ADVERTISEMENT

Laughing while crying tears of sadness seems to be the name of the game in 2020. Americans are battling the intense wildfires that are ravaging the West Coast, turning the sky red, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. Meanwhile, internet users have been mercilessly poking fun at gender reveal parties after one such event led to the outbreak of a massive fire in Southern California. The El Dorado Fire started because of a pyrotechnic device on September 5 and has since then burned over 13.5k acres of land.

Scroll down, upvote your fave memes, and let us know what you think of them and gender reveal parties in the comments. And if you’re currently somewhere on the West Coast, stay safe, dear Pandas!

Bored Panda spoke about the El Dorado fire with Joe Wadlington who is in San Francisco right now and created one of the gender reveal memes. He said that nobody should be playing around with pyrotechnic devices, explosives, or fireworks during wildfire season in California because the consequences can be massive. "Gender reveal parties are already toxic and unnecessary. Now people are starting wildfires. I'm in San Francisco right now and it's slowly raining ash outside my window." Read on for the rest of his insights. Bored Panda also reached out to 'Know Your Meme's' Senior Editor Matt Schimkowitz to hear his take on gender reveal memes. Check out what he had to say below as well.

According to 'Know Your Meme's' very own Matt, he personally finds the gender reveal memes funny. "It's an easy format that people are getting a lot of mileage from. Do I think that it's necessary to shame them? I'm not in the business of determining something like that. But it's hard to feel sympathy for the couple, especially for someone like me living in California who spent the weekend indoors because the air quality is so poor. And I’m lucky. Lives are being ruined by these fires. People are being displaced. Some are dying."

Matt doesn't think that the memes will help people become more aware of the potential damage they can cause, but they might sway public opinion about gender reveal parties. "I think that that public's perception about gender reveals might shift. With so many people publicly mocking them at the moment, some might be a little more apprehensive to throw one," he said.

"On some level, news and current events drive memes. They allow people to express their fears, hopes, and feelings on everyday life. The California fires are inspiring some memes this week, but with so much going on in the world, it's hard to tell if that will continue. Last year, the Australian bush fires, a major tragedy in their own right, drove news stories and memes. Flint, Michigan's water crisis is an ongoing tragedy that inspired its fair share of memes, but if the news doesn't keep that at the forefront of people's minds, people tend to move on to the next disaster."

ADVERTISEMENT

Meanwhile, Joe told us what inspired him to create his own gender reveal meme about the Hindenburg disaster. "I thought through well-known historical disasters that had a recognizable image and had been completely preventable. I wanted to alight gender reveal parties with something else that’s embarrassing and was unnecessary. Because they are embarrassing and unnecessary and could mark our time as lack critical thought," he said.

"People shouldn’t have gender reveal parties. They encourage the toxic ways we’ve socialized gender. You should raise your baby to be a healthy baby, not like a 'little cheerleader' vs. a 'little football player,' Joe shared his opinion.

"Having a gender reveal party implies that the parents are going to raise their child very differently depending on what gender the kid is assigned at birth. I’m sure most of us can think of a time we wish our own parents hadn’t forced us into a specific thing just because boys or girls are 'supposed to do it.' If you want to tell people about your baby’s anatomy, that’s fine. But it shouldn’t be the most important thing about them. Why would we pass that close minded binary down to the next generation?"

ADVERTISEMENT
#7

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

trapgame69 Report

Add photo comments
POST
henrydoesrandomstuff avatar
InstantRamenGuy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is inaccurate, as America is doing literally nothing to combat covid-19, and is definitely not wearing armor.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

imatoofbrush Report

Add photo comments
POST
s_p_barnett avatar
Steve Barnett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A vespiary. It's yellow, it's black, no yellow, wait...what the fudging sex is it!

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

The fire began during a family photoshoot at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, around 70 miles east of Los Angeles, after a smoke device ignited the nearby brush. Since then, the fire has spread, and only around a third of it has been contained as of September 10.

“In my 30 years as a citizen in Yucaipa, I have never seen such a large fire. As a retired firefighter with 32 years of experience, I can assure you I witnessed one of the most dangerous fires that we can have in this area,” said Yucaipa Mayor David Avila.

The sad thing is, this isn’t the only gender reveal party to have started a fire. Back in 2017, a party in Arizona led to a wildfire that razed 47k acres after a man shot an explosive substance at a target. He was ordered to repay around 8 million dollars in damages.

#10

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

GriffLightning Report

Add photo comments
POST
kathrynbaylis_2 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Let alone feeling like it’s perfectly fine to set off those explosives in a dry wooded area during a drought.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

At the time of writing, there were more than 100 wildfires rampaging through 12 western US states currently, as reported by the BBC. The National Interagency Fire Center states that 4.4 million acres of land have been burned.

California, Oregon, and Washington have been affected the hardest. At least 15 people have died from wildfires in these three states and 500k Oregonians are leaving their homes behind and evacuating to safety.

#13

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

cableable2 Report

Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The BLM protesters didn't destroy properties, but looters and crooks did.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#16

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

cspenceryeh Report

ADVERTISEMENT
#19

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

thegoodgodabove Report

Add photo comments
POST
mjw0sysascend_com avatar
lara
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone who has a gender reveal party will give birth to a rhino.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#20

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

jbillinson Report

Add photo comments
POST
benredcatcity avatar
Ben RedCatCity
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an European, I find really singular how a lot of Americans, whatever they live, love or do feel "obligated" to make a show of it. I got the feeling that it must be hard to live in a culture where an individual is pushed to be in the constant representation of it own self. Tears of compassion.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#22

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

Report

Add photo comments
POST
andrewwang avatar
Awangutann
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

those boys definitely put in effort as seen from their faces

View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

solomongeorgio Report

Add photo comments
POST
emileecalahan avatar
Torchicachu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i wonder how thats gonna turn out. they show up to school and was like "hey im the kid that basically killed your cousins and friends. nice to meet you!"

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#25

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

reddit.com Report

#26

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

daveweigel Report

Add photo comments
POST
mjw0sysascend_com avatar
lara
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why gender reveal parties? Because most of the people born after 1980 NEVER grew the hell up.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#28

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

sarahschauer Report

Add photo comments
POST
katy_malinowski avatar
Katy McMouse
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

O.k., I'm only part way through yet I've laughed so hard my head is killing me. Thank God this useless trend is finally going up in smoke.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#29

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

lordpetty_ Report

#32

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

notn1co Report

Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sure that as the fires are raging, there are American moms planning another gender reveal party with loads of fireworks and explosions and hundreds of plastic balloons so more animals will die.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#37

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

chadopitz Report

Add photo comments
POST
elsietnorth avatar
Firework
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why are people blaming the kid now? It's the parents that used explosives.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
See Also on Bored Panda
#42

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

friendlygrond Report

Add photo comments
POST
154079 avatar
Pup_Fluffy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i just love the lotr memes, the context is funny if you are a lotr fan

View more commentsArrow down menu
#43

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

reddit.com Report

Add photo comments
POST
monika-soffronow avatar
Monika Soffronow
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Andrew: This is how you can comment/reply to a comment with many downvotes. Just don't use pejorative adjectives about the posters, please. This site, as all sites, is only as civilized as we users make it.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#44

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

deekotadoods Report

Add photo comments
POST
chicagoslooper avatar
Chicago Dog Lover
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cousin sent a photo from 20 mi away. The sky was orange and everything was covered with soot. Terrifying!

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#45

Gender-Reveal-Jokes

Report

Note: this post originally had 80 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.