I need this one explained to me... Did something happen in March 2025? Why are there two different versions of the same joke? Or is it all one big joke? I know the second frame in the first joke is a guy from the fallout show but I don't understand what it means in this context. What is the person in the second joke, just a generic trans person? I also don't understand what that has to do with COVID. Maybe I'm just dense.
Not just March 2025, just everything in those 5 years. The second version is an alt version because a lot of people transitioned in that time, including Myself. The joke is that Moises Arias played Rico on Hannah Montana, a children’s show on the Disney Channel, as well as Norman McClean on Fallout, who is constantly going through emotional termoil
Ahh okay. I guess I'm too old (or ignorant) to recognize the child actor, I thought it was just some generic happy kid. I also had no idea about the high prevalence of people transitioning during that time. I've officially become the old fogie who isn't hip to the times, dagnabit!
Yeah, but putimg this (actually not bad) meme into a "funny" community feels a bit like taking a whole generation, that we seriously fucked up, not seriously.
Even if OP is still in his teens or so and was actually telling about his own struggle.
This is the classic misconception, that if you make a joke about something, you are not taking it serious.
You can talk about things you or other people struggle with in a joking way and it doesn't take anything away from the seriousness. It might even help to let others understand your struggle.
This is especially a Gen Z thing, they love self deprecating jokes. I see nothing wrong with that personally.
You didn't quite get me I think:
In my opinion, only the putting of the meme under c/funny is taking away from its seriousness.
The meme itself is totally fine.
I'm GenX and we are also very much into fatalistic satirical humour (and absurdist humour - I actually enjoy brainrot - shoutout to GenZ: great work here!).
So I absolutely agree with trying to deal with dreadful stuff in form of biting satire.
But posting it under c/funny I perceive as derogative, as it implies: hey don't take it serious.
I was a teen when the pandemic hit. It changed Me so much that I have no idea what My life would have been like without it. Maybe better, I don’t know.
Did you realize you posted two different versions of the meme?
I just now realized when looking at this post via web browser. My phone's Lemmy client showed me the first one, the second one was only tiny in some corner, so I didn't notice it.
Changes the context somewhat.
Good that it turned out well for you!
My elder son (very late GenZ) wasn't affected much, but my daughter developed severe issues, we even had to visit a child psychologist and youth counseling for quite some time.
She was four when the pandemic hit, and started school just when the worst was over, after having had almost no social contacts in her age group for almost two years and with some obsessive compulsive traits caused by all the strictly enforced rules and had anxiety issues after they were lifted.
Went into outright school refusal that took the better part of three years to get somewhat right again.
Friend's daughter same age as my son developed some severe fear issues and psychological reversal issues. E.g. started crapping in her pants again and refusing to sleep alone at age 10.
Nothing funny with that at all, so please understand my initial harsh reaction after having only seen the first version of the meme in your post (the one with the dark dude).
I don't think you understand the fundamentals of humor, my friend.
To laugh at tragedy is how you get through tragedy. No one is laughing at this meme because they think it's funny that a whole generation of kids got to miss out on their youth due to covid, wars and inflation.
We laugh because we can relate and because there is something kind of ironic about how we all probably hoped that coivd was gonna be a short lived thing and that things would go back to normal eventually. The fact that the hits have kept coming every single year since 2020 is comical because it's so awful.
The young people of today have been screwed out of a carefree youth. Are you really gonna tone police their humor just because it offends you personally?
But the meme he posted is about a generation's trauma and its dark consequences.
Totally belongs in a serious meme- or society-community, but seeing it filed under "funny" really annoys me.
I'm gonna need you to edit that "he" to a "Her", "They", or "It", in accordance with @Speedforce@multiverse.soulism.net's pronouns, which you can find by clicking on Her profile.
Lifting the schooling and meeting restrictions on the kids first, before every other relaxing measure, as they are the most affected by social deprivation and the least by Covid.
Instead we often did the opposite, making concessions to the loud "I can't breath with masks and won't vaccinate" lobby.
The problem with that is that kids live with adults. Kids might be the least affected by COVID, but they can be carriers. So, if you're exposing kids, you're also exposing adults.
Your statement is true and valid for the first few months of the pandemic, when everyone was frantically trying to get the infection rates down.
It didn't apply any more to the longer lasting second phase of the pandemic (that's the one I've been talking about).
Goal was to reach the endemic phase, meaning that almost everyone should get infected at least once, but without straining the healthcare system beyond its limits cause severe cases pile up in the intensive care units.
Kids had been known by then to:
a) not develop severe symptoms, thereby posing no problems for the hospitals themselves
b) being much less likely to infect other persons than grown-ups due to smaller lung volume and lower virus counts
c) be the most vulnerable group to lockdowns due to critical development stages happening in the early years in rapid succession
So the logical and responsible way to increase infection rates (which was wanted at that point to reach endemic stage) would be to keep schools and child centric activities open as early and much as possible, and only lifting restrictions for other groups of people gradually if numbers permit.
