The Doomsday Clock started in 1947. It’s typically a measure of the risk of nuclear annihilation. It’s added a dimension since. Since 1991, however. it’s been a measure of human mismanagement of anything and everything. It’s now more like a stopwatch, according to the latest measures.
In 1991, the Doomsday Clock went backwards. The Cold War was over. The world was at the start of true global trade. Everyone was prospering, especially by comparison with the 2020s.
This is where the Doomsday Clock became a new metric of human insanity.
What went wrong, you ask, diligently keeping armed guards on your nearly-paid-for-almost-sorta-kinda Dorito/residence/coffin?
Since 1991, politics hasn’t had to worry about the Reds under the beds. A seemingly endless parade of fanatical fools and unelected super-rich morons has heroically appeared to lead the world out of prosperity ever since it became safe to come out. Into the sunlit uplands of infantile tantrums and pure, undiluted ignorance that would embarrass the average 5-year-old, you go.
Selflessly taking time off from destroying their own businesses, they’ve decided to run the world into the ground in much the same way. Aided by the heartwarming vacuity of CPAC, a weakling-only, very US-oriented, and equally duly unelected international conservative babbling lunatic fringe, a desperate effort to return to the Middle Ages is underway.
These guys all use the same expressions and rhetoric. None of them has the slightest idea what this glorious past they claim to own was like. Nor does the idea of a peaceful, sane, clean, healthy world occur to them.
That hasn’t helped. Human trafficking has boomed. Fossil fuels still obsess fossil minds. You can’t work from home and save yourself and your employer money and serious legal risks because these guys say so. You can’t argue with ridiculous house prices and rents because they’ve blocked consumer rights for decades. The same applies to healthcare.
You don’t need nukes to wipe out humanity. Just true morons. Lots of true morons. If the means for life are destroyed, it doesn’t matter how. You’re still not very alive, are you?
What’s really fascinating is that nobody’s under the slightest pressure to do anything about any of this. Politicians used to be scared of the media. Now the media are basically chatbot publicists, with no influence at all.
Political office is not an excuse to destroy people’s lives, however folksy the way you do it. Perhaps some nano-brained decaying infantile cretin could send a country broke? Or destroy its institutions? Give the country to criminals?
Nah, couldn’t happen, could it?
Someone would have told you.
The Doomsday Clock by now should be at about 4 AM.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
