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Appeal to Worse Problems

 Appeal to Worse Problems
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 Appeal to Worse Problems
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 Appeal to Worse Problems
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 Appeal to Worse Problems
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Also called:
Fallacy of relative privation (its proper name).
The "Children Are Starving In Africa!" Argument.
Arguing that expressing concern about a (relatively) small problem means that the person doesn't care about any larger problems. The fallacy can be thought of as a combination of False Dichotomy, Strawman and Red Herring, taking the opponent's claim and appends to it the following additional claims:
That it is not possible to care about several big and small problems simultaneously. (False Dilemma)
That venting a minor complaint is an assertion that that the major problem is considered unimportant. (Strawman / Red Herring)
The intent is to distort the opponent's claim "X" into "X, which is far more important than anything else."
A similar fallacy is the "if you care so much, why aren't you doing something about it?" argument, which is also related to the Perfect Solution Fallacy in that the only way that the target can be doing something about it to the arguer's satisfaction is to be devoting 24 hours of every day to the issue and therefore not be involved in the debate.
A related issue is the airgap problem. No matter how much worse someone else's pain is, you can only feel your own. Your paper cut isn't objectively as painful as someone else's broken leg — but you don't feel any pain from their leg, while your own paper cut stings you like the dickens. (For that matter, their broken leg isn't as painful as the pain of someone else who's being tortured to death; but they still have an airgap. Their broken leg is agonizing to them, but they don't feel the other person's torture at all.)
Finally, there's the issue that people have different pain tolerances. One woman might be kind of bummed by a miscarriage; another might be depressed for months; a third might go permanently mad from grief. A "First World problem" for one person might be honestly devastating for another.
The argument is logically hypocritical. 'People complaining about minor problems' is a minor problem, so if you use this argument to complain about such people...
Note that it is not a case of this fallacy when someone must prioritize between addressing two different problems. A doctor choosing to treat a cancer patient before a case of the flu is of course not the victim of this fallacy; the fallacy would be arguing that nobody should treat flu patients at all until there is a cure for cancer.
Simply comparing the severity of two problems is also not a case of this fallacy. If Bob complains about his flu, and Alice tells him "It could be worse, you could have cancer" she is not committing a fallacy; if she tells him that he has no right to complain about his flu when people are dying of cancer, she might be.
A type of False Dichotomy, and close cousin of Appeal to Pity. Often invoked in Misery Poker. Also frequently used in conjunction with Quit Your Whining and/or Life Isn't Fair.note Particularly against whiny characters, but not always. See also, Wants a Prize for Basic Decency. Overlaps with a specific type of Tu Quoque fallacy called Whataboutism, which uses the same logic (you make point A, but what about B?) but is used to deflect criticism of a group from sources external to that group by pointing to a perceived equal or worse thing that the speaker's group does.
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Sakuya Izayoi Gives You Advice And Dabs (Visual Novel)
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Similar to the Munich example, in Patriots Day the FBI tries to use a Facebook post made by Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, the wife of one of the Boston terror bombers, in which she reacts to the bombing by saying that "More people die in Syria and other countries", as evidence to coax her to reveal her knowledge on the terror plot.
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When JonTron was criticized for referring to the Playstation Now service for PlayStation 4 as "retarded" on Twitter, he responded that those offended by his word usage should instead direct their outrage at more important matters, like the Gaza strip bombings.
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In My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic, this is how Lightning "helps" Cadance get over the death of her brother. He compares Cadance's grief to his own when his planet was destroyed and the naration tells us that Cadance's problems aren't that bad compared to Lightning's because he lost his entire planet and everyone he knew, whilst she only lost one family member. Cadance then apologises to Lightning for not thinking about others.
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An episode of Beavis and Butt-Head has Beavis distracting a female student while Butt-Head slips Spanish Fly into her taco. Instead of eating it, she says she's lost her appetite. Butt-Head says "You shouldn't, like, waste food and stuff. Uhh, because there's like, uhh, starving people in Indiana, or something."
Inverted when Beavis goes apoplectic at hearing about a guy who dumped his girlfriend for being a sex addict.
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F is for Family: During one of their usual arguments over Frank's parenting, Frank pulls this on Kevin by telling him he should be thankful that Frank isn't like the ax murderer who killed his entire family he saw on the news. Kevin points out the ridiculousness of this argument by asking if Frank being a murderer is really the only other option to his daily verbal abuse.
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3000 Miles to Graceland gives us this exchange:
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Ozy and Millie often points out the stupidity of this.
