The 50 Greatest "Meanwhile, In America" Photos

The "Meanwhile, in America" meme takes the cliche phrasing from film, television and literature "meanwhile, in..." and applies it to the United States, often pointing out examples of American excess, ignorance or laziness.

The phrase "meanwhile, in..." is a popularly used storytelling device that takes the audience away from the center of action in the story at that moment, to somewhere else completely. This phrase has been popularized on the web with an image macro that takes a photo that captures a common stereotype of any country in the world, and makes fun of them.

These are used often for comedic purposes and occasionally to interrupt someone who has, according to "knowyourmeme", gone on a huge tangent in an online conversation. The use of the meme implies a sense of boredom among all the other readers. People who post one of these memes are then celebrated as bringing the conversation back to where it should be, or for just finding a hilarious way to use the meme.

You really just take any picture that exemplifies that country, in this case America, and put the "Meanwhile, in America" words on it.

But it takes a little more than just finding a photo of fat people in this, they entire photo really has to "work" for the Meanwhile, In America meme. You have to find one that if sent independently of any words or captions, would make whoever you were sending it to lose all faith in not only their peers and their country, but humanity in general.

These are the best "meanwhile, in America" memes and jokes. From the morbidly obese exercising laziness, to negligent parents, to enormous guns and overall American ridiculousness, here are the greatest examples of how to use, and the best ways to use, the phrase "Meanwhile, in America" online.