Opinion: Stop Making Jokes About War
Media by Emma Tyulyayev
With the recent rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia, came insensitive jokes from all over the internet. Because of these jokes, many Russian and Ukrainian people like me have felt hurt. I think people should instead learn and educate themselves about the situation, and lift those up who are directly affected by it.
Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by my beautiful Slavic culture, by sweet pierogi and old folk tales. Seeing what has unfolded in Eastern Europe over the past couple of months, my half-Ukrainian and half-Russian heart is breaking.
But what hurts even more is that I have been surrounded by people making crude jokes out of such a serious conflict.
And I’ve seen this happen before.
At the beginning of 2020, there were World War III speculations after rising tensions between Iran and the USA. On Twitter, Instagram, Tik-Tok, you name it, there were people making jokes everywhere. Whether these jokes were about people getting drafted or about the rising tensions between countries themselves, it left a bad feeling in my stomach.
When Russia invaded Ukraine on Wednesday, Feb. 23, I was scrolling through my social media for news about the invasion. Post after post, tweet after tweet, I saw jokes instead of the facts I really wanted.
When did war become the center of a joke?
It breaks my heart that people will go out of their way to make what they think is a funny joke, not knowing how truly insensitive they are being. I’ve been checking the news every couple hours, crying and hoping that my Ukrainian family and friends are safe.
“It’s my coping mechanism!” is a common excuse, but coping with a problem in such an insensitive way creates an entirely different problem. Of course, not every non-Ukrainian or non-Russian person is using this excuse, but a handful of people who make these types of jokes still dominate a lot of what I see online.
I get it. It’s hard to empathize with a situation that you have little to nothing to do with. But that does not give anyone an excuse to make crude jokes about a serious situation, especially when lives are in danger.
War is NOT a joke. The suffering of millions of people is NOT a joke.
Instead of poking fun at the situation, uplift those who are directly affected. Give support to those who need it during hard times. Educate yourself on the situation and share the news with others, creating an atmosphere of support and knowledge.
Regardless of your views on the situation, people are hurting. People are crying. People are shouting. They don’t need your jokes. They need your help. Don’t be silent.
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Emma Tyulyayev is an Illustrator for the Marquette Messenger. This is her second year on staff. After school, she enjoys driving around and going on frequent...
