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Comment by amalag | Hacker News Reader

He is a very legitimate contender for person of the year. A thirty-something we know nothing about in charge of a failing state with nuclear weapons. 4chan may be trolling, but the levity about north korea and their slave labor camps isn't funny because it is a real tragedy that noone can do anything about it.

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Yes, exactly. I don't understand the purpose of this. 4chan is trolling nobody. The person of the year award is not meant to mean the most likeable or best person. That's why Hitler, Stalin (twice), Khomeini had the title in the past.

Of course one can question whether Kim Jong Un had really such a huge impact on events.

Your mistake is looking for a "purpose" to try to understand.

4chan is trolling nobody.

I think you and amalag are misunderstanding 4chan's motives.

So am I, care to explain?

They are doing it "for the lulz".

but there is no lul if during the war Hitler was person of the year. it's not a popularity contest.

> if during the war Hitler was person of the year

It was before the war, but whatever... your point is still good.

the lul is that they can do it.

It seems like Kim Jong Un is last of Hitler and Stalin alike. Is there any other dictators like that?

There's quite a few (not saying that any of these are on the same level as Hitler or Stalin) currently around: http://conservapedia.com/List_of_dictators

See 'yyyy - Present' under Years In Power.

The most prevalent and similar to the above would probably be Robert Mugabe.

Here's a list from a less bonkers source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator#List_of_dictators_in_...

Good call, I didn't look at the homepage for the site I posted.

It wouldn't be my personal choice to give page views to people with these particular opinions, but the information appeared to be correct in terms of the topic.

I personally love conservapedia because it's such an amusing mix of trolls and genuine far-right Christians with the borders blurring everywhere, only the Internet can make such a "work of art" possible.

However, they list Kim Jong-Il as "1994-present" while he died in 2011 and haven't listed his son yet.

"the levity about north korea and their slave labor camps isn't funny"

Gallows humor is generally about the horror of the situation, not at the expense of the victims.

"Gallows humor" refers to the humor of those facing the gallows, not tasteless jokes cracked by comfortable observers.

Ah yes, black comedy then. I'm referring to the general feeling of futility from someone who has no ability to change the situation from afar.

Even still, most jokes from 4Chan or South Park are probably not the best examples of what I'm trying to convey, lazy snark when some consciousness and concern is required for the usage I'm suggesting.

Ok, call it cancer doc humor...

All the people on the shortlist were legitimate contenders.

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