Late one evening last week, I sat cozied up on my couch with a tin of leftover shortbread. New Year’s Eve party decorations were still hanging in my apartment, Christmas lights still twinkling cheerfully on the tree. That wonderful clean-slate optimism of a brand new year was still fresh, and full of potential.
That is, until notifications started to light up my phone. Cozy holiday cheer was snuffed out by familiar dread in the pit of my stomach. The weary exasperation of “What’s happened now?” #WorldWarThree is four of the five top trending topics on Twitter.
The fifth is #FranzFerdinand.
After Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top military commander, was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, social media flooded with speculation about whether the assassination would trigger a third World War, echoing how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set World War I in motion over 100 years ago. When I undertook writing this piece, I planned to comment on the potential retaliation from Iran leading to another American war in the Middle East and possibly the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump. But these are chaotic times, and that was six whole days ago.
Ever since America fell through the reality TV looking glass, it has become apparent that anyone who pays attention to U.S. politics will inevitably wind up pulled into their strange, outrage-fatigued wonderland where it seems President Trump is always up to something shocking. Now, only days into 2020, it feels like history isn’t so much repeating itself as it is doing a freestyle, acid-jazz interpretation of the greatest hits.
On Wednesday, Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. airbase in Iraq, destroying empty buildings and vehicles. A few hours later, Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 crashed in Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Thursday, the New York Times released a verified video of what appeared to be Flight 752 being hit by a missile minutes before it crashed. By Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that it was not a mechanical failure that caused the catastrophe but that it was likely shot down. On Saturday, Iran admitted responsibility for accidentally downing the plane due to “human error.”
Way back in the olden times of last Friday, the general perspective that I saw reflected in my coworkers, peers, and friends mirrored a pretty standard Canadian brand of tepid optimism. The thing I heard repeatedly was that this was just another example of U.S. interference in foreign countries, and that it wouldn’t have much to do with Canada. Headlines insisted that the killing of Soleimani was a very dangerous escalation that would have real consequences, but I’ll admit that it was difficult to feel anything other than cynicism. Now, 176 innocent people are dead, 57 of them Canadians, and it is impossible to feel anything other than anger and pain for the devastated families.
President Trump pushed the U.S. to the brink of war with Iran, and 176 innocent people were caught in the crossfire. I don’t know what will happen next, but I believe The Late Show host Stephen Colbert summed it up well, exclaiming “This is what has been keeping you up at night for the last three years! It wasn’t the baggy suits, it wasn’t ‘covfefe.’ It was his ability to wage war with no understanding of consequences.”
Memes about Fortnite players “no-scoping” and “killstreaking” their way through the Middle East fill the spaces on my newsfeed between world leaders subtweeting each other threats of military action. To quote Alice herself, “curiouser and curiouser” indeed.
Illustration: Kayt Hine/The Cascade
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