Tumblr Humor At Its Finest, Part One

One of the main ways the users of Tumblr have affected my everyday life is by their warped sense of humor.

Sometimes, as I’m laughing hysterically at a Tumblr post, the people around me will ask, “What is it? I want to see!” With tears in my eyes I’ll turn my computer around to let them see the post. Often I’ll get a weak chuckle or a confused expression in response. I’ll try to explain the humorous aspect, but we all know trying to explain the joke makes it less funny. So thanks for putting me in so many awkward situations, Tumblr.

This post is the first of several dedicated to the many funny posts on Tumblr. Some of these everyone will laugh at. Some of them require background knowledge or knowledge of current events to get the joke. And some of them … I don’t even know, man.

Let’s start with something everyone can find funny, one of my favorite examples of Tumblr humor:

Here’s a great post that makes fun of the sentence structure. The commentators of this post choose to interpret the sentence as stating that the crayon will only burn for 30 minutes in an emergency situation. Naturally, one has to wonder what sort of emergency situations apply. I also personally love the aesthetic quality of a crayon on fire.

Now for some creative Tumblr humor. One of the most unique things about Tumblr is the way its users combine old and new media, a topic which will be explored in depth in a later post. This is one of my favorite examples, a combination of an older piece of literature with modern music.

I don’t even know what prompted the original poster to bring those two elements together. But in the Tumblr world, posts like this beg to be created. The second user actually took the time to sit down and puzzle out how Macklemore’s song “Thrift Shop” would be presented in the style of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven,” and they did it brilliantly. Not only is it hilarious, but it shows the intelligence and creativity of some Tumblr users.

Here’s one that pokes fun at some of the glitches of the new iPhone 6. Apparently it has a habit of bending when someone tries to keep it in a back–or even a front–pocket. So Tumblr had a little fun with that.

Okay, now we’ll get into the weird stuff. This is where I start to think my sense of humor has been permanently twisted by this website.

So here’s something interesting. All of the users who contributed to that post don’t exist at those URLs anymore. Maybe because their mere connection to this post means they were harassed with hundreds of questions about why it even exists. But really. Someone had this idea, managed to scrounge up several GameCubes (or maybe they just had a pile in their basement, I don’t know) and placed them among flowers. If I saw just the picture I would probably wonder what sort of recreational drugs the original poster was on, but the caption really makes this funny. Now I’m picturing a bunch of GameCubes frolicking in a field.

Maybe it’s the pun. Maybe it’s the absurdity of a dog sitting in a news studio. Maybe it’s his blunt reply and the clear indication that this dog has been through puns like this before and will not tolerate this sort of unprofessionalism any longer. Whatever it is, this post gets me every time.

Finally, I think this post sums up Tumblr’s sense of humor quite nicely. Often no caption is required to get the humor across, and this Tumblr user evidently did not feel the need to include one. But everyone once in a while, some person scrolling through their dashboard will come across a post like this and begin to contemplate what exactly led them to this website, to the moment in their existence when they must be subjected to this sort of awful humor.

In this situation, I think the profanity is entirely justified.

Tumblr: Friendly Community or Outlet for Hatred?

Although many people have heard of the social networking site Tumblr, not a lot of the people I associate with have their own accounts. The Tumblr content they see comes from other websites, such as BuzzFeed, which uses Tumblr content in posts like “19 Times Tumblr Asked The Really Important Questions.”*** However, these posts often highlight the funniest, most unique and though-provoking content of the site. Non-Tumblr online users only see the best or most intriguing posts, so their sense of social network and its users may be skewed.

Tumblr users bring many important issues to light, combine old and new content to creative amazing pieces of fanart and media, and share inspirational stories with their followers. A majority of Tumblr users have very liberal political views, advocate for LGTB+ rights, and promote awareness of mental health, all of which can be great things. But often Tumblr users escalate these views to an alarming point: support for homosexuality turns into hatred of heterosexuality, feminism becomes an anti-male agenda, and support for people of color prompts mockery of anyone whose skin is white. Here’s one example.

Although the original post by user pomfette may be seen as funny initially, the contribution by user sjwf*ckups invites a different interpretation of the post. What is it about Tumblr’s atmosphere that makes a post “glorifying abusive relationships” funny? The 200,000+ notes indicate that this post has been liked and reblogged that many times on the site. Did the users who shared it find the post funny, or are they trying to call attention to the issue sjwf*ckups brings to light?

What strikes me the most about this post (which you can view by clicking the link in the caption) is that the original user, pomfette, can no longer be found at that URL. Often this indicates the user received so much hate regarding their content that they moved to a different URL or left Tumblr altogether.

Here’s one more example. I’ll try to censor Tumblr posts in my blog to be as user-friendly as possible (since Tumblr users LOVE to swear), but if you want to see the original uncensored version just click the link in the caption.

User candycoatedcreepies’ rant goes on, providing links to the article and even including quotes, but this screenshot gets the point across. Tumblr has a tendency to jump on the hate-train without bothering to check sources or even to wonder whether the content they are posting could be considered hateful or offensive. Often the original post circulates long before other users bring these issues to light. It makes you wonder how many of the people who reblogged the post initially agreed with these views of hatred.

By the way, I would have linked to candycoatedcreepies’ page to give you an idea of their views, but unfortunately the page could not be found. What a shame.

Thankfully, not all of Tumblr’s users are ignorant to this issue. This post by user year-0f-the-kyle reminds other users that you can’t fight fire with fire. Although Tumblr’s community of haters may not be very big, I see these types of posts circulating way too often for me to think it’s an insignificant issue. Next time you see Tumblr content circulating on the web, ask yourself what sort of views that post is really promoting.

 

***Some or all of the pages I link to on this blog may include foul language and/or views I don’t agree with. Click on them at your own discretion.