It’s the End of the World…Again
I stay informed by setting up Google Alerts to let me know when news items and blogs post about my favorite subjects, such as horror movies, books, Lost, writing, Resident Evil, Stephen King, and many more topics. With the alert, Google sends me an e-mail every day for each key word(s).
Today’s Google Alert for Stephen King gave me quite a laugh. While thousands of blogs and news services posted about the Swine Flu epidemic since yesterday, more than 20 writers correlate the events to Stephen King’s The Stand, his novel originally published in 1978, re-released unabridged and updated in 1990. In the novel, a government-engineered superflu virus wipes out the human population. The fraction of the population who are immune must then contend with an evil being bent on global domination and destruction.
Harold Lauder, Stuart Redman, and Frannie Goldsmith depicted in Marvel's comic adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand
Hundreds of people thinking that the Swine Flu is the first sign of the apocalypse is nothing new. We’ve had similar rises in paranoia with every epidemic. Anyone remember Asian Bird Flu, SARS? Yeah, neither one of those ended the world either. For many people, those pandemics represented the first sign of the end of the world, too. Then as now, people were pointing to The Stand. One thing is clear; if the world really does end because of some epidemic, people won’t say that the Bible or the Mayans predicted it, they’ll be pointing at Stephen King.
Why is mankind so interested in the end of the world? Why do so many see signs and warnings every time illness rises, or when industrial accidents happen, or when airplanes start crashing into buildings? Is it fear that our corporate rat race is all for nothing, that one day there won’t be a Jones to keep up with? Is it a desire to be prepared, stock up, buy guns ‘n ammo, build a bomb shelter…as if that will save you from extinction? Or do some people actually want the world to end, and plagues or wars give them hope that it will all be over soon?
I’m not going to pretend to have any answers for you. Every person who’s obsessed with apocalypse needs to stop and think for a moment and figure out why they’re so interested. My only advice to you is to think about the NOW. Think about the people you surround yourself with, your friends and family, and think about what you’re doing with your life. Are you happy with your relationships and your achievements? If not, is there anything you can do to make yourself happier with your circumstances? If that entails stopping relationships, moving back home to be with family, or quitting your job to take a chance on what you’ve always dreamed, then do it.
Live your life, and be completely happy. To the point where if you were to die tomorrow from Swine Flu or a nuclear explosion or something ridiculous like an outbreak of zombies, you would die a happy person because of the time you spent here. And even if the apocalypse isn’t around the corner (which it probably is not) then get comfortable with the idea of death. We’re all going to die; you, me, everyone we love, everything we’ve built. But it’s something we can face with dignity, courage and strength, especially if we have lived well.
But for my more stubborn readers, pick up a copy of Marvel’s comic adaptation of The Stand, on sale now.
May 1, 2009
If it is the end of the world, I’m maxing out my credit cards at Chanel and Tiffany tomorrow and not paying the bill. Do credit scores matter when the world is coming to an end?
May 5, 2009
Perhaps the wiser course of action is to wait for the viral apocalypse, and then just help yourself, Mad Max style.
Or, for more instant gratification, get a GM Mastercard and use it like there’s no tomorrow (because for GM, there isn’t). Karma bonus- they did it to themselves, so it’s not really stealing…
April 30, 2009
Hey, I completely back The Stand reference… you want a shock, though? Track down a copy of Alan E. Nourse’s book The Blade Runner. (Ridley Scott liked the title when he saw rushes of the book in a studio exec’s office, and stole it to replace Dark Days as the title of the adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) It’s so on the money with our current situation in the US, it’s uncanny. And it’s 35 years old.
April 30, 2009
I thought the title came from a screenplay by William S. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch and Junkie? Was his screenplay an adaptation of the Nourse book?