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How the Aurora Shootings Became Fodder for Lulz

Over the past week, the Aurora shootings have been everywhere online. From the time the first shots were fired, the tragedy has been reported in up-to-the-minute detail by outlets ranging from the New York Times to Reddit. The 12 victims have been mourned and memorialized on blogs and Facebook, and via hashtags on Twitter. However, while the response has been tremendous, not all of it is what you’d expect.

Memegenerator.net is a website that allows users to create Advice Memes, single-frame image macros that are essentially templated jokes, often based on tropes (the unlucky nerd, the technologically inept, the crazy girlfriend). There are dozens upon dozens of Advice Memes, the majority of which circulate on forums and platforms like 4chan, Reddit, and Tumblr.

Over the past week, the site’s usual jokes about video games, forum culture, and bodily functions became interspersed with a darker humor: images that poked fun at the Aurora massacre. 

Read More: TheAtlantic

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