2014-02-10
Explanation
The Joke
An older man lectures a younger person, saying "You know why your generation sucks? Every time you did anything, you got a damn trophy for it!" The younger person responds: "Dad, you're part of the trophy-giving generation. If there's a problem, it's your fault." The final panel shows someone handing the dad a trophy that reads "This is for participating in this discussion. I'm so proud of you."
The Humor
The comic skewers the common complaint from older generations that millennials are the "trophy generation" -- coddled by participation awards. The first reversal points out the obvious logical flaw: if children received too many trophies, it was the parents who gave them out, making the older generation the architects of the very problem they complain about. The second layer of humor comes from the trophy being awarded for the discussion itself, which is both a perfect demonstration of the participation-trophy mentality and an ironic commentary on how the older man's complaint is itself a form of seeking validation. The comic neatly collapses the generational finger-pointing by showing that the impulse to reward and be rewarded is universal.