The format comes from a simple webcomic: in the first panel, a smug “edgy” guy
drops a line like “Hail Satan, I’m so edgy.” Another person responds with an even
harsher or opposite joke.
In the second panel the first guy suddenly gets very serious, delivering a long
lecture about how offensive and dangerous the other joke is. The joke of the
meme is the double standard: edgy humor is fun until it hits something the
person actually cares about.
Over time people started swapping in different topics – politics, games, history,
random drama – but the pattern always stays the same: panel one “heheh”, panel
two full meltdown.