As the Israel-Palestine conflict continues ramping up in the Middle East, fears of a military draft—possibly including women aged 18 to 25 for the first time—heavily populate social media. A recent Reuters fact-check report found that a clip of President Biden appearing to discuss the Selective Service Act is actually a deepfake powered by AI, though it was circulated widely on TikTok after the first reports of violence between Israel and Hamas.
Yet concerns about a wider global conflict and subsequent American draft persist on TikTok, with some users turning to humor to express them.
In a viral video posted on Oct. 23, user Robbie Scott (@robbiesmoonmusic) stitched a clip from another TikToker claiming that Americans who avoided a draft would be jailed, stating that he wasn’t afraid of any such thing happening.
“Five years of rent-free living, free food, and no responsibilities versus being immediately obliterated by an AK-47 the moment I set foot on that battlefield,” Scott rationalized in his video, which has been viewed 1.7 million times since it was first posted.
@robbiesmoonmusic am i giving “ww3 champion” to you? plz. #war #gaytiktok #genz #draft ♬ original sound – robbie scott
A 2017 Gallup poll found that 49% of Americans favored young men and women performing at least one year of mandatory military service. This would likely impact citizens between the ages of 18 and 29, though that particular age group had the highest opposition to mandatory service when polled.
Scott had a solution for those seeking out eager volunteers in the event of a military draft. “Go find those people who are so pro-Second Amendment,” he suggested in his video. “They have concealed carry anyway. They know what they’re doing. They’ve done the classes. Go find them.”
Viewers echoed Scott’s sentiment in the comments section. “I agree! Everyone with those lifetime NRA memberships that they’ve been bragging about for years, they need to go first & put them to good use,” one declared.
Some pointed out that a military draft, once honored in earlier times, would be unlikely to receive the same support today. “The stigma of dodging the draft in earlier wars does not exist now,” user @urmom wrote. “We’re all gonna support going to jail.”
“Out of all the generations gen z is the one [that] openly despises the U.S. idk why politicians think they’ll fight for it,” another observed.
A former Army service member revealed an old saying that, in their eyes, likened the military to jail. “There was a saying that they provide ‘three hots and a cot.’ Jail does the same,” they joked.
“Three hots and a cot, minus warfare feels more ideal to me,” Scott agreed.
The Daily Dot reached out to Scott via email.