Like Amitabh Bachchan once said, English is a very funny language. One phrase can have multiple meanings. World leaders heard “never again” and thought it meant “time out”. And the latest volleys of bombs are making World War III seem like not too distant a prospect.
In the Viral Spiral that is Gen Z coming to terms with the current geopolitical nightmare, the first reactions were predictable. “Let’s quit our jobs and drink our way into the apocalypse,” was the general vibe. The wanderlust enthusiasts who never grew out of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani were upset at US President Donald Trump for cutting short their ‘Ilahi’ arc. But things soon got more serious.
People started posting ‘WW3 outfit ideas’. Except it was just the Gen Z uniform—baggy jeans, crop tops, chunky boots—with a touch of camouflage. The hijabi girlies didn’t want to be left out, so they posted modest versions of Gen Z fashion slop. If a war does break out, can we have more serious people on the job, please?
Then there was the other trend: “It’s WW3 and I learned to connect Bluetooth to my fighter jet”. Comedian Joel Dsouza posted a video with him in an animated fighter jet, singing along off-key to ‘Tere Bina’ from Guru (2007). The reel is funny because it’s true. I would do the exact same thing if a misguided soul were to put in the cockpit.
Meanwhile, the familiar refrain has returned to reels and comments: “My generation is so unserious.” In a recent reel, a creator wrote: “WW3 started and we just in room scrolling reels.” But the commenters weren’t having it. “The hell u want me to do? join it?” wrote one. Men’s rights activists are excited. “It ain’t hard for girls, we guys get drafted,” read a comment.
The memes aren’t mere fun and games. It’s how a generation raised on the world peace brand of globalisation is dealing with the Trump whiplash. A co-worker recently shared on her story a post that read: “These are not the 13 Going on 30, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Sex and the City kind of adult years I was promised.” American movies, American dream.
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Are we cooked?
Six years after Greta Thunberg’s ‘how dare you’ speech, Gen Z continues to be robbed of a future. “POV: You switched to paper straws to save the planet… but the world decided to start WW3,” read the text on content creator John Jordan’s recent reel.
Gen Z is cooked, said creator Vaidehi. “We were already complaining that everything is expensive and on top of that there is a lack of employment in our country… and now, there is a goddamn World War 3 happening,” she added.
Jake Schroeder, who posts funny songs on everything from geopolitics to pop culture, sums up the spiral:
“World War 3 is not so tea
You know what’s tea?
peace
and not fighting
this stuff just s****
like so damn much
I just need a nap…”
So what will the “lazy” generation make of the low dishonest decade it has been handed? We have seen in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Madagascar how unserious memes can just as easily topple over into a revolution. Politicians worldwide should be very worried.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)