Gen Z Humour and the Russian-Ukraine War: Are We Taking Things Too Far?

Gen Z humour has always been heavily scrutinised; its weird, absurd and dark nature has drawn disapproval from people of other (mainly older) generations. I mean, this generation has literally joked about school shootings, world war III and now, the Russian-Ukraine War. As a generation so exposed to the horrors of the world and yet so oddly comfortable with making dark jokes, one has to wonder: are we crossing a line by calling Vladimir Putin “daddy” and comparing it to the Kimye divorce? 

What is Gen Z humour?

Before we get into the details of the controversy surrounding jokes about the Russian-Ukraine War, let’s quickly analyse Gen Z’s humour. Its uniqueness comes from our generation’s use of irony; specifically our use of meta-irony. But what exactly is that? 

According to Youtuber oliSUNvia, there are four different layers of irony: (1) sincerity, (2) irony/sarcasm, (3) post-irony and (4) meta-irony. The first layer, sincerity, is exactly what it sounds like. You’re making a sincere statement, i.e. no irony. With the second layer, irony, it refers to an ironic statement, i.e. one layer of irony. The statement’s true meaning is derived from the opposite meaning of the statement. The third layer and fourth layer are where things get more complicated. Post-irony has two layers of irony: you start off sincere and then dive into irony, making people think that you stand for the opposite then only return to the original point, which you originally meant. Lastly, meta-irony has two layers of irony as well, except it is hard to decipher if you’re actually being ironic or not.

If you’re still confused — don’t worry, here’s an example to illustrate the different layers of irony.

Sincerity: “I hate skinny jeans.” (True statement)

Irony: “Haha I LOVE skinny jeans.” (Not a true statement, which is the joke)

Post-irony: “Haha guys I don’t like skinny jeans, they’re so cHeUgY” (cheugy means “out of date” or “trying too hard”) (True statement but it looks like I am being ironic and I like skinny jeans, which is the joke)

Meta-irony: “Haha guys, I totally hate skinny jeans, its not like they are currently in my closet or anything haha. They’re so cheugy haha.” (It is hard to decipher the truth as no one can tell if I hate skinny jeans or not, which is the joke)

Only with the emergence of internet culture and cringe culture has Gen Z humour developed as such. You’ll have to be fully aware of what’s considered “cringey” to understand if someone is being ironic. Thus, if you’re someone who is not active on social media or up to date on memes and trends, you’re not going to understand why the joke is funny. (In our example —  how skinny jeans are outdated and there is a Gen Z-millennial war over them.) Another way to decipher the meaning of the joke is to look at the provenance of the joke. If a millennial were to make the statement “I love skinny jeans”, you know that they are likely being serious, as compared to a “zoomer” (a Gen Z netizen) who makes the same statement.

What makes Gen Z humour especially hard to understand?

The combination of the usage of post-irony and meta-irony and the need for contextual information makes it hard for people who are born outside of Gen Z to understand the joke.

Post-irony and meta-irony have multiple layers of hidden messages as opposed to the usual 1-2 layers of meaning that most linguistic tools have. The nature of post-irony and meta-irony already makes it hard for the reader to distinguish if the person is sincere or not, especially if they are only mainly familiar with the first two layers of irony. Combined with the fact that you have to keep up with internet culture (which most of the older generation doesn’t) in order to acquire the contextual knowledge needed to understand the joke, it is easy to see how communication breaks down from there.

Gen Z’s dark humour

Growing up in the age of social media with an endless flow of weird memes and crazy trends has led to Gen Z’s desire for the whackiest, most absurd and sometimes darkest content, to up the ante in their search for the next funny viral video. While dark humour isn’t unique to our generation, the casual manner in which we make it is certainly new. We joke about our trauma, mental illness and global catastrophes like we’re talking about the weather. This has understandably caused other generations to be concerned. After all, how can we joke about something as serious and tragic as a war?

Gen Z humour: its ups, downs and potential danger

A common defence of Gen Z humour is that it is well-intended. Without understanding its nuances, it is easy to brush us off as being insensitive and ignorant for joking about serious matters. Understanding the real meaning behind our jokes would show that we’re actually not really dumb and are smarter and more politically aware than our parents give us credit for. 

Take for instance the “vladdy daddy” meme. As tensions reached a high before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, zoomers took to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Instagram and Twitter, pleading him to not invade as “vladdy daddy this isn’t you”. This is a classic example of post-irony humour, where the person making the statement is sincere, but how it is conveyed makes it appear like they are being ironic, which is the joke. While it may be obvious to zoomers that we’re sincerely against the war, it may not be obvious to others as the joke works on multiple layers of irony and context. 

To understand why Gen Z-ers are telling Putin that invading Ukraine “isn’t him”, you’ll need to know about the Tiktok POV acting trend of ‘pick me girls’ stopping a boy from getting into a fight. We’re using the analogy of Putin acting as the boy who has the tendency to pick a fight (in this case, picking a fight with Ukraine) and mocking his need to project Russian strength with regard to NATO and Europe. On top of that, we are also mocking his need to appear strong and masculine by acknowledging it and taking it to the extreme by calling him “daddy”. 

