The ‘I’m the sheriff’ meme tries to bring law and order to the internet

The internet is a typically considered a lawless place, but there’s a new group of Twitter users trying to establish order.

Howdy, the sheriffs are here. But these aren’t normal human sheriffs—no, their bodies are made of emoji, and these pardners saunter into timelines and to let you know who’s in charge.

(Note: some users may not be able to see the top of the body, but it’s an emoji face wearing a cowboy hat.)

They are the sheriffs of nutrition, politics, bees, and memes, and though they may be ineffectual, they aren’t any less enjoyable.

As with most Twitter trends, the “I’m the sheriff” format got off to a slow, innocuous start, with a couple of users creating the meme without getting recognition before it suddenly exploded all over everyone’s feeds.

Interestingly, the first few tweets were highly politicized.

https://twitter.com/ldrinkh20/status/882430360356888576

https://twitter.com/BoomerHolocaust/status/882788726551621632

With, of course, a poop emoji or two thrown in. Because why wouldn’t you be the sheriff of Pooville?

But two over the weekend exploded, as sheriffs were ready to lay down their absurd laws.

https://twitter.com/DOGGEAUX/status/883297522269143040

Why, for real, are there so many train emoji? Then there’s the crass sheriff of healthy eating.

https://twitter.com/chacketttt/status/883421870262976512

Once these two took over everyone’s feeds, it was off to the meme races. Bees were very, very popular.

https://twitter.com/mekosoff/status/884107852218081280

https://twitter.com/loveinterested/status/884096459355832320

As were animals.

https://twitter.com/alex_icon/status/883446705810796544

And content.

Or water.

https://twitter.com/galaxiaskykloz/status/883721908860186624

The “I’m the sheriff meme” also ties in nicely with other memes from the summer. Here’s a boneless sheriff, incapable of rounding up the usual suspects.

https://twitter.com/m2qm1i/status/883913386198781952

And Twitter’s previous new hot meme, the length of recording meme.

As with any good meme, great anti-memes came about.

https://twitter.com/bradisterrific/status/884211118465527808

This meme, though brand new, certainly seems to have staying power. There’s an almost infinite number of emoji combination you can make to put yourself in charge of. “Howdy, I’m the sheriff of Vespas and shrimp.” “I’m the sheriff of birthday cake. Enjoy your party.” It is endless. And as Twitter has a long history of loving ASCII-based memes and taking things well past their welcome, expect the sheriff to be in charge for years to come.