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Mexican comedian Adal Ramones told a story about when he was young and refused to eat lentils soup, his mother took the plate and said "Just so you know, there are children starving in Africa" to which he responded "And are you going to send it to them by mail or what?". She proceeded to Dope Slap him.
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Appears very frequently in For Better or for Worse, when a character wants to shut up the complaints of another, typically long the lines of "You're sitting around complaining about a haircut when there are refugees in war-torn countries out there!" Grandpa Jim uses this defense to get his grandson Michael's in-laws to stop complaining about Michael and Deanna having a private wedding years in advance of their second wedding.
This is mocked in this Shortpacked! strip. "April, you Spoiled Brat! There are children starving in Africa!"
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History Bites: Might as well be "Appeal to Worse Problems: The Show." The most notable offender is the "Neolithic Park" episode, where Rick Green essentially glosses over modern problems such as climate change in favor of stating that we should be grateful that we still have books, eyeglasses, and modern medicine, compared to the people in the past who endured the likes of famine and plagues. Makes one wonder if he really believes that the Black Death is really the only other option to climate-change-induced heat waves.
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In the Dilbert book The Joy of Work, Scott Adams responds to Norman Solomon's book The Trouble with Dilbert by writing a fictional interview between Solomon and Dogbert. When he has Solomon complain that Dilbert attacks Pointy Haired Bosses more than Corrupt Corporate Executives, Dogbert's counterargument is that Solomon clearly supports teen pregnancy because he didn't write a book about that. What makes it more absurd is that, according to Adams himself in the same book, Normon Solomon's The Trouble With Dilbert only came about because of Solomon taking one of Adams' quotes about "Good things about downsizing" out of context (the original context was that, since he's always hammering on downsizing in his books and comics, if he could think of anything that is good about downsizing.)
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Discworld: In Unseen Academicals, Glenda repeatedly tries this ("There are children in Klatch, you know"), but it fails because she cannot remember what is so special about these children.
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In Pokémon Sword and Shield, this is what the argument between Leon and Rose in the tower boiled down to. Rose criticizes Leon for focusing on the League Championship more than the impeding energy crisis which is definitely a bigger problem than a sporting event. Leon points out, as the Champion, the League is part of his job. Not to mention the energy crisis is 1,000 years away and won't be solved in one day while the Championship is happening tomorrow.
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The Cranberries' anti-paparazzi song "Free To Decide" suggests the paparazzi should be focusing on something other than celebrities:
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Another sketch shows a boy yelling at his parents after receiving a Rock Lord for Christmas. His mother replies that children in other countries would be grateful to have one. The scene then cuts to a Palestinian boy thanking his parents for giving him a Rock Lord, which he then throws at an Israeli soldier.
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xkcd: In strip #2368 "Bigger Problem", White Hat uses this trope as an excuse for not working to solve a small problem. He doesn't want to solve the bigger problem either, for no apparent reason.
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During Facebook's university-student-only days, there would often be groups titled along the lines of "Finish Your Drink, There Are Sober Kids In India". (This was later turned into a mildly popular dorm-room poster.)
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HowToBasic frequently uses a lot of food in his videos (which he claims is food that is already expired anyway), the great majority of which is destroyed and used to make a mess, which has caused some people to complain that the food has been wasted when it could have been donated. This has resulted in a running gag in the comment sections of the videos where people complain that some inedible part of the video could have been fed kids in Africa (ie: "Starving children in Africa could have eaten that doll!"). Mr. Basic himself addressed it with his "How to End World Hunger" video where he puts two eggs in a paper envelope addressed "To Africa" before smashing them.
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In Outnumbered, when Pete tries to get Karen to eat her greens:
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In The Victors Project, Antigone (32nd Hunger Games) lampshades this trope in when telling her mentee Dido (39th Hunger Games) about how she shouldn't steal and how it landed her in the district training academy. Justified because Antigone and Dido both hail from District Two, where living standards are significantly better and how easy it is to get tesserae without having to fear the arena.
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Played for laughs in This Mitchell and Webb Book, which contains a section parodying those people on Twitter who reply to the tweets of politicians and journalists with extremely stupidly rude comments for no real reason. One of the posts is Connie Wyatt making a joke post about ice-cream, with one of the replies reading, "Millions of children die of Malaria in Africa every year, and you're worried about ice-cream? How do you even live with yourself?".
