Hot Takes On War As Gen Z
- Apr 12
- 4 min read
By Camryn Tyrrell
The United States’ most recent actions across the Middle East have sparked debate across social media, prompting many in Gen Z to wonder how these events might affect them. For a lot of Barry students, members of this generation, the idea of living through wartime is extremely unfamiliar.
Their parents remembered the shock and fear that followed 9/11, their grandparents experienced the immense tension and protests of the Vietnam War and their great-grandparents lived through the global impact of World War II. Compared to those generations, many of us have grown up at a distance from conflicts like these.
The American presence in the Middle East during the early 2000s shaped much of the world that Gen Z lives in today. But the truth is that many current college students were too young at the time to fully understand what was happening.
Today, for many Barry students, the current conflict in the Middle East may be the first time they have paid close attention to something like this.
Keisha Volcy, a sophomore studying Television and Digital Media, believes that Gen Z is not taking the current political landscape seriously.
“I go on TikTok, and I see a bunch of memes, and it kind of scares me because it's like, what if they actually mean it? Like, what if they blow up America?” she said.
Many students like Volcy believe that their generation is not taking these threats seriously. Since most of the damage is being done overseas, all students in North America see are images, making it easy to trivialize it with constant jokes.
Other students are disappointed in the American government and fear for the post war future.
Lizbeth Viera, a senior studying Advertising and PR, said, “This war, I feel like, is going to affect not just politicians, but everyday people like me and you, you know? I feel like this is going to cause a great separation of classes. There's going to be no middle class. It’s just going to be either your high class or low class, and unfortunately, I think a lot of us are going to be in the low class, and it's kind of scary to think about.”
With the surge in gas prices and the recent tariffs, students fear the uncertainty of their future in the United States.
“I feel grateful that my parents have worked hard enough to have what we have, and to know that we're at risk of losing it all just because our president doesn't know how to behave,” said Viera. “It's scary because he gets to live in comfort, and the rest of us get to suffer the consequences, which is going to lead us to being homeless, no food, and scarcity of water, which is going to create a fight between the communities.”
History and Political Science Professor Shawn Wechsler said that, as of March 26, Iran has actually refused President Trump’s peace proposal for being “one-sided and unfair.”
Wechsler shared that the Trump Administration is continuing to send troops to the region, and the talks of putting American boots on the ground are getting significantly magnified by social media.
“Conversation around this conflict has hijacked the international stage this past month, and as overwhelming as it might be to keep up with coverage of Iran on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “It is important for us to remain not only aware of this as a developing situation, but remain cognizant of our past involvement in the region and the context this conflict exists in.”
Wechsler further compares the current conflict in Iran to that of the War in Afghanistan (2001) and the Iraq War (2003), which are the world conflicts some older Gen Z’ers would remember.
He said that the current conflict has been waged so far with words and impersonal missiles and drone strikes, while the older wars saw massive ground invasions that deployed many American soldiers. As of now, the conflict in Iran has not had any serious American military involvement.
Wechsler believes that since Gen Z will have mostly experienced the tail end of these two wars, they “will undoubtedly have grown up with the hindsight of these wars as protracted conflicts and will harbor skepticism about U.S. intervention in the region having any long-term positive impact.”
Growing up with post-war stereotyping of Muslim and Arab people and seeing various images and social media videos about the devastation in the Middle East due to American occupation, it is hard for the members of Gen Z not to question the government's current actions.
Ultimately, the reactions from Barry students show that Gen Z is not as disconnected from global conflict as it might seem. As the situation continues to develop, it is important for college students to stay informed and engaged with the world around them.
Wechsler had a final statement: “There is no better time than the present to educate yourself about the conflicts of today – you will never know if you need to be ready for the conflicts of tomorrow.”
As part of Gen Z, I have also noticed how many people don't seem to be taking this issue more seriously. I feel that since we've been born in an era where social media and technology have been exposed to us since childhood, we've become desensitized to the news and don't really take it seriously anymore. On Instagram, I've seen many memes come out of the issue in the Middle East, and how content creators in our generation make the issue seem more comedic and less serious than it actually is. I'm very proud that there are some people in our generation that is actually seeing the severity of this issue and how it can directly harm us if we…
While Keisha Volcy has a point that Gen Z might not be taking the current political landscape seriously, I do believe the memes have their place in the discussion of our political landscape. Historically, political cartoons have been used to show double standards and irony in wars and political unrest. Making light of a negative situation adds to the complexity of the conversation rather than taking away from it. Overall, I like that the author included that quote since it is a controversial stance and shows how multi-layered political conversations need to be.
I Really enjoyed that this article is showing how Gen Z is engaging with serious topics like war through social media. It shows how social media is a space where people can share their opinions and also explains how people can over simplify big issues. I think its interesting that our generation is generally more vocal, but it also concerns me of how reputable online opinions are.
This article was a great read! I really loved how you showed both the positive and negative aspects of how Gen Z interacts with current events while shedding light on a prominent issue affecting us all, whether we realize it or not. I feel that very often Gen Z is stereotyped with this idea of "not really caring about what's going on around us" or that we are so wrapped up in our own worlds that we forget what's going on around us, so I appreciated you highlighting students at Barry University who are working against that. They are actively trying to educate themselves and others about what the world is currently facing. It was a nice blend of conveying…
I really liked how you tackled the stereotype that Gen Z is unaware of and does not want to get involved in the serious issues our society is facing. Though it might be true for some, many of us care about our future and how the decisions of those in power can affect our lives, both directly and indirectly. I am grateful that our generation didn't have to go through what our parents did; their generation suffered a lot, but I feel like we have learned from it and now know what to avoid in the future.