B-Roll

After North Korea threats, Twitter turns to dark humor

August 9, 2017
Image via Pixabay

Sometimes we laugh to keep from crying. Thanks to Twitter, we’ll be wiping away our tears with tweets, even as a potential nuclear war looms.

Yesterday, Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” should the country continue expanding its nuclear arsenal. His rhetoric caused a stir on social media. By now we’re used to Trump’s bloviation, but this time, his tweets and brief, improvised statement got many thinking, “Well, that escalated quickly.”

IMAGES: How North Korea news played on front pages around the world

Instead of scouring craigslist for used bunkers or rioting in the streets, the people of media Twitter turned to humor–dark, dark humor–to cope. It’s the survival of the wittiest.
 
Internet culture meets folklore:

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Embodying the #YOLO mentality:


 
Doubling down on left-wing factionalism:


 
Joke or no joke:


 
Paging Steven Seagal:


 
Avocad-NO!


 
Too close to home:


 
Dad jokes:


 
Rebuilding roads…and the country:


 
The good news:


 
It’s not all fun and games:

 

And finally, a dose of optimism from Chelsea Manning, who definitely trusts the government:

ICYMI: Six rare images that capture Trump’s TV addiction

Nausicaa Renner and Meg Dalton are the authors of this article. Renner is editor of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism's vertical at Columbia Journalism Review. She tweets at @nausjcaa. Dalton is a Delacorte fellow. Follow her on Twitter @megdalts.