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In the Subnormality strip "It's Perspective Man", two school kids complain about their minor problems (homework and having to pay for their own phone), the titular character shows up and tries to "give some much-needed perspective" by explaining how, in other countries, people suffer from poverty, starvation, poor sanitation, etc. and that the kids should be thankful for what they have. When one of the kids begins to make a counter-argument, Perspective Man says "O-kay! I tried!" and punches him to death.
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One sketch involves Little Orphan Annie complaining about her hard-knock life under the thumb of Evil Orphanage Lady Miss Hannigan, only for her friend to tell her that she should be grateful that she still has halfway-decent shelter and three square meals a day, compared to the orphans of third-world countries who endure the likes of hunger, disease, and even sex slavery.
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Frank Burns tries to use this argument in M*A*S*H when he sees Radar throwing away a half-eaten (and inedible) dinner:
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Discussed in the third book of A Series of Unfortunate Events — The Wide Window. The author points out that while pointing out that things could be worse might be true, it's still ineffective at distracting oneself from one's current problems, likening it to trying to ignore a pimple on your nose by imagining oneself being attacked by a bear.
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In Munich one of the people involved in the planning of the Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes says that compared with the reaction to the massacre, nobody says anything about the children killed in Israel's military attacks against Palestinians.
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Daria: For a school assignment, Brittany does this with her cheerleader friends, in an attempt to become unpopular. She succeeds...meaning she fails the assignment. note So she succeeds at failing. Isn't that great?
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Spoofed in Good Omens, when the anthropomorphic personification of Famine throws the contents of a fast-food tray into a bin; "if you had told him there were starving children in Africa, he would have been flattered that you noticed."
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Done in A Christmas Story when Randy doesn't eat the meatloaf because he hates it. Mrs. Parker tells him that starving children in China would be happy to have it.
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In "Amy's Baking Company" on Kitchen Nightmares, one of the owners actually uses this when a customer complains about the food. Never mind that "Well, our food at least keeps you from starving" is a peculiarly low bar to clear for a professional eating establishment.
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In Arthur, King of Time and Space Guenevere responds to the idea that there are "bigger problems than misogyny" by asking which is worse, misogyny or littering. When the other person admits misogyny is worse than littering, she retorts "But when you see litter, you pick it up, don't you?"
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Robot Chicken:
One sketch involves Little Orphan Annie complaining about her hard-knock life under the thumb of Evil Orphanage Lady Miss Hannigan, only for her friend to tell her that she should be grateful that she still has halfway-decent shelter and three square meals a day, compared to the orphans of third-world countries who endure the likes of hunger, disease, and even sex slavery.
Another sketch shows a boy yelling at his parents after receiving a Rock Lord for Christmas. His mother replies that children in other countries would be grateful to have one. The scene then cuts to a Palestinian boy thanking his parents for giving him a Rock Lord, which he then throws at an Israeli soldier.
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In Fawlty Towers, cowboy builder O'Reilly tries to cheer a disgruntled Basil with "there's always someone worse off than yourself".
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In Conned Again, Watson! by Colin Bruce, a book that uses Sherlock Holmes to explore logic and mathematics, Holmes says Watson is guilty of the Sunk Cost Fallacy, when he buys bread, walks past a sandwich stall selling the remainder of the day's stock at a discount, and buys ham. Watson replies that if he bought the sandwiches, the bread would have gone to waste when there are children starving in Africa. Holmes isn't clear how them eating roughly-made, more expensive sandwiches, while the sandwich-seller throws her unsold stock away, has helped these children.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bd447006
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bd447006
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sherlock Holmes (Franchise)
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bd447006
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bda32774
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bda32774
comment
Let There Be Light (2017): Sol makes an odd argument near the end that comes off much like this, when Sean Hannity asks him (as Devil's Advocate) what right he has "imposing [his] values" on others by attempting to make them Christians. To which Sol responds by asking what right ISIS has beheading people, which Sean then calls "powerful". While of course he's got every right to (peacefully) attempt converting others, it's a very weird way of defending it.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bda32774
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bda32774
featureConfidence
1.0
 Let There Be Light (2017)
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bda32774
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bf2cae55
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bf2cae55
comment
Friendship is Failure: In Ways of Life, Garfield uses the fact that his parents were killed, he was sent to an abusive orphanage, and generally having to constantly strain himself just to survive to excuse his Jerkass behavior and dismissing the problems of others because he had it worse.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bf2cae55
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bf2cae55
featureConfidence
1.0
 Friendship is Failure (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_bf2cae55
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c6ebe632
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c6ebe632
comment
Two Letters: Marinette quit being Ladybug after spending two years fighting Hawkmoth with minimal support and respect, as practically everyone took her efforts for granted and expected her to handle everything alone. Bunnyx calls her a "selfish bitch" for retiring, declaring that she's never had to deal with any real problems like living in poverty or starving.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c6ebe632
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c6ebe632
featureConfidence
1.0
 Two Letters (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c6ebe632
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c90faa8c
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c90faa8c
comment
In Hägar the Horrible, when Hamlet doesn't finish his plate, Helga reminds him of all the people in England who are starving. Well, dieting.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c90faa8c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c90faa8c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hägar the Horrible (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_c90faa8c
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_d2e2ca76
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_d2e2ca76
comment
Used in an episode of The George Lopez Show when George scolds Max for needlessly wrecking his toy monster-truck.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_d2e2ca76
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_d2e2ca76
featureConfidence
1.0
 The George Lopez Show
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_d2e2ca76
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_dbf18509
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_dbf18509
comment
Ken Jennings (that guy who won all the money on Jeopardy!) points out the ridiculousness of this in his book Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_dbf18509
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_dbf18509
featureConfidence
1.0
 Jeopardy!
