As someone who copes with humor, even I have limits on what’s jokable and what’s not. Topics that don’t apply to me or that I have not experienced are off the table, which includes wars and being bombed. But a lot of social media right now doesn’t seem to share my view.
On Saturday, the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran with missile attacks after decades of troubled history and amid negotiations that supposedly were going well. Now, days removed from the initial attacks, CBS reports on Monday that there have been four U.S. military deaths, at least 11 people killed in Israel and 555 people killed in Iran.
I believe that war is almost always unnecessary, especially when schools full of children are being bombed, but I am not here to comment on the righteousness or necessity of the attacks. I am here because the internet’s response to the war is tone deaf at best, downright nasty at worst.
Comment sections on TikToks about the war have been filled with phrases like “first war, kinda nervous,” or “our generation is so unserious.”
These are people’s lives being lost. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. People’s neighbors and teachers are being bombed and killed in a war not everyone asked for. Somewhere, hundreds of families are grieving a person who won’t ever come home. Every death is someone’s baby who they won’t ever get to hold again.
Making jokes about deaths that don’t affect you isn’t cute or funny or a good way to gain clout on the internet. It’s childish and disgusting.
U.S. citizens who live near major military bases have posted about how scared they are on TikTok, and people have commented on those posts, celebrating the fact that they don’t live in a more targetable city, with GIFs and reaction photos.
Rubbing your fortune in the face of someone who is genuinely scared for their life isn’t the hilarious thing you think it is. It doesn’t matter if Iran doesn’t have the resources to attack the U.S. at their disposal right now; that is always subject to change, as alliances could be formed.
War is also unpredictable. Just because something isn’t considered a target at this moment, doesn’t mean it couldn’t change and that frightens me beyond belief because my city could become a target at any time.
As someone who lives in the Air Capital of the world, I feel fear every time I hear a plane fly overhead. I’m scared I won’t live to see 21, and people are making jokes about it. I’m terrified I’ll never get married or buy the lake house I’ve always wanted. I’ve called my mom every day since the conflict began because I’m scared of not being able to say ‘I love you’ enough to her before I die.
If being flippant on social media is how you cope with your own anxieties about this whole mess, keep that to yourself.
To the wannabe journalists who keep spreading misinformation, please just stop and for the people listening to them, please stop getting your news exclusively from social media. There are dozens of viable news organizations that present accurate and timely information like BBC or AP News. Wait for the facts to be fully revealed or at least fact-check the information before reposting something to your story.
And to the people on the internet spreading disinformation about the war to raise the tensions and people’s fears, you are a specific kind of evil that I can’t even describe. Fueling the flames of people’s unease for fun is purely immature and vile, and adds no real benefit to society.
I shouldn’t even have to write this out, but here I am. Don’t publicly joke about the deaths this war has caused. Don’t laugh at people’s fears. The future is uncertain and frightening right now, no matter where you live or what flag you fly. It’s unnecessary to cause more heartache for a few likes and comments.
