On Oct. 16, 2024, Liam Payne, a former member of One Direction, tragically fell to his death from a third-floor balcony at an Argentinean hotel. He died from impact. The next day on Instagram reels, I saw a picture of a sidewalk. The caption read, “Liam Payne’s last hit.”

This demonstrates the complacency we’ve adopted when it comes to joking about tragedy. It seems like nothing is sacred anymore, and we’re willing to take the piss out of virtually anything.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed plenty of dark humor. A well-placed joke about 9/11, Queen Elizabeth or AIDS is still deeply funny to me. They make light of such a dark subject matter. The difference with these jokes is that they have all had time to settle. With modern dark humor, people make light of these tragedies mere hours after the incident, leaving no room to breathe.

This can have a severe effect on our willingness to take things seriously as a society. For example, during the peak of Hurricane Helene, I would see countless reels of horrific footage of families being separated, homes being torn apart and animals being rag-dolled by violent winds, only to be captioned with “Florida moment.” This also applies to the myriads of videos depicting fatal crashes where all the comments are the same: “biker’s fault.”

This immediate reaction to make a joke out of a tragedy has two downsides. One is the most obvious: it is the fact that it numbs us to tragedy. If we constantly see comedic takes on horrible subject matter that occurred recently, then our reactions to it will be nowhere near what they should be. This leads to people neglecting to donate or volunteer. And it can even be a gateway into complete apathy for violence.

This could also harm the families involved. A family suffering from the aftermath of a school shooting, for example, would be crushed by the number of people willing to mock the situation directly after it occurs.

The other negative effect is on the broader world of comedy. If we consistently make light of every terrible event, then the jokes become far less effective. In the 2000s, there was a risk and reward system in place for 9/11 jokes. A comedian knew it would get them into hot water, so they would take the risk of delivering one because, if it worked, it was guaranteed to get a reaction. Nowadays, it’s so common that we’re all expecting a dark humor joke, so it gets a much smaller reaction.

I’m not saying all of this to be a comedy narc; I make light of dark subject matter pretty frequently, and it’s only natural for tragedy to have an element of comedy. The problem is people never give time for a tragedy to be grieved. Immediately mocking these tragic events numbs us, while also harming the broader world of comedy. So please, if you’re going to crack a joke about something sensitive that just happened, maybe just wait a bit.