The End of the World As We Know It
Hat tip to REM: http://www.rlyrics.com/R\REM/ItstheEndoftheWorldAsWeKnowItAndIFeelFine.asp
I grew up in an evangelical Christian family... we watched the Tim LaHaye movies and even read a couple of the Left Behind books. We went to seminars and listened to sermons about eschatological disasters in "The End Times," based on little-heard-of prophecies in the Bible. (Corrective note on behalf of my dad: we're reasonable people. . . we believe the world has a beginning and an end, and nobody knows when the end will come. The following claims did not originate in my home.)
I'm not a Biblical prophecy expert, although I swear I'll dig into the field someday and discover my own positions on eschatology - it's a fascinating field and I would not discredit its pursuers for the life of me. In my circle of acquaintances, I've heard patently ridiculous claims, including one that China is going to come attack us someday as an act of God to punish America for immorality. Hm. Well I can't say I would blame Him in such an instance, but let's be realistic. Besides, I remember the same people saying the same thing about the USSR nuking us, or the Y2K disaster destroying our society. I discredited the USSR thing when I was 6 years old - and that was before the coup. The Y2K deal? I was a programmer, need I say more?
All this aside, I wonder sometimes about catastrophe theories. They are entrenched in the mind of man. I am a fan of inevitable globalization and development theories - I love Fukuyama and Julian Simon - but could it all come crashing down around us with something almost random, almost accidental?
It turns out, at this very moment there are people circulating theories and possibilities on this very subject. And all of a sudden, they are legitimate voices in the foreign policy world! Here are the two I'm thinking about:
First, the Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Threat. In this theory, propounded by heavyweights such as James Woolsey (who I met in January at an FDD event - http://www.defenddemocracy.org, a fantastic organization), terrorists or rogue nation-state actors could detonate a medium-sized ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead some 300-400 miles above the United States. Some minutes thereafter, the electromagnetic pulse emitted by the explosion would hit the continental United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. Ouch! Every computer motherboard would get zapped (like putting a powerful magnet on top of your laptop)...and some people say our entire cellphone, power-grid, and information infrastructure would fail also. And slash, there goes the heel on the mighty Achilles of American dominance. Suddenly, without all our UBERsexy military technology (sorry feminists about the sexualization of military technology - ask Edward Piotrowicz if you see him what my opinion is on Lockheed Martin missile technology), we might even be unable to effectively respond, or even figure out who nailed us.
Load of crap? I hope so.
The second major apocalyptic threat is propounded, to my dismay, in my favorite foreign policy journal, Foreign Affairs. This is the Avian Flu - a chicken bug from somewhere in the third world. What the....., you say? FA devoted the entire issue to this "threat"! Turns out, if this little bug that's killing a serious chunk of the chicken supply in China just happens to make a solid jump to the human species - and it is mutating fast - then we could suddenly see an international pandemic that would kill millions, shut down ports and airports, ruin globalization, and bring the whole world into a season of dark horror. The principal comparison Laurie Garrett (don't doubt her credentials no matter your politics - she won the Peabody, the Pulitzer, AND the Polk awards for journalism) makes is das UBERbug of 1918, disastrously complicated by the failure of the evil Woodrow Wilson to stop it. But the language Garrett uses is a little more evocative of the bubonic plague back in 1397.
I'm still reading the issue, so I'll improve my understanding of the situation, but what could we do to arrest the course of carnage if this pandemic came about? A sobering question, one that FA intends to force upon the country before it may be too late.
So there you have it - admired personalities in foreign policy are saying the whole world order might just collapse sometime soon. Well don't pull out of the market because I mentioned it... eat, drink, and be merry and keep those stocks up there for me. But don't forget you heard it here first!
I grew up in an evangelical Christian family... we watched the Tim LaHaye movies and even read a couple of the Left Behind books. We went to seminars and listened to sermons about eschatological disasters in "The End Times," based on little-heard-of prophecies in the Bible. (Corrective note on behalf of my dad: we're reasonable people. . . we believe the world has a beginning and an end, and nobody knows when the end will come. The following claims did not originate in my home.)
I'm not a Biblical prophecy expert, although I swear I'll dig into the field someday and discover my own positions on eschatology - it's a fascinating field and I would not discredit its pursuers for the life of me. In my circle of acquaintances, I've heard patently ridiculous claims, including one that China is going to come attack us someday as an act of God to punish America for immorality. Hm. Well I can't say I would blame Him in such an instance, but let's be realistic. Besides, I remember the same people saying the same thing about the USSR nuking us, or the Y2K disaster destroying our society. I discredited the USSR thing when I was 6 years old - and that was before the coup. The Y2K deal? I was a programmer, need I say more?
