r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Apr 24 '26

Meme needing explanation Lois?

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u/Ill-Television8690 Apr 24 '26

That doesn't make sense. Even if you see so many examples, if they're not the majority, then how could it be a surprise when it doesn't go that way? This is really just thinly veiled bigotry.

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u/Nebranower Apr 24 '26

People don't pay attention to neutral or mildly positive interactions the way they do very negative ones. The very negative ones may be a threat. They require vigilance. So we pay more attention to them in the moment, which in turn means we remember them more afterwards. So while most of the examples people experience may be neutral or even positive, most of the examples people can consciously recall will be negative.

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u/Ill-Television8690 Apr 24 '26

But that's still incongruent with a feeling of surprise when things proceed as they typically do. Surprise is the wrong word, because it's being used here to describe what one literally knows to expect the most.

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u/Nebranower Apr 24 '26

Counterpoint: It's a meme. It's expressing the idea that doctors see too many men failing to support their wives during childbirth in a humorous way. I don't think it's meant to be interpreted as saying that doctors are literally shocked at a husband being supportive.

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u/Ill-Television8690 Apr 24 '26

I mean, that does still loop back to how this is sexist. "It was so shocking when I found out my new girlfriend was actually capable of cooking! Women just don't know how to do that anymore haha" is still sexist, even if they weren't really saying it's rare that a woman actually knows how to cook. Being a meme/intended as a joke doesn't erase that, a pitfall many burgeoning bigots leap into.