Top Ten Satirical Responses to Frustrating Events

Top Ten Satirical Responses to Frustrating Events—Then vs. Now
Num	Time Period	Frustrating Event	Action Taken in Response
Num	Time Period	Frustrating Event	Then	Now
10.)	1960s	Ran out of pot at Woodstock	Asked friend Barbara for a joint	Shot the guy who owned the farm
9.)	1970s	Preference for punk rock over disco	Spray painted "disco sucks" graffiti far and wide	Shot up Studio 54
8.)	1970s	Lisa defaced your Leif Garrett poster	Kissed Lisa's boyfriend at the matinee	Shot up the movie theater during a showing of Jaws
7.)	1980s	Spencer's Gifts is sold out of posters of your favorite hair band	Cussed out loud and went to the arcade to play Defender	Called the SWAT team on the person who beat you at Minecraft
6.)	1980s	Next door neighbor won't stop blasting "Cum on Feel the Noize"	Bought noize-canceling headphones	Knocked on neighbor's door to complain about the noize, but then he shot you
5.)	1990s	Argued over whether the floating door could have supported both Rose and Jack	Moved on, watched the latest episode of Beverly Hills, 90210	Anonymously trolled the Titanic forum, threatened to shoot everyone
4.)	1990s	Sonic the Hedgehog knocks on your door	Redirected him to Amy Rose's house down the street	Opened fire at him
3.)	2000s	You accidentally got into the wrong Dodge Neon	You apologized, then found your stone white Dodge Neon nearby	Got shot by the crazy guy in the first car
2.)	2010s	Your mom wouldn't buy you skinny jeans	Got job shoveling snow; bought them yourself	Turned 18, bought an AR 15, shot your mom and the guy who drives the snow plow
1.)	2020s	Drove up the wrong driveway	Realized mistake, left	Got shot and killed by the homeowner

Posted May 17, 2023

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Commentary

This top ten list is more about lamenting the recent over-the-top responses to frustrating situations, than trying to make people laugh. The concept is based on recent news reports of people being shot for knocking on the wrong door, driving up the wrong driveway, or getting into the wrong car.

Each item shows: (1) the time period the hypothetical event happened (e.g., 1960s, 1970s, etc.), (2) a description of the hypothetical frustrating event, followed by (3) the action taken in response to the event. The action taken in response is split into an action "Then" (i.e., in the time period shown) and an action "Now" (i.e., what might happen in current times in 2023). The items are generally made up, though some items (items 7, 4, 3, and 1) are based on recent news stories.

While past decades have had similar issues with inappropriate responses to stressful events, the responses to trying situations do seem to have changed over time. Besides the willingness to shoot first and ask questions later, there also seems to be an increase in anonymous harassment, leading to new words such as "swatting." This approach (i.e., calling the SWAT team on someone as a supposed prank) has even been used by a Georgia teenager as a completely inappropriate way to punish opponents in online gaming clashes. Other types of modern harassment include "doxing," whereby you reveal someone else's personal information online in the hope that others will harass or endanger them.

We'll try to get back to the "funny" in "funny top ten lists" with our next effort.

This image of "building defaced with 'Disco Sucks' graffiti" was created by Klugmeister using artificial intelligence software. The image was reviewed by Klugmeister before posting on this web page.

Top Ten Satirical Responses to Frustrating Events—Then vs. Now