Into The Trash It Goes / Opinion Discarded

About

“Into The Trash It Goes!” is a phrase associated with a picture of an American illusionist Penn Jillette. It’s often used to discredit a person’s viewpoint or opinion.

Origin

The phrase first originated from /pol/ (Politically Incorrect) board of 4chan and over time, it became widespread on other boards^[1]. On boards such as /tv/^[2], /a/^[3], and /sp/^[4], the image of Penn Jillette’s mugshot with accompanied greentext and the phase “Into the trash it goes.” has been around since February 2013.

Originally it was used in the context of an employer reading someone’s resume when applying for a job. In time, the meme evolved from job related context to overall trashing one’s opinion.

Spread

The meme is most widespread on 4chan, and over time many variations of the image have arisen. Due to its origin, the meme is often paired with Doom Paul, by using similar filters and photoshop effects. Around April 30th and May 1st, first posts with the phrase accompanied by the likeness of Penn Gillette had appeared on Tumblr^[5]^[6]^[7].

Opinion Discarded

One of the more widespread variations of the meme features Penn Jillette standing near a trashcan filled with 4chan posts, with a caption “Opinion Discarded” (as pictured at bottom left). In November 9th^[8], a similar image had appeared in response to the original, featuring Kyoko Toshino from an anime YuruYuri, wearing a tomato suit (as pictured at bottom right). Eventually, more derivatives of the image had arisen, each featuring characters from a variety of different franchises.