The War Threat Looms Over Young American Psyches
By: Madison Farnsworth
Opinion Editor
Because of President Trump’s actions the threat of war is upon us, the Americans.
What our leader did was immoral and illegal. The US government declared the air strike against Iran necessary in order to stop an “imminent attack” on US soil, while the Iranian government declared it to be an act of “state terrorism.”
The aftermath of it all is now taking place. One of the crises that happened was a Ukrainian airplane being struck down on January 8th 2020. The Iranian government admitted that they shot the plane down three days later. Originally thought to be a terrorist aircraft flying over the country, it turned out to be a regular passenger flight. All 176 people on board were killed.
An effect of the aftermath is the threat of another World War. The threat has its toll on Gen Z, especially. We [Gen Z] took one look at this and said it is time for memes. All across social media, such as Tik Tok and Instagram, memes and jokes about WWIII are being shared. That is apparently how the young generation copes with the stress of the probability of being sent to the front lines.
What makes the threat of a potential war worse, is that it could end up being a nuclear war. Even though Iran is not allowed to have any nuclear weapons, does not mean that they might not try to get some. The U.S. does have a stockpile of nuclear weapons, that is known for absolute sure.
Because of all these things going down, it is no wonder why young Americans cannot help but make jokes about the situation at hand. There are too many stakes and the best we can do at the moment is to distract ourselves with meme culture.
Older generations are not too happy that we are making jokes about such a serious issue and they have a right to be, seeing as how some of them served in Vietnam or Korea. However we are still just children. Some of us are barely reaching our twenties. The world is scary and threatening. It is all fun and games until we actually have to come face to face the consequences of our country’s heinous actions.
Going to war would change the very fabric of our society. It would bring hardship on almost everyone in this country. Many young people would be forced to leave their homes and face the terrors of war. War with Iran or any other country is something that should be avoided at all costs. Luckily war with Iran does not seem as imminent as it did in the beginning of the month.
The drone strike on Iran that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was an act of war that lead to the significant harm of U.S. soldiers posted in the U.S. embassy, despite president Trump’s consistent profession that it was not.
After Iran’s retaliation, the President said that “Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities.”
While it may be true that Iran launched the attack themselves, I believe that Trump should be held somewhat responsible after killing a significant political figure of Iran.
This is not only a giant mess for the U.S., but also for Iran. Both parties are responsible and need to be held accountable for their actions against one another.
America should not send young and scared Americans into battle all because the president made a tragic mistake. It is not fair to the youth, who just want to live a nice life, to be sent to foreign land just to raid and kill civilians.
I realize that when it comes to going to war with another country, the only people that get a say in the matter are people who have the upper hand in the situation. So the only ones who can prevent the war are the American government or the Iranian government. However both are also the provokers as well.
Maybe if world leaders can get it together and feel as if they need to not attack each other, then maybe, just maybe, the world will not end with bombs exploding everywhere.
We humans need to learn compassion, even when war threats are breathing down our necks.
In the end all that matters is to avoid going to war with Iran at all costs. It is just what needs to be done, or else generation after generation will suffer the consequences for years to come.
Photo Cred: Pixabay