What happened instead is that restrictions were lifted globally for everyone based on incidence rates and hospital capacity (often divided by regions).
So, yes, school was open, but also the closed room restaurants and bars, where everyone was partying.
This rapidly let to shutdowns again to bring the incidence down (which took longer than the increase, due to involved infection maths).
So, for one and a half years the typical cycle was:
Everything completely open for 2 weeks, followed by 3-4 weeks lockdown again, when the numbers had become to high.
In the analysis of the pandemic looking back, the handling of the school- and childcare situation has been the most criticized in my country, together with some nonsensical measures during lockdown (e.g. severe restriction of movement under open air).
So yes, children have been screwed unnecessary during the pandemic, mostly because some more influential lobby groups managed to push their agendas (e.g. hospitality industry and the influence of right-wing anti-vaxxer groups).
This sounds like a generic AI aphorism while the discussion has long moved on already.
Sorry, dude, not fitting any more and missing the point by now ;-)
36 Comments
sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 232d
I need this one explained to me... Did something happen in March 2025? Why are there two different versions of the same joke? Or is it all one big joke? I know the second frame in the first joke is a guy from the fallout show but I don't understand what it means in this context. What is the person in the second joke, just a generic trans person? I also don't understand what that has to do with COVID. Maybe I'm just dense.
Speedforce@multiverse.soulism.net · 12 pts · 232d
Not just March 2025, just everything in those 5 years. The second version is an alt version because a lot of people transitioned in that time, including Myself. The joke is that Moises Arias played Rico on Hannah Montana, a children’s show on the Disney Channel, as well as Norman McClean on Fallout, who is constantly going through emotional termoil
sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 232d
Ahh okay. I guess I'm too old (or ignorant) to recognize the child actor, I thought it was just some generic happy kid. I also had no idea about the high prevalence of people transitioning during that time. I've officially become the old fogie who isn't hip to the times, dagnabit!
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
Was that Hannah's little brother? Honestly was a pretty good show
random_character_a@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 232d
For my antisocial ass those were the best years.
BootLoop@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 233d
I mean, yeah, I bet you did play a lot of Xbox.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · -25 pts · 233d
Downvoting because, honestly, not funny.
Seen too much socially and emotionally seriously crippled kids during the last few years to be able to laugh about that.
idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 30 pts · 233d
You have to learn to laugh about anything otherwise your life will be very sad.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · -4 pts · 233d
Yeah, but putimg this (actually not bad) meme into a "funny" community feels a bit like taking a whole generation, that we seriously fucked up, not seriously.
Even if OP is still in his teens or so and was actually telling about his own struggle.
wuzzlewoggle@feddit.org · 10 pts · 233d
This is the classic misconception, that if you make a joke about something, you are not taking it serious.
You can talk about things you or other people struggle with in a joking way and it doesn't take anything away from the seriousness. It might even help to let others understand your struggle.
This is especially a Gen Z thing, they love self deprecating jokes. I see nothing wrong with that personally.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 233d
You didn't quite get me I think:
In my opinion, only the putting of the meme under c/funny is taking away from its seriousness.
The meme itself is totally fine.
I'm GenX and we are also very much into fatalistic satirical humour (and absurdist humour - I actually enjoy brainrot - shoutout to GenZ: great work here!).
So I absolutely agree with trying to deal with dreadful stuff in form of biting satire.
But posting it under c/funny I perceive as derogative, as it implies: hey don't take it serious.
Speedforce@multiverse.soulism.net · 6 pts · 232d
*Her
I was a teen when the pandemic hit. It changed Me so much that I have no idea what My life would have been like without it. Maybe better, I don’t know.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 232d
Did you realize you posted two different versions of the meme?
I just now realized when looking at this post via web browser. My phone's Lemmy client showed me the first one, the second one was only tiny in some corner, so I didn't notice it.
Changes the context somewhat.
Good that it turned out well for you!
My elder son (very late GenZ) wasn't affected much, but my daughter developed severe issues, we even had to visit a child psychologist and youth counseling for quite some time.
She was four when the pandemic hit, and started school just when the worst was over, after having had almost no social contacts in her age group for almost two years and with some obsessive compulsive traits caused by all the strictly enforced rules and had anxiety issues after they were lifted.
Went into outright school refusal that took the better part of three years to get somewhat right again.
Friend's daughter same age as my son developed some severe fear issues and psychological reversal issues. E.g. started crapping in her pants again and refusing to sleep alone at age 10.
Nothing funny with that at all, so please understand my initial harsh reaction after having only seen the first version of the meme in your post (the one with the dark dude).
Speedforce@multiverse.soulism.net · 2 pts · 229d
Yes, I included the alt because I couldn't choose between the two lol
Nangijala@feddit.dk · 4 pts · 232d
I don't think you understand the fundamentals of humor, my friend.
To laugh at tragedy is how you get through tragedy. No one is laughing at this meme because they think it's funny that a whole generation of kids got to miss out on their youth due to covid, wars and inflation.
