this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
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I know this is memes sub, but does anyone else find it harder and harder to joke about this shit? Like we’re full steam ahead for fascism. A lot of people are (and are already) going to suffer and die. And like I’m just sitting here looking at memes on my phone about it.
Mel Brooks once pointed out that dictators hate to be laughed at. And he would know, given he fought the Nazis in WWII.
So laugh. Mock them. Humiliate them. Their overinflated egos can’t handle even the slightest scratch, so short of shooting them this is going to be the best way to hurt them.
I think you need to publicly ridicule them. So making memes ain't bad. Though fascists are inherently stupid, so they don't understand those memes. Putin? He has had an image of himself in makeup in front of a rainbow flag banned. Xi? Winnie the Pooh. Now what could that be for Trump? What will get him to try to ban an image?
Reminds me when Chaplin later (in 1964) said he wouldn't have made The Great Dictator (1940) if he had known the full extent of the horrors of nazi concentration camps.
//edit: Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator right before the Plot section.
Man, I’m a zoomer, we’ve been marching down the path of fascism since I was whippin’ shitties in my dad’s nutsack, ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq, the patriot act, prism, humor is the only escape I’ve ever had
Found the Minnesotan
https://www.spectatornews.com/uncategorized/2004/10/minnesota-vs-wisconsin-the-dialect-debate/
Humor is also part of how we cope with reality as humans, I think.
Even when we're in the trenches, there's gonna be some jokes being cracked.
That being said, it's totally fine to feel this way too, shit is serious and it feels awful
Exactly. Gallows humor is a normal and healthy coping mechanism. That's why it is standard in military, first responders, hospitals, etc..
Well said. Agree wholeheartedly.
I am reading Man’s Search for Meaning, and the author speaks about how even in the concentration camps, where death and suffering is shoved in your face, the prisoners still joke and try to make the best of a truly horrific situation. I guess humor has evolved as a sort of coping mechanism, and as a method of keeping sane.
If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It’s very powerful and raw.
To add to this, there's a great section in Man Without a Country by Vonnegut where he talks about his approach to humor, and he mentions the time he was in Dresden during WW2 as a prisoner of war, while it was being bombed.
A bigger part of the section here: https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/bookworm/kurt-vonnegut-1/excerpt-from-a-man-without-a-country
I really agree with the chain under this regarding gallows humor. I'm going to add the books to my list.
I think this is also a subversive act when the subject is so enamored with image.
3rd times the charm!
Give yourself some credit. We probably both voted this meme up, and if that doesn't topple fascism, we can always watch TV about it.
There some things that are problematic to joke about but this is just a silly image edit. Take it for what it is.
It is pretty surreal, huh? I cope through irreverent humor, which will probably get me sent to a concentration camp, but it'll also get me through living in that camp. How that ends is open to interpretation.
Things are difficult and the actions of this administration are causing unnecessary suffering to many people. However, the republic and the world survived 8 years of W Bush, a useful idiot for super-wealthy friends of his VP, disruptor of the global order, friend to Christian nationalists, stoker of anti-Islamic violence, warden of Guantanamo Bay prison, and wrecker of the economy. The parallels to our situation today are striking. Perhaps the US will survive again.
I'm not okay with it. that's how it gets normalized and accepted