The surreal century
2008-11-18 | Filed under Uncategorized |
Antediluvian governments plan for the worst. Expect the worst. That’s the part that seems weird to me. Though I missed the Cuban Missile Crisis and duck-and-cover drills, there was still plenty of Cold War the-next-war-could-be-the-last-or-will-at-least-be-really-really-bad in the ambient when I was growing up…but there wasn’t a sense of inevitable doom. Although I guess it’s not really a sense of doom in the Maldives. It’s only limited powerlessness. The prospect of losing one’s homeland is neither the end of the story nor the inciting incident that leads to wacky adventures unrelated to what went before. Once you start talking about plans and insurance, I suppose the thing you’re planning for and insuring against becomes just another thing. Creeping banality.
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