Social Media was quick to respond to Trump’s conflict with Iran. When Trump ordered an airstrike on Iran on Thursday, December 26, 2019. It reportedly killed seven people, including Iran’s most powerful general, Qasem Soleimani. 

     According to a Pentagon statement, “This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.” Although the U.S. and Iran had a peace treaty, Trump claims Soleimani killed thousands of Americans and was developing plans to attack American diplomats. 

     In past years, people have responded to threats on the U.S with fear and anger on social media. But with the New Year also came new reactions. Instead of fear, 2020 and the airstrike on Iran have brought nothing but humor and sarcasm on social media. 

     From Twitter to Tik Tok, social media has been filled with WWIII memes- Humorous images with text. Twitter is by far the most common breeding ground for these memes and pictures. While some of them are innocent and funny, others are harsh and offensive. 

     The most common WWIII jokes we have been seeing among Twitter users are jokes about a draft. From women to immigrants, joke topics include  pretty much anything.

A common trend seen among women on social media is to post a picture or video of themselves cooking or doing dishes, saying: “We know our purpose”. What is that purpose you might ask? To avoid being drafted. Most of the videos about women and the draft can be found on any “For You” page on Tik Tok. 

     The men on social media will comment on these women’s posts, saying things like, “Women wanted equality but don’t want to be drafted…” Though a potential draft has been a huge discussion, most people are adamant it will never actually happen. 

“Our military is already big enough there would be no need for a draft,” junior, Jessie D’avignon said.

     Another famous meme going around social media about WWIII is a picture of a teenager in an Army uniform. The caption of the photo is: “My mom taking my pic before I get deployed for WWIII.”  This meme was reposted numerous times with different variations of the captions. Some reposts state that the teen cannot be drafted due to their mother not knowing who else will be there. This meme refers to the strict rules that parents have regarding their kids and who they hang out with. 

     Another meme created about the war is about society’s reactions towards wars in the past. The first picture is about WWI and how much of a tragedy it was,  and the second picture is about WWII and how it made headlines in newspapers. The last reaction is WWIII and it is various memes. This brought up the topic of the maturity level of the generation that would be fighting during a war, were it to ever actually occur. 

     Although WWIII is a huge topic on social media, all the memes are is one big joke, and nothing to be concerned about. Iran retaliated, but no casualties occured. 

     According to The Cramm, Iran says it’s not looking for “escalation or war” and have concluded all attacks on American forces, but are rather focused on kicking all US troops out of Iran.