My son and his wife both work for the federal government in Philadelphia. My son is on furlough and his wife’s department is not affected by the shutdown. I was reading about how the shutdown is affecting more than just federal workers and ran across this drink menu from the Capitol Lounge…which I’m assuming is a hotspot for politicians in DC. I just enjoyed the humor in it in an otherwise dark time.
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I actually have a photo of the menu in texts from friends who have been there drinking.
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Lots of DC bars and lounges are offering special drinks and discounted prices for furloughed govvies… it’s a bit of a DC tradition!
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But, did you read the names of the drinks…and the descriptions underneath?
Gotta keep a sense of humor in the middle of this mess, and alcohol doesn’t hurt either.
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I’m not laughing at the state of the national parks. It’s no joke, and we need to remember this for what it is.
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Of course, you’re right. You and @dklgood are both right, though. The whole dang thing is horrible.
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I don’t think anybody is laughing at that.
It’s definitely possible to laugh at a piece or moment of a situation while recognizing the seriousness of the situation in its entirety.
Case in point: I was sitting at home in Houston waiting for Hurricane Ike to make landfall, and I laughed at this: https://youtu.be/JLykQrCLKE8
Hurricane Ike was serious, like many other hurricanes. People died. Some people have never been found. But I still feel ok with myself for laughing at specific, individual events in the midst of it all.
As for the national parks, I probably shouldn’t get into that… it really has little to do with the shutdown, in my opinion, and more to do with the people themselves. True colors and all.
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for all the furlowed government employees–or worse, all the people who contract to the government who have no chance at back pay–you have to find something to laugh at in this kind of situation. no matter how angry you are or how bleak your financial situation may be.
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So watch the good place, it’s hilarious. Cheap jokes that normalize the situation aren’t a good laugh, they are actively destructive.
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to each their own. i like to laugh at my own misfortune (and as a former government contractor, it’s been my misfortune in the past). it’s my coping mechanism. and honestly, lots of other folks in the same situation i was in laughed at themselves this way as well. i don’t see this as “laughing at” government workers, i see it as laughing with them. many of them feel that way too.
i don’t expect everyone copes the same way, but that doesn’t mean this way is the wrong way, just a different way.
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As I stated, my son IS furloughed and he is able to find humor in isolated things about this mess. That doesn’t mean he thinks the shutdown is funny. It’s quite serious. My intention in posting this wasn’t to start a ‘thing’ amongst ourselves. That’s why I was saying ‘not political’…I hope.
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It’s my coping mechanism too. I’m experiencing arm weakness and tend to cross my hands across my chest to relive the discomfort. My close coworkers and I make a lot of T-Rex jokes at my expense. It’s not demeaning or dismissive of the issue, it’s just that laughing about it is a lot better than crying about it. I get that some folks would find it offensive and that’s OK, but it helps me get through the day .
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Agree 100%
Boy…I could relate to this. My husband has extremely short range of motion in one arm, so when he tries to reach for something he reminds me also of a T-Rex. We get a really good laugh out of calling him ol’ short arm…or dino arms. We ALL think it’s funny…and not demeaning in the slightest. Nothing we can do to change it…so we have some fun with it.
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There have been some studies on the use of dark / “inappropriate” humor in the medical field. It’s a coping skill that allows the human psyche to survive the stress of the horrible things one is having to endure, and not at all indicative of a lack of empathy.
Sometimes you’ve just gotta laugh, in order not to cry. Because you can get yourself back up and keep moving forward when you’re laughing, whereas crying takes too much out of you to allow you to continue functioning at full capacity.
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Christmas parties for the ambulance crew (volunteer squad - EMTs & a handful of paid Paramagics) used to drive the non-ambulance staffing spouses crazy. They couldn’t believe the conversations those of us wading into blood pools got into.
My empathy usually tilts in favor of the quiet ones and belligerent or entitled barely injureds would not find a sympathetic ear when they got me out of bed at 2am driving too fast for a curve and now didn’t want me to cut their precious designer duds to deal with their (often minor, but somehow deserving of angst and anguish fit for the mortally wounded) injuries.
But a little kid who broke multiple bones and is trying to tough it out in the face of pain and blood and stifling their tears breaks my heart.
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My husband has been watching all the old re-runs of MASH. Your mention of dark/inappropriate humor in the medical field, particularly in horrible times such as wartime, is illustrated in that series in spades.
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I loved MASH because every job like that has the same thing, “gallows humor”, you can’t change the situation but you can laugh about it when you are not crying about it.
Submariners are some of the worst /best at this.
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Yeah, same with cops. It can get pretty dark, but it keeps us sane and is a way to safely verbalize some of the horror and sadness.
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