"Ashes, ashes we all fall down..." <Nothing funny about pandemic death either. But we give it to our children to play with. Look at all the Zombie video games. Sometimes we try to deal with the things we don't understand and that bug us by turning them into jokes, someof them pretty dang tasteless. Economy is bad, people in what were good jobs (building, factory etc) but are actually turn-down sensitive are losing them, and that means a lot of guys aren't earning, but the wives might stilll have the jobs that never paid so well, but are better than nothing.
In most cases, domestic violence goes throught the roof when things get like that. I suspect the jokes are !)a way to try to understand the violence 2) a way to redirect it into humor (if bad humor) instead of flailing with fists. Not great, but a more civilized attempt to deal with the feelings of losing status and control.
By the way, I HATE those things. I'm currently out of work, my project time is up, and I HATE having to depend on someone else's money, even if I do love him. GRRRRRR!