Some of us remember Swine Flu was going to kill us all, if GLOBAL COOLING DIDN’T back in the 1970’s....
If there is a remedy, why worry?
If there is not a remedy, why worry?
The Iraqis have a similar one, but I can't remember exactly how it goes.
It is true “we are all going to die” I choose not to die by politics.
Pretty funny... seems everything causes death and pain.
I would add AIDS to his list of "Oh-My-Gawd-We're-All-Gonna-Die" prophecies.
The global pandemic that will take down Western Civilization will begin in some crowded cubicle farm.
cough. cough.
Funny thing is, the stuff that DOES kill people in large numbers is hardly given a second thought.
Other than his wrong assessment of the very real repetitive strain injuries ( I can personally attest to it), Bolt is right on the money. He even mentioned acid rain a biggie from the eighties who the “experts” exclaimed would kill us all. Where are the acid-rain doomists now? I suppose they just transformed themselves into GW doomists. Now I’m just wondering after the GW scare diminishes what the next doomist scenario will be. Exploding mp3 players? Any suggestions?
I do often feel lonely in this astonishing age when to panic is a sign of virtue and to reason a sign of a cold heart.
I love it!
I live by a simple motto, “Watch out where the huskies go and don’t you eat that yellow snow”!
These prophets forget one thing......
WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.....
someday.
What? No Alice Cooper references?
Thanks, Great article.
Ping
I was taken in by the Y2K thing in a most embarassing manner. These days, I don’t worry about the end of the world as we know it; I keep my eyes open, yes, but experience tells me that (for folks in America, at least) things always work out okay in the end. As always, we’ll muddle through no matter what happens.
I haven’t heard much about the Ozone Layer lately. That used to be a big doomsday thing.
Frickin’ BEAUTIFUL.
Cell phones cause cancer.
Remember the fear that the world’s computers would crash the second the clocks ticked over to the year 2000? Planes would fall from the sky thanks to this Y2K bug, which the world spent an estimated $300 billion “fixing”. But what happened at midnight? Tick, tick, tick . . . er, tick.
Compare to an excerpt from "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton:
Has it ever occurred to you how astonishing the culture of Western society really is? Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health, and comfort. Average life spans increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. They are afraid of strangers, of disease, of crime, of the environment. They are afraid of the homes they live in, the food they eat, the technology that surrounds them. They are in a particular panic over things they can't even see — germs, chemicals additives, pollutants. They are timid, nervous, fretful, and depressed. And even more amazingly, they are convinced that the environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around them. Remarkable!
...[T]he military-industrial complex is no longer the primary driver of society. In reality, for the last fifteen years we have been under the control of an entirely new complex, far more powerful and far more pervasive. I call it the politico-legal-media complex. The PLM. And it is dedicated to promoting fear in the population — under the guise of promoting safety.
... Politicians need fears to control the population. Lawyers need dangers to litigate, and make money. The media need scare stories to capture an audience. Together, these three estates are so compelling that they can go about their business even if the scare is totally groundless.
Intriguing.
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Sorry I didn't see this sooner.