Assignment/ Activity Title --- WW3 Hysteria Project

Year --- Junior

Portfolio Competency --- Media and Communications
Skill ---Research, Writing, Critical Thinking

The beginning of 2020 started off with a bang (as was everything following it) when
diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Iran rose to what seemed like an all time high.
President Trump decided to assassinate Iranian general Qassem Soleimani via air strike. The
aftermath of which was an airstrike on a U.S. base in the Middle East. As tensions rose overseas,
at home, many feared a world war would break out: World War III. And so the WWIII hysteria
project was born so that we as students could better inform ourselves about the state and history
of the Middle East, in spite of the narratives driven by the news and social media. Each student
(or group) chose a specific research question to answer. My question looked into the effect the
war had on civilians in Iran, trying to uncover how their quality of life was different from our
own. After much research, I was truly surprised by my findings. I discovered that the condition
of Iranians is in some ways very similar to our own. When watching American news media, you
get the impression that the Middle East is war torn and in dire need of intervention. But one
could almost look at America in the same light and come to the same conclusion. The people of
Iran struggle from a much different issue, which is rooted in the corrupt nature of the
regime/government. Most of the economic, political, environmental, and infrastructural issues in
Iran come from a history of corrupt negotiation between Iran’s elite and those in power, and in
fact, citizens in Iran's bigger city have been protesting the regime for years. My biggest takeaway
from this project was how none of this was ever conveyed to be before I dug deeper into the
internet to search for answers. Often I find when countries in the Middle East are talked about on
the news or on whatever other platform, there is a grouped narrative that twines them together.
This project instilled in me the importance of questioning what you already know, and digging
deeper for perspective.