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:
"How did the Nukey War start, Oldfather?"
"Well …" [I stoke the fire] "It was Hashtag International Cat Day…"
— Kibblesmith ⚔️ (@kibblesmith) August 8, 2017
Embodying the #YOLO mentality:
— darcie (@333333333433333) August 8, 2017
Doubling down on left-wing factionalism:
If there was only something Jill Stein could've done to stop Trump from becoming president…. https://t.co/9FVNK0EuXv
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 9, 2017
Joke or no joke:
No joke: I read Trump's statement on North Korea and thought it was a North Korean statement on Trump.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 8, 2017
I love modern life pic.twitter.com/vCUO1lKBSy
— Jeremy Gordon (@jeremypgordon) August 8, 2017
Paging Steven Seagal:
cool to know that a contingent of people leading conservative public discourse believe we live in a steven segal direct-to-dvd release pic.twitter.com/6ep7dszXyb
— ಠ_ಠ (@MikeIsaac) August 8, 2017
Avocad-NO!
Millennial: your generation got houses and jobs
Boomer: yes but we lived with constant fear of nuclear winter
Millennial: hold my avocado
— Ken Norton (@kennethn) August 8, 2017
100% chance Trump thinks Guam is short for Guamamole.
— Michael, still here (@Home_Halfway) August 9, 2017
Too close to home:
Do you think anyone has mentioned to North Korea that they're supposed to take Trump seriously but not literally?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) August 9, 2017
Dad jokes:
Me: I really hope Trump doesn't nuke North Korea.
Friend: The night is still young.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 9, 2017
Rebuilding roads…and the country:
Trump crawls out of bunker and surveys the flatten radioactive landscape that was D.C.
"Well, time for Infrastructure Week"
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 8, 2017
The good news:
The good news is, none of us will be alive to read your hot takes on "what everyone gets wrong about nuclear fallout"
— Benari Poulten (@BenariLee) August 9, 2017
It’s not all fun and games:
North Korea has 60 nuclear warheads ready for ICBM miniaturization and ICBMs that can reach NYC. END YOUR VACATION and STOP TWEETING, Trump. pic.twitter.com/wjsgf96jjX
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 8, 2017
It's always embarrassing, but in the context of North Korea the twitter tough guy performances seem particularly absurd and inappropriate.
— caffe latte person (@AdamSerwer) August 9, 2017
So it's 9:40 a.m. in Seoul, and still no real chatter about either NK nuke or Trump's "fire and fury." Zilch.
— T.K. of AAK! (@AskAKorean) August 9, 2017
And finally, a dose of optimism from Chelsea Manning, who definitely trusts the government:
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.destroy all nuclear weapons 😎🌈👬👫👭🌎🌍🌏 #WeGotThis
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) August 9, 2017