“Making Fun of Dead Anti-Vaxxers Is Now Mainstream” — Vice News, 2022, 5:37 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR4h0P1XQAM

Here we see an example of compassion fatigue, or when our ability to empathize becomes exhausted. Similar to burnout, the concept describes how we can become cynical (or even hostile) through overusing our compassion skills and caring abilities. We see this as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause death and human suffering, and the fatigue we are experiencing is heightened by the fact most of this is preventable with vaccines. Hence this video explores the Herman Cain Award and the morbid humor found in ridiculing dead anti-vaxxers. All of this is facilitated by the anonymity and social distance the Internet provides.  

What do you think of this morbid humor? How might it reflect other social forces in our society?

From the video’s description: Predominantly white, Christian, and right-wing, dead anti-vaxxers are providing a source of morbid comedy for a growing audience that is just too burned out to care anymore. Dexter Thomas explores the phenomenon of America’s newest schadenfreude obsession.