Gen Z: Masters of comedic deflection

Coping strategy: Some of their social media posts might be inappropriate but it’s the only way for many of the 26-and-under crowd, who are experiencing childhood and entering adulthood during unconventional times, can deal with life. — Dreamstime/Tribune News Service

“CAN we get a cute drink and snacks after this?” reads the text on a recent TikTok image of men with machine guns in army gear. It’s intended to depict the attitude of young female US soldiers while storming a building in Gaza. The post, created by a Gen Z-er whose popular feed abounds with Taylor Swift lip-syncs and dance videos, is captioned: “I love this trend #thedraft #war #foryou #fyp #funny.”

It’s one of scores of “funny” posts that have collectively racked up hundreds of millions of views on TikTok in the over two weeks since the Hamas attacks on Israel triggered a brutal war in the region.