Everything is a joke

There’s a “laugh epidemic” at movie theaters where people can’t stop laughing at parts of movies others don’t find funny, showing generational divides in humor.

I think this trend/joke/meme shows how much people love to collectively build figures on the internet and then take their fame away. It reminds me of back in 2018 when millions came together to make a random photo of an egg the most liked piece of content on the platform, in order to beat out Kylie Jenner.

As fellow journalist Ken Klippenstein posted, "No shit murder is bad. The [commentary and jokes] about the United CEO aren’t really about him; they’re about the rapacious healthcare system he personified and which Americans feel deep pain and humiliation about."

Sometimes, things are serious. Not everything needs to be turned into a joke. As Anhedönia said, we can still make jokes and laugh, but we’ve lost the ability to know when to stop – and it’s time we learned how.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that, as a culture, we struggle to engage sincerely with art – or with life (at least, that’s how it seems online).

I’ve noticed it with the memeification of Brat , a trend Charli xcx and her team leaned into, which to some extent diluted the more serious themes of motherhood, ageing and grief on her album.