Rupert Cornwell: Wars, disasters, pestilence – and zombies. Is the end of the world nigh?
I've got Apocalypse on the brain right now. Maybe that's because last week they opened a new rollercoaster of that name at the Six Flags America theme park in Washington's eastern suburbs. You hurtle along a stomach-detaching half-mile track, festooned with skulls and other end-of-civilisation paraphernalia amid exploding plumes of flame. Aficionados love these things. Me, I'm terrified just reading about them.
But it's not just the rollercoaster called Apocalypse. These days, surely, there are other good reasons for such eschatological musings. Take the "serious" news. We're presently submerged in the dreary middle game of the interminable 2012 election campaign, from which, at times, it feels that even the end of the world would be a welcome release. Then there's all the "declinism" talk, how the best days of the US are behind it, and all that remains for the 99 per cent of us is gradual descent into acrimonious poverty.
Tidings from the rest of the world are little better. Vlad the Bad is back in charge of Russia, while Europe's economy is going to hell in a handbasket. Then there's the ghastly mess in Syria that could plunge the entire Middle East into sectarian civil war – oh yes, just as Israel attacks Iran.
If the politicians seem to have lost control, then so too has Mother Nature. Maybe it's just the instantly transmitted images of the digital age, but aren't natural disasters – floods and heatwaves, tsunamis and tornadoes – getting more frequent and more disastrous than ever?
All of which only reinforces one's fears about global warming, rising sea levels and the rest. The problem is probably now irreversible, even if the politicians were brave enough to impose the draconian measures that alone might make a difference.
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