Obama's Strategy For Picking Up Girls

Submission 25,170

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Let me be clear, I have read, uh, Foucault. Would you like to, uh, have sex with me? Sorry, I'm experimenting with girls for now

I finally read discipline and Sorry, I'm punishment, I really liked when experimenting with girls for now Foucault said tha- I'm gonna imprison Muslims in Guantanamo bay and throw Mexican kids in cages

akaash krishnan (he/him) 000 @akaashk02 long-legged socialist, smooth-skinned sociologist, and ethereal bisexual Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance · Nov 13 What are the three branches of government? [Wrong answers only] 9:30 PM · Nov 18, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone

Anna Fitzpatrick @bananafitz obama ignore this. ethereal bisexual who only wears black...hello 12:30 PM · Nov 18, 2020 · Twitter Web App

i can be your long lost pal @PallaviGunalan 000 f---, marry, kill: a long-legged socialist, a smooth- skinned sociology major, and an ethereal bisexual who only wears black 6:45 PM · Nov 18, 2020 · Twitter Web App

-` ryn,- @onlineryn 000 i am an ethereal bisexual and yet no men are reading foucault for me??? what am i doing wrong 5:24 PM · Nov 18, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone

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About

Obama's Strategy For Picking Up Girls refers to a passage from Barack Obama's memoir A Promised Land in which he describes reading philosophers and critical theorists in an attempt to attract girls in college. He describes reading Marx and Marcuse to try and attract a "long-legged socialist," Fanon and Gwendolyn Brooks to attract a "smooth-skinned sociology major," and Foucault and Woolf for "the ethereal bisexual who wore mostly black." After the passage spread on Twitter, people joked about the way Obama described the three different women he tried to impress.

Origin

On November 17th, 2020, Barack Obama released his memoir A Promised Land. ^[2] In the book, he discusses how he educated himself on the works of various cultural theorists and philosophers in order to pick up girls, though he didn't succeed. In the passage, he describes attempting and failing to attract a "long-legged socialist," a "smooth-skinned sociology major" and an "ethereal bisexual who wore mostly black." He says "as a strategy for picking up girls, my pseudo-intellectualism proved mostly worthless." The passage was tweeted that day by Twitter user @daniel_dsj2110,^[1] gaining over 2,900 retweets, 7,000 quote tweets, and 28,000 likes.

Looking back, it's embarrassing to recognize the degree to which intellectual curiosity those first two years of college paralleled the inter- ests of various women I was attempting to get to know: Marx and Mar- cuse so I had something to say to the long-legged socialist who lived in my dorm; Fanon and Gwendolyn Brooks for the smooth-skinned sociol- ogy major who never gave me a second look; Foucault and Woolf for the ethereal bisexual who wore mostly black. As a strategy for picking up girls, my pseudo-intellectualism proved mostly worthless; I found my- self in a series of affectionate but chaste friendships. my

Spread

As the passage spread, Twitter users joked about the way Obama described the various women. User @AsFarce^[3] posted, "are you a long-legged socialist, a smooth-skinned sociology major, or an ethereal bisexual who only wears black?", gaining over 3,700 retweets and 44,000 likes (shown below, left). User @awkward_duck^[4] joked, "'sup, you ethereal bisexual, how the foucalt you today?", gaining over 150 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, right).

liz crash @AsFarce are you a long-legged socialist, a smooth-skinned sociology major, or an ethereal bisexual who only wears black? 12:42 AM • NOV 18, 2020 • Twitter web App

big relly O @awkward_duck 000 'sup, you ethereal bisexual, how the foucalt you today? 5:00 PM · Nov 18, 2020 · Twitter Web App

Other popular jokes include a tweet by @sheryabasu003,^[5] which gained over 3,100 retweets and 33,000 likes (shown below, left) and @flurtcobain,^[6] who tweeted, "who among us has not pursued an ‘ethereal bisexual’," gaining over 70 retweets and 1,300 likes (shown below, right).