AboutWhat does the meme depict?

The Iceberg Tiers Parodies meme features an image resembling an iceberg where a small portion is visible above the water, representing common knowledge, while a significantly larger section is submerged, symbolizing a vast, more complex understanding of a topic. This iceberg is commonly divided into labeled sections, with captions increasing in specificity or obscurity as they descend. Initially popular in imageboards like 4chan for making fun of superficial knowledge, the template has expanded into various fandoms, becoming a humorous way to represent varying levels of insight or understanding about a subject.

OriginWho did it first?

The specific origin of using the iceberg as a metaphor in memes is unclear, but the concept has historical roots. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud likened the human mind to an iceberg to explain the conscious and unconscious aspects in this article, and anthropologist Edward T. Hall developed a Cultural Iceberg Model to depict cultural complexities in this paper. The meme version likely evolved from these ideas, becoming popular as a parody format. One of the earliest adaptations circulated on May 31st, 2011, via Imgur. The image depicted various familiar website logos in the visible part of the iceberg, signifying easily accessible information, while the submerged part included lesser-known web elements, hinting at hidden depths accessible only through the deep web. The image gained significant attention on Imgur and also sparked discussions on Reddit, especially in a post within the subreddit r/askreddit.^[1]

Origin: 2011