TL;DR
Both the US and China are packaging military operations with memes, cute animal filters, and video-game edits to make war look light and fun, numbing the public to real violence.
Have you seen a short video of a cute pig dancing on a missile, or Spongebob saying 'Wanna see me do it again?' followed by bomb explosions? These are not fan jokes but official military propaganda from the US and China.
Cute-ifying war: China's adorable missiles
The PLA combines missiles with animal imagery, like pink pig emojis over DF-26 ballistic missiles, set to a song 'Mommy says I'm a pig.' The style resembles fan art rather than a weapons showcase.
They also use a tourism slogan 'So close, so beautiful, go to Taipei anytime' for military exercises, packaging Taiwan military action as a light travel ad.
Gamifying violence: America's video-game edits
The White House layers Spongebob memes over bombing footage in Iran, or overlays 'WASTED' from GTA, even using bowling pins to represent Iranian officials. These videos get over 100 million views, far more than traditional ads.
Why do it?
Both countries want to desensitize the public to war, making it easier to support military action. China eyes Taiwan contingencies, the US wants to maintain military dominance. But the consequence is that people find it harder to take the real costs of war seriously.
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