Buzzfeed is killing people from the inside out

Buzzfeed is the death of comedy, just like Huffington Post is the death of journalism. The world is worse for their existence.

Half-baked listicals that rely on the audience to share the editorial positions of the writer are the internet equivalent of a good-old fashioned witch burning.

Buzzfeed knows that you already like "X," so it then showers you with images, quotes, and semi-punchlines that show "X" in the most positive light possible to engage nostalgia and solidify group-think. Buzzfeed will never challenge its viewers ever. Okay, maybe Buzzfeed will challenge viewers to double-down on their existing beliefs or preferences by overwhelming them with one-sided arguments in favor of the beliefs or preferences they already hold. AKA Buzzfeed will never challenge its viewers.

They're the internet version of Larry the Cable guy, targeted at college-educated millennials. If you see someone reading Buzzfeed, tell them they are killing comedy. Comedy should:

• ask new questions
• challenge preexisting notions
• reconsider your positions
• ponder the complexity of things
• be uncomfortable

The funniest comedians are the ones who can make you laugh about things you think you shouldn't be laughing about. Laughing about funerals, disease, oppression, and pain, is actually pretty triumphant and powerful stuff. It moves you to a new place, or at least begins a journey to a place that you would have never gone to on your own.

Real comedy challenges your preexisting thoughts on all subjects. Subjects like:

The power of words:

The environment:

Relationships:

Taboos:

Boundaries:

Comedy is the last bastion of free speech today. Comedians can, for the most part, argue whatever position they want, challenge any norm, and step over any taboo.

Comedians take the greatest thinkers in philosophy, literature, science, religion, and art, and translate the distillate of the great works of mankind into a form that we can ponder and grapple with ourselves. In 60 minutes or less.

It forces you to think. It forces you to feel. It forces you to change. It forces you to grow.

This is Buzzfeed: