Arabs are making World War III memes when it's really not funny

Just a scroll down Arab Twitter this week will trigger people traumatized by war or conflict, events that are unfortunately all too common in the region. 

Some Arabs are making memes and jokes about a third world war that could erupt in the region and be led by the U.S. and Iran. Tensions between the two countries reached an all-time high last week following the assassination of top Iranian and Iraqi commanders in a targeted airstrike launched in Baghdad. 

Those killed included Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani who's known as the head of his country's elite Quds Force, and the deputy commander of the Iran-backed Iraqi Mobilization Forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The assassination - which was ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump - got analysts worried over an escalation of violence in the Middle East. 

Now there's reason to fret as Iran and its allies have said they will "take revenge" over the incident while Trump has threatened that if they were to attack the U.S., the country would hit 52 Iranian sites "very hard." 

The threat of a war breaking out in the region is real, according to experts who believe it could play out in Iraq or neighboring countries, but some Arab online users don't seem to be taking it seriously. 

On our social media platforms, online users are making light of a possible war that could plunge the region into more devastation than it's already in. 

Some think this is a good way to let off steam, but in a region where millions of lives have been destroyed by wars, it's really not the time to be making jokes. Countries in the Middle East have a tragic deep-seated history of civil strife and fighting that claimed so many innocent lives. 

From a 15-year civil war in Lebanon to the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, just a mention of words like "strike" or "battle" is enough to trigger traumas and wounds that have yet to heal. 

So it's understandable why endless memes and insensitive jokes posted under a hashtag titled "third world war" would stir up controversy and anger.

The majority of social media memes center around welcoming the war, imagining what it would be like, or fantasizing about how it'll be "sort fun to witness."

People are also circulating these attempts at being funny via messaging apps like WhatsApp. 

War jokes might be garnering a few laughs as they make the rounds online but they're also surely spreading fear and raising anxieties among people already facing mounting socio-political and economic pressures permeating the Arab world. 

Is it really necessary to irresponsibly make light of devastation and destruction? People are free to do it but that doesn't make it acceptable. 

Why? Because comedy shouldn't be built on the trauma, pain, fear, and loss many in this part of the world have collectively suffered from over the past decades. Nor should it insult those who've survived wars by forcing them to re-live their traumas.