Concern over a theoretical World War 3 is high, and people are expressing their anxiety through memes.
Following a drone strike carried out by the United States that killed two prominent Iranian officials, many Americans are concerned. People took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the matter and quickly turned to memes to communicate their feelings. Unsurprisingly, the waves of WWIII memes now sweeping the web are not sitting well with everyone.
good morning to the west coast pic.twitter.com/NniquMnDTg
— Denny Carter (@CDCarter13) January 3, 2020
Most of the memes poked fun at fear of getting drafted. Many draft-aged users are expressing their fear of the draft through funny, but ominous, posts. “Me after I fake my death to avoid getting drafted,” one user captioned a video.
Me after I fake my death to avoid getting drafted #WWIII pic.twitter.com/kZK6Skqkq3
— Jack Cammarato (@CammaratoJack) January 3, 2020
Me chilling at home after ignoring my draft notice #WWIII pic.twitter.com/fMRtvRg3ZV
— Bosith Weerasinghe (@_bosith_) January 3, 2020
Other memes centered around millennials and Gen-Z joking about their general lack of preparedness for war.
As the World War 3 memes picked up speed online, they were met by a swift and fierce backlash. Disapproving users chided memers for their nonchalance, and for using memes as a “coping” mechanism. “Stop saying ur making memes about war as a ‘coping’ method,” one user wrote. “Every single one of u will be fine the people of iraq and iran will continue to suffer u people have nothing to be fucking coping for.”
so funny that americans think they CAN cope over this with jokes … what the fuck are you coping? you’re not going to die and your homeland will not be destabilized. you are not in a position to cope by any means.
— 🐀 (@99centcowgirl) January 3, 2020
“War is not a fucking joke,” another user wrote. “It is a destructive and selfish act. 4,424 U.S. soldiers and an estimated 600K Iraqi civilians died in the Iraq war over WMDs that did not exist. So please stop with these #WWIII memes and instead call your Congress members and tell them #NoWarWithIran.”
War is not a fucking joke. It is a destructive and selfish act. 4,424 U.S. soldiers and an estimated 600K Iraqi civilians died in the Iraq war over WMDs that did not exist. So please stop with these #WWIII memes and instead call your Congress members and tell them #NoWarWithIran.
— Power to the People ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) January 3, 2020
americans joking about commiting more imperialism and genocide in another country and saying 'it's a coping mechanism' is peak 2020 and we're literally only two days into this year https://t.co/Lf0XgkUtnD
— indie (@INDIEWASHERE) January 3, 2020
Accusations that Black users, in particular, were at the center of the influx of memes suddenly shifted the focus for critics. Some started going after Twitter users of color, heaping criticism on their tweets for not taking the situation seriously. “Honestly, I’m not believing a lot of you right now when you say that war is not funny,” one user shot back at critics. “Twitter is such a performative space, I find it likely that many of you are declaring how unfunny Black Twitter is just for some retweets. All of it is pretty disgusting at this point.”
A lot of Black liberals are so used to playing the oppression olympics that they now want to equate Black folks experience here with that of folks in the global south, living under the bullseye of the worlds most lethal military. Pls don’t do this.
— Bae Guevara (@Kaimandante) January 3, 2020
Black Twitter, meanwhile, remained entirely unfazed by the criticism. “All of black twitter chillin in jail when we refuse to go to war,” one user wrote.
“we really shouldn’t joke about the war-“
— ✨ (@hoepiecess) January 3, 2020
black twitter: pic.twitter.com/3N00VP6AMt
“We goin to war soon”
— tj detweiler (@QuannyBeenJiggy) January 3, 2020
All of black twitter: pic.twitter.com/tcPJnGy2Ky
America: If Y’all Dont Enlist Y’all Not getting Y’all Tax Money
— Obi Book Kenobi (@Krib7) January 3, 2020
Black Twitter: pic.twitter.com/wa1Kajx3a3
All of black twitter chillin in jail when we refuse to go to war pic.twitter.com/wv94VyBJ5s
— Damion🤟🏾🌴 (@butl3r__) January 3, 2020
Everybody Else: Oh my god, WW3 is coming, we gotta fight this.
— 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚇 ™️🎬📱🤓 (@TheeOnyxScholar) January 3, 2020
Black Twitter: pic.twitter.com/tvVX4mYGvH
As of press time, the memes show no sign of slowing down.
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