As journalist Miles Klee put it, “Calling Putin a “daddy” brings submissive horny culture to the logical extreme of fawning over an authoritarian leader, though it also sends up the decades of state propaganda that have painted him as the very portrait of masculinity … You could say the Gen Z brigade is mocking this style of self-presentation, intimately familiar as they are with how a digital presence is crafted and manipulated.” 

Putin’s need to appear masculine, strong and powerful is also projected onto his foreign policy decisions, mainly his obsession with the Soviet Union’s old glory days and his need to revive it. Thus, by seemingly appearing to appeal to his masculinity, we are actually mocking his self-presentation and his need to project strength, be it personally or through foreign policy.

Furthermore, we cannot deny the effectiveness of memes and viral content in creating awareness about the Russia-Ukraine war. This sort of content makes use of a language and analogies that zoomers understand. While some have criticised Gen Z for oversimplifying the conflict by comparing it to the divorce saga between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West , this comparison does accurately break down the heart of the conflict into simpler terms. 

Following the analogy, Kanye (Russia) can’t let go of Kim (Ukraine) cause he misses the good ol’ days of their close ties and relationship. Since the break up (fall of Soviet Union), Kim has been trying to move on with a new partner (NATO/EU) but Kanye still can’t let Kim go (Putin’s strong belief in Ukraine and Russia’s close ties). Thus, he has resorted to erratic actions (Invasion of Ukraine). At the heart of this is one’s (or a nation’s) right to freedom and independence to decide on their own path, be it to join NATO or not. Using a pop culture reference simply makes it easier for youths to understand the issue. By making it easier for zoomers to digest a complex geopolitical issue, we’re also making it easier for youths to take action (donating towards humanitarian aid, protesting, etc.).

The potential danger of Gen Z’s dark humour

The most obvious downside of dark humour would be how it often leads to confusion due to the lack of contextual information. This leads zoomers being labelled as ignorant and not taking things seriously. On issues that are more trivial, it is not usually a serious problem. But when it comes to an actual war, we have to question ourselves and think if we have taken things too far this time.

Gen Z often defends its dark humour by arguing that it is a coping mechanism. Much of our current humour already utilises dark humour as a key aspect, in the same way that a big part of millennial humour is self-deprecating jokes. But Gen Z humour goes a step further by covering areas outside of themselves, such as politics, international relations and current affairs due to the unique position that we find ourselves in. As the hyper-connected generation with huge access to information, we are constantly bombarded with doomsday messages on the climate crisis or the potential outbreak of world war III. Yet, we are very much helpless in resolving these issues as most of the generation still are not able to vote and feel the brunt of the impact of the actions of the older generation. And it seems like these issues just keep piling on: a pandemic, the climate crisis, inequality and injustice, and now a possible world war. The feeling of helplessness and increased connectivity can often be overwhelming and paralysing. Thus, we cope with humour to make sense of the chaos around us and share our anxieties with our peers. A study carried out by VICE Media found that  72% of Gen Zs said that memes help them cope with the pandemic in 2020.

But, what are we actually coping with? After all, most of the people making these memes aren’t the ones facing any actual danger. Twitter user @futurmrsmin rightly pointed out that “how can you joke about ww3 as [a] “coping mechanism”? what are you coping with?”. As the tweet suggests, it is perhaps more valid when the jokes are being made by the Ukrainians suffering as they are the ones who are actually dealing with a traumatic experience. Yet, as people who are geographically removed from the conflict, why do we feel the right to even joke about such matters when we have no real reason to be “coping”? 

I personally believe that the reason Gen Z feels comfortable with making such comments  is that they are consistently experiencing unprecedented, threatening events, all of which cause a lot of anxiety and dread. Also, due to hyper-connectedness, images and videos of the war are flooding social media, and we feel that much closer to the conflict, especially when our peers post about it. While the level of stress, anxiety and trauma is definitely not the same as what Ukrainians suffer from, we still shouldn’t discount how war and violence in other countries can affect us mentally. The nature of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its potential to escalate into a global conflict is very much an existential threat. Thus, we cope with humour rather than spiralling into an existential crisis or feelings of nihilism. 

However, joking about the potential existential threat of the Russian-Ukraine war is different as compared to the existential threat of, say, climate change, due to the former’s immediacy and violence. It is much easier to make jokes to “cope” when we are making jokes from the safety of our bedrooms. While the jokes may be well-intended, it has the tendency to trivialise the ongoing conflict and hurt those who are actually physically affected by the war. 

Following this train of thought, the dark nature of Gen Z humour can also cause us to be desensitised to war and violence. The fact that we are so comfortable joking about violent events is a cause for concern.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, while Gen Z humour can potentially cross the line, we can’t deny the savviness of this generation in making such nuanced jokes. Though well-intended, we can’t deny how memes and jokes made about a situation as tragic as a war can hurt those affected by it. Ultimately, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” A well-intended meme about the war may eventually snowball into desensitisation toward topics we should take seriously. Most dangerously, the use of memes can possibly cause zoomers to undermine the severity of issues and prevent us from having real conversations about these issues. 

If you wish to support the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, check out the following links:

UNICEF

OCHA

Save the Children

• Gen Z Humour
• Humanitarian effort
• Russian-Ukraine War