Before I begin this blog post, there are a couple things that you, the reader, should know about me:
1. This summer I participated in a service trip on the US virgin island, St. Croix. It was the highlight of my summer and a once in a lifetime experience. The best part was probably the friendships I formed. The only problem is everyone else that went on my trip is from the east coast, and I mean EVERYONE. All 12 of them. But their East Coast insight will tie into this blog post soon enough I promise!
2. I am an avid Tumblr user. For those of you who do not know what Tumblr is, it is a blogging website that is mainly focused on pictures. I am proud to say that my blog is followed by 760 people daily and has accumulated 18,400 hits since march. Okay so it's not that impressive but that was my only mark on the blogging world...until now.
So back to my blog post! Recently my east coast friends from my trip cannot stop talking about Hurricane Irene, and rightfully so because it's causing quite the panic. I mean look at how much terror it has done;1.5 billion estimated federal cost, at least 44 death toll, tens of thousands of people without power, etc. it deserves to be talked about, alot! But what I find odd is the number of Irene jokes I have been seeing everywhere! Like the picture you see to the left. This picture has accumulated almost 14,300 notes on tumblr. Which means that 14,300 people have either reposted this on their own blogs or have "liked" it. 14,300. That's close the number of people that still don't even have electricity from the hurricane!
Just like the inflatable boat photo above, this screenshot (of one of its best tweets if I should add) is also famous of Tumblr. Racking in about 18,700 notes may I present to you @Hurriicaneirene !! Pretty funny, huh? Now I'm sure you are loving these jokes as much as I am, but doesn't something seem kind of weird about them? For example, have we as a country ever had such quality hurricane jokes before? Or any hurricane jokes for that matter? I think the answer to these questions is no. When hurricanes hit parts of the US like the south, in areas such as Louisiana or Texas (who know serious storm devastation too well), joke twitter accounts are not being made. No anonymous (wo)man sits behind their computer desk thinking of new jokes to pour out for internet fame. No one blows up an inflatable boat to sail in a whopping 1 cm of water. And no one takes off their pants on national television. Though, I have heard a few Katrina jokes before, but it is my understanding that these jokes are taboo in American society, and are hurtful to the millions who have suffered.
Now I don't think all these Irene jokes are necessarily a bad thing, I'm just not quite sure about how they reflect onto us Americans in general. Are east coasters simply the jokesters, or are they just able to take this situation lightly because they do not know the terror that the southerners do? I'd really like to hear others insight on this oddity basically because I'm not so sure that I even have a solid opinion on this. Thanks for reading!
1. This summer I participated in a service trip on the US virgin island, St. Croix. It was the highlight of my summer and a once in a lifetime experience. The best part was probably the friendships I formed. The only problem is everyone else that went on my trip is from the east coast, and I mean EVERYONE. All 12 of them. But their East Coast insight will tie into this blog post soon enough I promise!
2. I am an avid Tumblr user. For those of you who do not know what Tumblr is, it is a blogging website that is mainly focused on pictures. I am proud to say that my blog is followed by 760 people daily and has accumulated 18,400 hits since march. Okay so it's not that impressive but that was my only mark on the blogging world...until now.
So back to my blog post! Recently my east coast friends from my trip cannot stop talking about Hurricane Irene, and rightfully so because it's causing quite the panic. I mean look at how much terror it has done;1.5 billion estimated federal cost, at least 44 death toll, tens of thousands of people without power, etc. it deserves to be talked about, alot! But what I find odd is the number of Irene jokes I have been seeing everywhere! Like the picture you see to the left. This picture has accumulated almost 14,300 notes on tumblr. Which means that 14,300 people have either reposted this on their own blogs or have "liked" it. 14,300. That's close the number of people that still don't even have electricity from the hurricane!
Or how about this youtube video of the famous "Weather Channel Streaker" (DON'T WORRY IT'S CENSORED!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkAaDcDFopU
It's pretty sad to watch this weather man rant about all the people joking around behind him, isn't it? Mr. Eric Fisher is clearly outnumbered. Those east coasters sure do love their storm humor. But we have not even reached yet my favorite form of Irene humor: The Hurricane Irene twitter account!
It's pretty sad to watch this weather man rant about all the people joking around behind him, isn't it? Mr. Eric Fisher is clearly outnumbered. Those east coasters sure do love their storm humor. But we have not even reached yet my favorite form of Irene humor: The Hurricane Irene twitter account!
Just like the inflatable boat photo above, this screenshot (of one of its best tweets if I should add) is also famous of Tumblr. Racking in about 18,700 notes may I present to you @Hurriicaneirene !! Pretty funny, huh? Now I'm sure you are loving these jokes as much as I am, but doesn't something seem kind of weird about them? For example, have we as a country ever had such quality hurricane jokes before? Or any hurricane jokes for that matter? I think the answer to these questions is no. When hurricanes hit parts of the US like the south, in areas such as Louisiana or Texas (who know serious storm devastation too well), joke twitter accounts are not being made. No anonymous (wo)man sits behind their computer desk thinking of new jokes to pour out for internet fame. No one blows up an inflatable boat to sail in a whopping 1 cm of water. And no one takes off their pants on national television. Though, I have heard a few Katrina jokes before, but it is my understanding that these jokes are taboo in American society, and are hurtful to the millions who have suffered.Now I don't think all these Irene jokes are necessarily a bad thing, I'm just not quite sure about how they reflect onto us Americans in general. Are east coasters simply the jokesters, or are they just able to take this situation lightly because they do not know the terror that the southerners do? I'd really like to hear others insight on this oddity basically because I'm not so sure that I even have a solid opinion on this. Thanks for reading!
-Chrisanthy S
I also don't have a solid opinion on this issue, partially because I did not follow the story closely and so do not know the full extent of the damage or circumstances surrounding the hurricane. I do thing, however, that there is something to be said for the novelty of a situation for entertainment value. While we ignore blizzards here, a snowstorm in DC that shut down the whole city despite being relatively minor was the source of many jokes in its wake. Now, I believe Irene did do substantial damage some places, so this is perhaps not the best parallel, but I still think that much of the humor derives from the unusual novelty of a hurricane on the East Coast. Hurricanes in Florida are not uncommon, and not humorous because they're just a fact of life. This unusual event, however, presents an opportunity for jokes.
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