World War III is Upon Us… Through Memes By: Michelle Cisneros
The Z generation has become known for its dark humor relating to mental health, climate change, increasing prices of college, and so many more important issues like the thought of
World War III. On January 3, Iranian general Qasem Solemani was killed in Bangladesh by US airstrikes and once it was announced by the Pentagon Twitter, many other social media platforms had “World War 3” trending. Though many teens have tried to make light of the “potential” crisis, some believe that these memes are just a release of fear and some sort of coping mechanism. Other people like to believe both Gen Z and Millennials are just making a mockery of a very serious situation.
When the US airstrike took place, which eventually led to the death of Iran’s top major general who was also a high ranked intelligence commander, the question of a new war began to be brought up. The rise in fear of a potential new World War began to enter the minds of many especially for 18-year-old American boys who register for a potential draft. When the attack was announced, many teens went on the Selective Service to see if they had been chosen to fight in the “war;” this happened so many times the website crashed. This event caused the Selective
Service to make a tweet in order to clear up the situation saying, “The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual. In the event that a national emergency necessitates a draft,
Congress and the President would need to pass official legislation to authorize a draft.” It was not only males who had fears about the draft but females as well, with new discrimination laws which have deemed it unconstitutional for only males to get drafted, They believe this new policy would now apply to them. When Trump authorized the strike on Iran, the internet went crazy, especially apps like
Twitter and Tik Tok. Twitter user @fatlukaku tweeted “World War 3 spicing up” with a picture capturing Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un standing near to each other and a fake post stating they had unfriended each other on Facebook. Hope Kitchen, a sophomore at Perry, says, “The memes are funny, well I mean some of them are offensive but they are just memes so…” Her personal favorite is a picture of Minecraft beds in trenches with the caption “Boys don’t forget to put your beds down and sleep so we all respawn in the trenches #WWIII.” Makenna Dew another sophomore at Perry agrees with Hope over the humor of the memes, “I think they are funny because they aren’t necessarily over the war but rather the thought of the draft, I personally don’t believe that there will be a war.” Her favorite meme is on Tik Tok by user
@notstay in which she does the march to the Disney movie Camp Rock representing “Gen Z marching into battle” and her face of confusion following signifying the Iranians.
Though many try to argue that the memes surrounding this topic are horrible because they mention the thought of violence and death to America, some counter-argue it’s about understanding the perspective of the younger generation. With global pressure piling up on them, the dark humor they release into the internet is believed to more complex. These jokes are just some ways of peaking into the mind of the younger generation. Nonetheless, no official draft has been conducted nor a war.