The Ukraine conflict: a problem not a punchline
Ava Bourdeau, Opinion Editor
On Jan. 26, a TikTok user posted a video translating a plea to “Daddy Putin” to stop the conflict in Ukraine. On Feb. 24, the first bombs were dropped on the Ukranian capital Kyiv. Thousands were injured and many lost their lives. That same day, another TikTok user posted a video of “Vladdy Daddy” lounging in swim trunks. A few days later, “Vladdy Daddy” deployed more bombs on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
The issue here is clear: people are losing their homes, their lives and their loved ones across the world. Meanwhile, teenagers who have the privilege of being safe from the fray are turning the entire issue into one big joke.
It would be easy to simply blame the teens themselves for this. Of course, there is a certain level of accountability that posters of such jokes must take. However, it can be assumed that the thought process behind posting such insensitive things likely stems from a certain degree of ignorance that should concern us. People who can excuse such uncalled for humor probably don’t understand the severity of the situation. It is true that in recent weeks, the “hype” surrounding the issue has somewhat died. People are less informed, and the topic is not being discussed nearly as much as it was a month ago. Nevertheless, we all know enough to understand when we have crossed a line, yet many people on Tik Tok, Instagram and other social media platforms continue to do so on a daily basis.
Social media algorithms are designed to ensure we see certain topics on our feeds more than others. It is very likely that comedic posts about the situation are pushing away more important information. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with coping with a difficult situation by using dark humor. However, for many of these online users, this situation is not theirs to joke about. The Ukrainian government recently declared the situation a genocide. Russians are being sent to war or thrown in prison for protesting. Those living in neighboring nations fear the threat of invasion and are suddenly being forced to accommodate throngs of Ukrainian refugees. Meanwhile, “comedians” here in America somehow think it’s their right to make light of the tragedies happening abroad.
The bottom line is, stupid people will always be a despairingly common part of the Internet. Despite this, it is important to hold ourselves accountable, even when it may be difficult to do so when we have a screen to hide behind. What we put onlines can be seen by future colleges, employers and most importantly, people whom the posts may be about. What’s a brief chuckle for one person may be a gross degradation of current traumas for another.
