WWIII memes explode on Twitter

Yesterday, the United States took action with a calculated strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC), as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias. Twitter’s reaction to the attack? Memes, of course.

Soon after the announcement of Solemani’s death, both #WorldWar3 and #WWIII began trending on Twitter, with thousands of young users both laughing and panicking all at once.

The jokes mainly centred around the draft (more specifically, dodging the draft,) being well trained for conflict thanks to video games like Call of Duty and Fortnite, or being too old or mentally unstable to be drafted. Without further ado, here are some examples of how the internet makes a joke out of everything:

Some users even started blocking the US Army’s Twitter account to ensure that their accounts wouldn’t be seen during the #WWIII hashtag, hopefully decreasing their odds in being drafted.

Some memes had a much more pessimistic tone, though the “draft” came to an end when the United States Armed Forces moved to an all-volunteer military. This doesn’t mean there aren’t still measures in place for a draft. The Selective Service System remains in place as a “contingency plan,” wherein all male U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register so that a draft can be readily resumed if needed.

Other memes made fun of Americans who would potentially flee to Mexico to avoid conscription.

And of course, all the gamers in the audience took this opportunity to celebrate, as they were finally able to show off their gaming skills on the battlefield.

But those who were feeling most thankful were the oldies, who were thankful that they were above the age of 28 and would be ineligible for the draft.