You’re probably right in some cases, but I think it’s more of a way of people dealing with their disbelief that it’s come to this. There’s a lot of ways to process the current insanity; dark humour is possibly the most accessible though.
That’s where I am, we went from being in disbelief that an active genocide is being supported by the US, to the US contemplating nuking a country cause Bibi says they have WMDs.
Usually when I’m befuddled I resort to observational comedy.
Sure, but the button on the meme could just as easily have said “WAR” as “WW3”. It’s even the same number of characters. Do you see what I’m getting at? The the constant fearnongering about this turning into WW3 always suggests that what’s happening right now isn’t bad enough. Surely the dark humour could be directed at the actual real bad things Trump is currently doing, rather than hypothetical bad things that he might be doing?
I don’t feel like the hyperbole defense really cuts it when a significant number of people think the hyperbole is true. You can find an example of that happening in this same thread and I’ve had plenty of other interactions like it. For every person who takes it as hyperbole, there’s another who genuinely feels like we’re staring down the barrel of WW3, and that kind of fear is dangerous and harmful.
It’s never “Just a joke” when the joke is hurting people.
You’re probably right in some cases, but I think it’s more of a way of people dealing with their disbelief that it’s come to this. There’s a lot of ways to process the current insanity; dark humour is possibly the most accessible though.
That’s where I am, we went from being in disbelief that an active genocide is being supported by the US, to the US contemplating nuking a country cause Bibi says they have WMDs.
Usually when I’m befuddled I resort to observational comedy.
Sure, but the button on the meme could just as easily have said “WAR” as “WW3”. It’s even the same number of characters. Do you see what I’m getting at? The the constant fearnongering about this turning into WW3 always suggests that what’s happening right now isn’t bad enough. Surely the dark humour could be directed at the actual real bad things Trump is currently doing, rather than hypothetical bad things that he might be doing?
Hyperbole is often an essential part of humor, dark or otherwise.
I don’t feel like the hyperbole defense really cuts it when a significant number of people think the hyperbole is true. You can find an example of that happening in this same thread and I’ve had plenty of other interactions like it. For every person who takes it as hyperbole, there’s another who genuinely feels like we’re staring down the barrel of WW3, and that kind of fear is dangerous and harmful.
It’s never “Just a joke” when the joke is hurting people.