they can ask someone who actually knows. People having an uniformed opinion about something they don't understand and proclaiming their opinion as being equally valid as facts is what is ruining the world. No one wants to do any research, they just want to be right.

On October 8th, WordPress[5] user halconick posted an article titled "On: An Awful March for Science Meme," refuting the post by March for Science as representing a bad understanding of the scientific method, writing:

Sure, it could be a number corresponding to a building or a driveway, but how can we assume this from what we are presented in the meme? What if the number is part of an art installation and represents nothing other than the fact that a 6 is a 9 upside down and vice versa? Sure, that’s a hacky artist, but it doesn’t mean either ‘toon is wrong […] Why do we insist on calling either of these people wrong without knowing the full situation? Why create a false dilemma fallacy by only giving two options of what the number can be?"

On November 8th, 2017, PaulsPurpose[6] published a further critique of March for Science's meme, adding another caption about how "almost nobody believes in unlimited relativism" (shown below).


SIX NINE Just because you are right, does not mean, I am wrong. But one of those people is wrong, someone painted a six or a nine, they need to back up and orient themselves, see if there are any other numbers to align with. Maybe there's a driveaway or a building to face, or they can ask someone who actually knows. People having an uniformed opinion about something they don't understand and proclaiming their opinion as being equally valid as facts is what is ruining the world. No one wants to do any research, they just want to be right. But almost nobody believes in unlimited relativism of ideas and values. Much of the phenomena we observe is not purposely created by a person. In addition, no one person is capable of knowing all there is to know about any issue, hence the value of outside perspectives. The origin of much of our conflicting views is in the belief that any one belief is the ‘objective' one, where everything is settled. Even when another person is obviously wrong to us, their method of knowing what they believe to know could be instructive in our methods of knowing, our means of argumentation. If anything's wrong with the world, it's in not recognizing that others have a point, even when they don't express themselves that well.

On August 22nd, 2022, Redditor u/NotFamousCow posted a meme to /r/terriblefacebookmemes[7] repurposing the image, garnering over 60,000 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On December 22nd, another meme using the image was posted to /r/antimeme,[8] garnering over 2,500 upvotes in two years (shown below, right).


Reality 100 Years Ago nine Democrat let's bomb the middle east Democrat Reality Today 9 six Republican four Republican This number can be either six or nine depending on the perspective of the person viewing it. If, by example, I am the one seeing it in this particular direction Nam poiing, then i can say without a dount the number is 6. But, in your case, you are viewing the number from a different angle and is seeing nine. I agree completely with your statement

On October 31st, 2023, Redditor u/imrubysummers posted a meme critiquing the idea behind the image to /r/PhilosophyMemes,[9] garnering over 5,200 upvotes in five months (shown below, left). On November 1st, u/rdfporcazzo posted a critique of the meme to /r/PhilosophyMemes[10] in which they posit that we don't even know if the figure is meant to be a six or nine without prior knowledge, meaning it could be neither, garnering over 1,300 upvotes in four months (shown below, right).

On March 21st, 2024, the prior meme was then shared by X[11] user @shitpostgate, garnering over 150,000 likes in a day.


6 9 tRuth Is Relative, EvErYtHiNg DePeNDS ON YOUR Point Of View Someone drew that number. This someone knows if it's a 9 or a 6. Thus, there exists a truth. S S tRuth Is Relative, EvErYtHiNg DePeNDS ON YOUR Point Of View Someone drew that number. This someone knows if it's a 9 or a 6. Thus, there exists a truth. We don't know if someone drew this symbol or if this symbol is, in fact, a number. Although there exists a truth, we can only infer the picture of facts, the representation of reality. It cannot be discovered from the picture alone whether it is true or false. Thus, it may or may not be a 9 or a 6.

Various Examples


what people think arguing on the internet is like 6 9 what it's actually like IT'S HAPPY TTS HOUR PIZZR TIME! SIX NINE NICE NICE #msaed

Search Interest

External References

[1] LiveJournal – lopuchin

[2] X – Wes_Saunders88

[3] Wordpress – sjwiggett

[4] Facebook – marchforscience

[5] WordPress – halconick

[6] PaulsPurpose – MY CRITIQUE OF THE 6-9 MEME CRITIQUE

[7] Reddit – terriblefacebookmemes

[8] Reddit – antimeme

[9] Reddit – PhilosophyMemes

[10] Reddit – PhilosophyMemes

[11] X – ShitpostGate

Recent Videos 1 total

Recent Images 14 total


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