We laugh because we can relate and because there is something kind of ironic about how we all probably hoped that coivd was gonna be a short lived thing and that things would go back to normal eventually. The fact that the hits have kept coming every single year since 2020 is comical because it's so awful.
The young people of today have been screwed out of a carefree youth. Are you really gonna tone police their humor just because it offends you personally?
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 4 pts · 233d
It seems like a joke about OP realizing they're trans more than anything.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 4 pts · 233d
It's not about the Xbox slowly becoming garbage and OP regrets not getting a PC? 🤔
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 1 pts · 233d
How do you figure? Not disagreeing Xbox has become garbage or that PC isn't better. Just not sure how the meme is saying it.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 2 pts · 233d
The xbox ecosystem is about to collapse and most of the decisions micorosoft made for it to be where it is happened in the last 5 or 6 years.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · -1 pts · 233d
Well, I don't know OP, so maybe.
But the meme he posted is about a generation's trauma and its dark consequences.
Totally belongs in a serious meme- or society-community, but seeing it filed under "funny" really annoys me.
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 4 pts · 233d
Well, it's not a "wholesome memes" community. I get your point insofar as cynical humor can be frustrating at times.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 0 pts · 233d
Cynical! Thank you, that was the word I have been looking for the whole time!
But I still think that posting the meme to this funny community reduces it to an actual joke.
Placing it under c/memes or so would still preserve its cynical form while much less affecting its serious core premise.
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net · 0 pts · 232d
I'm gonna need you to edit that "he" to a "Her", "They", or "It", in accordance with @Speedforce@multiverse.soulism.net's pronouns, which you can find by clicking on Her profile.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 0 pts · 232d
Except you can't. I actually had a look at her profile before writing the comment and would have used the pronouns, if there had been any:

Grail@multiverse.soulism.net · 3 pts · 232d
Ah, that's because you're using Lemmy, which doesn't support the feature.
If you use a PieFed instance and client such as MULTIVERSE, you'll be able to see the pronouns field on a user's page.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 232d
How did we fuck them up? And what could we have done differently that wouldn't have resulted in more deaths?
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 232d
Lifting the schooling and meeting restrictions on the kids first, before every other relaxing measure, as they are the most affected by social deprivation and the least by Covid.
Instead we often did the opposite, making concessions to the loud "I can't breath with masks and won't vaccinate" lobby.
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 232d
The problem with that is that kids live with adults. Kids might be the least affected by COVID, but they can be carriers. So, if you're exposing kids, you're also exposing adults.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 232d
Your statement is true and valid for the first few months of the pandemic, when everyone was frantically trying to get the infection rates down.
It didn't apply any more to the longer lasting second phase of the pandemic (that's the one I've been talking about).
Goal was to reach the endemic phase, meaning that almost everyone should get infected at least once, but without straining the healthcare system beyond its limits cause severe cases pile up in the intensive care units.
Kids had been known by then to:
a) not develop severe symptoms, thereby posing no problems for the hospitals themselves
b) being much less likely to infect other persons than grown-ups due to smaller lung volume and lower virus counts
c) be the most vulnerable group to lockdowns due to critical development stages happening in the early years in rapid succession
So the logical and responsible way to increase infection rates (which was wanted at that point to reach endemic stage) would be to keep schools and child centric activities open as early and much as possible, and only lifting restrictions for other groups of people gradually if numbers permit.
What happened instead is that restrictions were lifted globally for everyone based on incidence rates and hospital capacity (often divided by regions).
So, yes, school was open, but also the closed room restaurants and bars, where everyone was partying.
This rapidly let to shutdowns again to bring the incidence down (which took longer than the increase, due to involved infection maths).
So, for one and a half years the typical cycle was: Everything completely open for 2 weeks, followed by 3-4 weeks lockdown again, when the numbers had become to high.
In the analysis of the pandemic looking back, the handling of the school- and childcare situation has been the most criticized in my country, together with some nonsensical measures during lockdown (e.g. severe restriction of movement under open air).
So yes, children have been screwed unnecessary during the pandemic, mostly because some more influential lobby groups managed to push their agendas (e.g. hospitality industry and the influence of right-wing anti-vaxxer groups).
Rooster326@programming.dev · 1 pts · 233d
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 15 pts · 233d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_humor
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · -3 pts · 233d
ls it dark?
Yes, no question here.
But is it humour?
Compare to this statement:
"Me, a Catholic having been taught that using condoms is evil: happy because it feels more intense.
I now have an STD."
It's basically the same as the meme.
Funny?
Some still might think, but I really don't.
Worth talking about?
Definitely!
But not as a joke.
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 10 pts · 233d
Humor is incredibly subjective. I see the humor. I find it funny. It's okay if you don't think it's funny, but it's still humor.
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 232d
At the centre of every joke is a grain of truth. Sometimes the grain is pretty big and hard enough to break your teeth on.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 0 pts · 232d
This sounds like a generic AI aphorism while the discussion has long moved on already.
Sorry, dude, not fitting any more and missing the point by now ;-)