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_dbf18509
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_e8c699a9
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_e8c699a9
comment
In the book version of Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford tells her children to think of, "the starving children in Europe." This is taking place just after World War II, when postwar Europe was wracked by famine.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_e8c699a9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_e8c699a9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mommie Dearest
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_e8c699a9
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_eda3761d
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_eda3761d
comment
Lady Bird: After losing her virginity to Kyle, Lady Bird is upset to find out that he's not a virgin like he claimed, since she wanted her first time to be special. When he tries to mitigate the problem by bringing up the Iraq War and how many people are killed each day, she tells him that two different things can be sad and that not everything needs to be compared to war.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_eda3761d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_eda3761d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Lady Bird
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_eda3761d
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f3c92203
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f3c92203
comment
The Cat Who... Series: In book #18 (The Cat Who Said Cheese), when Qwill offers the cats some ground lamb, Koko and Yum Yum turn up their noses at it. Qwill responds by scolding them, saying "There are disadvantaged cats out there who don't know where their next mouse is coming from!" It makes no difference whatsoever.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f3c92203
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f3c92203
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Cat Who... Series
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f3c92203
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f9addebf
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f9addebf
comment
You Can't Do That on Television: Mrs. Prevert tries this on when one of her kids doesn't like her cooking "starving children in Africa would eat this food!". Only for the kid to say "send it to them!" Cue the next sketch showing said African kids opening up care packages with Mrs. Prevert's dinner and sending it back, preferring to starve.
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f9addebf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f9addebf
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1.0
 You Can't Do That on Television
hasFeature
Appeal to Worse Problems / int_f9addebf

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Appeal to Worse Problems
processingCategory2
Complaining Index
 Appeal to Worse Problems
processingCategory2
Cynicism Tropes
 Appeal to Worse Problems
processingCategory2
Logical Fallacies
 Appeal to Worse Problems
processingCategory2
Self-Demonstrating Article
 Monica's Gang (Comic Book) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Curtis (Comic Strip) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 For Better or for Worse (Comic Strip) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Stone Soup (Comic Strip) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Friendship is Failure (Fanfic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Two Letters (Fanfic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Emily the Criminal / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Let There Be Light (2017) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Munich / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Tall Girl / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Waitress / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Different Seasons / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Mommie Dearest / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Cat Who... Series / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 MAD (Magazine) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 MAD (Magazine) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Extended Analogy
seeAlso
Appeal to Worse Problems
 AJR (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Alice Glass (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Amnesiac (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Dangerous (Album) (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Entombed (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Cranberries (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Uncle Bonsai (Music) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Degrassi Junior High / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 History Bites / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Keeping Up with the Kardashians / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Orange Is the New Black / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Sloborn / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Late Show (1992) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Pokémon Sword and Shield (Video Game) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Sakuya Izayoi Gives You Advice And Dabs (Visual Novel) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Dark Legacy Comics (Webcomic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Critical Role: Campaign Two (Web Video) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 HowToBasic (Web Video) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Jimquisition (Web Video) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Terrible Writing Advice (Web Animation) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Draw Play (Webcomic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Trenches (Webcomic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Vegan Artbook (Webcomic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 xkcd (Webcomic) / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Aqua Teen Hunger Force / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Duckman / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Happy New Year, Charlie Brown / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems
 Notting Hill / int_42c9a131
type
Appeal to Worse Problems