All this aside, I wonder sometimes about catastrophe theories. They are entrenched in the mind of man. I am a fan of inevitable globalization and development theories - I love Fukuyama and Julian Simon - but could it all come crashing down around us with something almost random, almost accidental?
It turns out, at this very moment there are people circulating theories and possibilities on this very subject. And all of a sudden, they are legitimate voices in the foreign policy world! Here are the two I'm thinking about:
First, the Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Threat. In this theory, propounded by heavyweights such as James Woolsey (who I met in January at an FDD event - http://www.defenddemocracy.org, a fantastic organization), terrorists or rogue nation-state actors could detonate a medium-sized ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead some 300-400 miles above the United States. Some minutes thereafter, the electromagnetic pulse emitted by the explosion would hit the continental United States and parts of Canada and Mexico. Ouch! Every computer motherboard would get zapped (like putting a powerful magnet on top of your laptop)...and some people say our entire cellphone, power-grid, and information infrastructure would fail also. And slash, there goes the heel on the mighty Achilles of American dominance. Suddenly, without all our UBERsexy military technology (sorry feminists about the sexualization of military technology - ask Edward Piotrowicz if you see him what my opinion is on Lockheed Martin missile technology), we might even be unable to effectively respond, or even figure out who nailed us.
Load of crap? I hope so.
The second major apocalyptic threat is propounded, to my dismay, in my favorite foreign policy journal, Foreign Affairs. This is the Avian Flu - a chicken bug from somewhere in the third world. What the....., you say? FA devoted the entire issue to this "threat"! Turns out, if this little bug that's killing a serious chunk of the chicken supply in China just happens to make a solid jump to the human species - and it is mutating fast - then we could suddenly see an international pandemic that would kill millions, shut down ports and airports, ruin globalization, and bring the whole world into a season of dark horror. The principal comparison Laurie Garrett (don't doubt her credentials no matter your politics - she won the Peabody, the Pulitzer, AND the Polk awards for journalism) makes is das UBERbug of 1918, disastrously complicated by the failure of the evil Woodrow Wilson to stop it. But the language Garrett uses is a little more evocative of the bubonic plague back in 1397.
I'm still reading the issue, so I'll improve my understanding of the situation, but what could we do to arrest the course of carnage if this pandemic came about? A sobering question, one that FA intends to force upon the country before it may be too late.
So there you have it - admired personalities in foreign policy are saying the whole world order might just collapse sometime soon. Well don't pull out of the market because I mentioned it... eat, drink, and be merry and keep those stocks up there for me. But don't forget you heard it here first!
posted by Brian at 11:40 AM
4 Comments:
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FACT CHECK: I thought you still were an evangelical Christian. What does Tim Lahaye have to do with being an evangelical Christian anyway? I personally have never read a Tim Lahaye novel. Nor was I aware that anyone in our family had.
You make it sound like we were "end times" devotees. A movie or two on a Saturday night in your lifetime does not mean you were raised in an environment of looming "eschatological disasters".
If you remember correctly, I was the one who made the call on Y2K. I did so after learning about the role of computers, code and business processes. As a result, our family did not store up provisons.
Any of the conferences we attended were centered around what the Bible says about prophecy and end times. They were not focused on disasters or dates or times.
As far as "end times" eschatology is concerned, you should have one. The Bible is very clear; Earth has a beginning and an end. I don't think we will be asking ourselves "Is this end?" when it actually happens:
25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
29He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32"I tell you the truth, this generation[b] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
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Friends and readers...by now you've probably figured out that "Ron" is my dad (hat tip: http://rkwright.blogspot.com/). Dad and I have honed each other's strategic perspectives for as long as I can remember. He started it.
To clear up the apparent ambiguity of my post... Of course I am still an Evangelical Christian - anybody who has read this blog to date should know that "if you will believe it" is a sarcastic statement. My evangelical credentials are impeccable - c'mon, I'm a senior at Patrick Henry College, the evangelical school that is going to take over the country and found a Christian theocracy.
Yes, you did make the call on Y2K, and no, we did not store up provisions....thank heavens. The "people" who have made "patently ridiculous claims" were never members of my family, although some were family friends. And we went to Bible prophecy seminars and read books about the Bible code. I myself picked up Tim LaHaye books and found them fascinating, if poorly written. I am not at all ashamed of that background, although some Biblical prophecy claims are still laughable. Readers: I will leave the "China will attack us for the wrath of God" claim anonymous, but it was not my dad.
But all this misses the point of the post. The Biblical prophecy introduction was there to give an eye-catching introduction to a less eschatalogical subject. It is not to discredit any of these Biblical prophecy issues, but to ask how catastrophe theories - which are as I said embedded in the mind of man - could play out on a practical basis. The focus is strategic planning, not theological prediction.
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