orphan-crushing machine

English

Etymology

From a Twitter post by @pookleblinky on September 25, 2020:

"Every heartwarming human interest story in america is like "he raised $20,000 to keep 200 orphans from being crushed in the orphan-crushing machine" and then never asks why an orphan-crushing machine exists or why you'd need to pay to prevent it from being used."

Noun

orphan-crushing machine (plural orphan-crushing machines)

1. (Internet slang) A notional machine representing a system or process that obviously facilitates suffering but is not acknowledged or examined, or for which no alternative is considered.
   • 2023 February 15, @lepetitereboot, Twitter‎^[1]:

     "we live in a society", said the orphan-crushing machine operator

   • 2023 August 9, @DreadBirate, Twitter‎^[2]:

     “ the orphan crushing machine isn’t the problem, it’s that people are using the orphan crushing machine wrong”

   • 2024 January 22, @Nemertes_, Twitter‎^[3]:

     BREAKING: orphan-crushing machine manufacturer states there is 'no sign' of orphan-crushing machines being used to crush orphans

Further reading

• “Orphan-Crushing Machine”, in Know Your Meme, launched 2007

See also

• 800-pound gorilla
• elephant in the room
• Leopards Eating People's Faces Party