You've seen the memes, but where does the “ trolley problem ” come from? The trolley problem is a famous thought experiment in virtue ethics first conceptualized by philosophers Philippa Foot and Judith Jarvis Thomson between 1967 and 1976. There are many variations of the trolley problem, though most share a common dilemma: do you kill one person to save a larger number? Do you kill or let die? The simplest form of the trolley problem goes something like this, according to Merriam-Webster : “Y…

No more punchlines

I really hoped it wouldn't come to this. After months of refusing to take a stance, and weeks of watching, I have to say that I have a bone to pick with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. My expectations were never particularly high, but I was initially enraptured by the show. Amazon did way better than I thought they would. It soon became clear that the beauty of the series trumps the writing. I may have been able to overlook it at first, but the writing is straight-up bad. It's rife w…

Sh*tpost central

I tell you hwhat, King of the Hill memes will never get old. There's something extra funny about a meme featuring Hank Hill, perhaps because a real-life Hank Hill would have no idea what the hell a meme is. He'd be one of those technologically challenged dads who confuses text messaging with Google search. Even though the iconic animated sitcom ended over a decade ago, King of the Hill is the gift that keeps on giving in the meme world. Keep scrolling for a bunch of weird King of the Hill memes…

Sometimes life is pure pain, but that doesn't mean we can't laugh. In fact, it's often the only thing we can do in the face of rejection, humiliation, and total failure . When people post about their tragic Ls, we're not laughing at them, we're laughing with them. Because we've all been there. Lord knows I have. If you're in the mood for a dose of schadenfreude, we've got a bunch of painful yet hilarious posts full of facepalm.

The whole internet seems to be talking about Rihanna right now. Everywhere you turn there's a new picture of the pop star on the beach in a sequined bikini looking extremely pregnant and not giving two f*cks. But you know what people aren't talking about? This perfect Twitter thread of Rihanna pictures matched perfectly with stills from S pongeBob SquarePants . If you have a passion for both celebrities and shitposts, today is your lucky day. Enjoy.

There's a somewhat infamous /tv/ “favorite movie lines” thread on 4chan in which someone humorously misquoted a character from American Psycho saying, "Patrick, it's you!! You're the American Psycho?!!" Another user replied, “He didn't say that,” escalating the thread into a barrage of ironic shitposts inspired by the OP's American Psycho joke. For example, an image of Frodo captioned, “That's why I'm the Lord of the Rings , not you Sam.” Putting movie titles in movie lines has since become a p…

"People of the Internet! Of the world wide web! Of Reddit, of Instagram ! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when men do not appreciate (or yearn for) Lord of the Rings memes, when sad souls on the Internet do not desire convenient humor, when Lord of the Rings marathons lose their comfort and appeal. But it is not this day. An hour of viruses and responsibilities, when the Age of Internet Nerds comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day,…

People who write horoscopes are always flattering the reader with vague positivity and flowery compliments, often making astrology feel insufferably boring. What do the planetary alignments say about the fact that I'm an emotional wreck who habitually sabotages healthy relationships? That's what I want to know. Even most relatable astrology memes fail to realize the comedic potential of the format. Shitposter @nick_vyssotsky did a little astrological trolling with his series of zodiac signs as…

With all the perils and tragedies of the world (you know, wars, pandemics, inflation) and the agonizing stresses of everyday life, it can often feel as though the last thing on our minds is how we can press pause on the insanity and take a break from it all. It can be incredibly difficult to stop all the overthinking and anxiety that is a natural part of life, but scrolling through a stupid and funny memes and shitposts is sure to give you a small bit of respite from the tortures of reality. Th…

Dinosaurs were probably the most badass creatures to ever walk the planet. As one dino-geek so eloquently put it on Twitter, “I don't even understand people bored by dinosaurs. They were giant bird lizards that got murdered by space, what's your fucken problem.” If that damn Chicxulub impactor hadn't annihilated all the dinosaurs, who knows what the earth would look like today. Maybe dinosaurs would still rule the world. Would there be memes? Would dinosaurs be making memes about themselves? I…

Last Sunday I had my whole week planned out. I did all the laundry, stopped by the grocery store, and went home to food prep for the next several days. Kale salad for Monday. Spinach salad for Tuesday. Chicken salad sandwich for Wednesday. Pasta salad with a side of fruit salad for Thursday. Tuna salad on a Mediterranean salad for Friday. I know it sounds like a lot of salad, but I was determined to have a healthy week so that I could feel good about myself when that inevitable sloppy Saturday…

The other day I saw a sign outside of a smoothie shop that said “when life gives you strawberries, make a smoothie." It was upsetting. For one, they completely missed the point of the proverbial phrase they were referencing (when life gives you lemons, make lemonade). But even worse was the blatantly low-effort attempt to be clever. Have some self respect.

Typing is hrad

Most memes are pretty simple. There's a plethora of different meme formats all basically expressing the same idea: good thing vs. bad thing. One popular version of this genre that's been circulating lately features an image of Mr. Incredible looking pleased juxtaposed with a desaturated and reverse toonified version of Mr. Incredible looking disturbed or traumatized. Via KnowYourMeme These memes are used to make some sort of comparison between two disparate situations. For example, the smell of…