As the world burns — impeachment! Climate change! World War III? — Gen Z turns to memes.

One week into the new year, possibilities of World War III  had began to surface. President Trump had ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Of course, one of the most rapid reactions to emerge amid the surprise and confusion were memes. This is a recurrence not new to us as it seems that every time something serious occurs, we make memes.

Jokes about the possible fallout of Soleimani’s death were instantly everywhere. They especially proliferated on TikTok and Twitter, where hashtags like #WWlll remained on the trending tab for several days.

Junior Karina Romero recalled waking up to rumors of another world war popping up all over her feed. 

“I saw it trending on Twitter first, and once I saw the memes, I thought the problem wasn’t that serious, like ‘oh the internet is making fun of it, it’s all good.’”said Romero.

You would think that news about a possible world war would make us anxious but instead all the memes gave us a good laugh. Memes tend to do that— act as stand-ins for cultural anxieties and ways to express and alleviate fears or other emotions through humor. It is their rapid and noticeable spread that helps us all figure out how we’re feeling about a certain situation. 

Sophomore Jesus Garibay said he experienced a whirlpool of emotions. 

“At first I was a little scared because they were talking about something serious but after seeing the memes, my worries went away and I laughed along” Garibay said.

He mentioned his parents watching the news and how the few times he would join them, the news would just scare him away. Memes, on the other hand, are a fun way to bring attention to the many serious things going on around the world. 

Sophomore Leslie Rangel can see how certain memes may be seen as insensitive. 

“My first reaction was that this is funny. However I didn’t consider the impact it would make if we were to have World War III. Some memes were a bit insensitive in the sense that they were pointing out a certain group of people,” Rangel said.

Everyone has a different sense of humor. People can’t post anything without at least one person getting offended. The part that is troubling is the inconsistency between what is or isn’t “funny.” 

“I think they’re funny and as long as it isn’t too harsh it’s okay for us to laugh,” said Garibay.