End of the World Movies: Does the PTB Know Something?

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Priming civilians for imminent uproar goes back to the late 30s atleast:

1938 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast
1939 'Wizard of Oz' film
1939 Disney story for kidz, 'Mickey Never Fails'
...etc.

[stefano]

Perceived threats evoke conformity and compliance.

This is true, and ties in with the Abrahamic obsession with the eschaton. I think most authoritarian personalities are convinced that everything's getting worse (seen through the lens of a personal progression from reassuring dependence to confusing choice), so it stands to that kind of reason that the end of the world is nigh.

[brainpanhandler]

Perceived threats evoke conformity and compliance.

Well yeah, but I think it's also worth noting that perceived threats can evoke solidarity and communal action and even, on occasion, rebellion against the status quo. It's a bedrock principle of social engineering that fear rallies the herd and gets everyone behind the authoritarian father state. This is not news here, but if they can use the herding mentality to divide and illicit compliance, the same tendency can be used as a rallying point for resistance and activism.

btw... I vote Dr. Strangelove as best "end of the world" movie of the 20th century.

[Joe Hillshoist]

"Smoke 'em if you got 'em" was pretty good.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Perceived threats evoke conformity and compliance.

Well yeah, but I think it's also worth noting that perceived threats can evoke solidarity and communal action and even, on occasion, rebellion against the status quo. It's a bedrock principle of social engineering that fear rallies the herd and gets everyone behind the authoritarian father state. This is not news here, but if they can use the herding mentality to divide and illicit compliance, the same tendency can be used as a rallying point for resistance and activism.

btw... I vote Dr. Strangelove as best "end of the world" movie of the 20th century.

Dr. Strangelove is indeed the best, but The Quiet Earth is a close second.

[crikkett]

Perceived threats evoke conformity and compliance.

Well yeah, but I think it's also worth noting that perceived threats can evoke solidarity and communal action and even, on occasion, rebellion against the status quo. It's a bedrock principle of social engineering that fear rallies the herd and gets everyone behind the authoritarian father state. This is not news here, but if they can use the herding mentality to divide and illicit compliance, the same tendency can be used as a rallying point for resistance and activism.

I think that's what happened with the Vietnam war; the draft had too many people fearing for their lives.

The first thing my mother told me after we invaded Afghanistan was that she was planning to send my little brother to Canada if a draft was instated.

Like that would have done any good.

[norton ash]

Crikkett:

The first thing my mother told me after we invaded Afghanistan was that she was planning to send my little brother to Canada if a draft was instated.

Like that would have done any good.

It's still all-volunteer from Canada, like the USA, and I think it would be much harder to instate a draft up here.

Although there'd be value in a draft in terms of stopping these wars.

[crikkett]

Crikkett:

The first thing my mother told me after we invaded Afghanistan was that she was planning to send my little brother to Canada if a draft was instated.

Like that would have done any good.

It's still all-volunteer from Canada, like the USA, and I think it would be much harder to instate a draft up here.

Although there'd be value in a draft in terms of stopping these wars.

She wanted to send my little brother to Canada to escape a hypothetical US draft. I scoffed because I think extradition from Canada is now easier than it was then. People can't hide the way they could in my Mom's day.

I think the US will have to wait a few more decades before it can try a draft again. Our Baby Boomers won't let it happen again in their lifetimes. It could be why so much effort is being put into robotic warfare.

[Nordic]

She wanted to send my little brother to Canada to escape a hypothetical US draft. I scoffed because I think extradition from Canada is now easier than it was then.

Considering that Marc Emory is now sitting in a jail in the U.S., I'd say that you're right.

[anothershamus]

So with all this talk about the draft, where would I send my two draft age boys to keep them out of the fray? There must be a close country with no draft extradition treaty.

[alwyn]

So with all this talk about the draft, where would I send my two draft age boys to keep them out of the fray? There must be a close country with no draft extradition treaty.

Brazil?

[Penguin]

Russia?

[KeenInsight]

So with all this talk about the draft, where would I send my two draft age boys to keep them out of the fray? There must be a close country with no draft extradition treaty.

Go off into the deep wilderness of live off the land?

[pepsified thinker]

I can see how end of the world story lines are useful as propaganda, etc. but they also make sense in terms of what 'sells'--hero with fight scenes, special effects of destruction and blasted landscapes.

And I can see 'innocent' reasons for people to be receptive--the above mentioned 'dealing with our own mortality', and also post-Katrina and post-9/11 and Y2k/millennial all being prompts for such stories being imagined and readily received.

. . . but I also have the feeling that, however much there may be innocent reasons supporting them, they wouldn't be spewed forth in such large numbers (books, movies, etc.) if they were contrary to the interests of the PTB.

[slomo]

So with all this talk about the draft, where would I send my two draft age boys to keep them out of the fray? There must be a close country with no draft extradition treaty.

Go off into the deep wilderness of live off the land?

That is far easier said than done. It takes a tremendous amount of skill and practice to be able to survive in the wilderness.