Fear is the path to the dark side

Avoid the unnecessary

Interesting article from Vox on “how to stop catastrophizing,” or losing your mind to generalized fears propagated largely by experts and pols who, in my opinion, preach doom and gloom because that’s what sells and/or makes them seem most relevant. My favorite right now is Washington’s ongoing craze for war with China, and not just any conflict but with a clear runway to WWIII!

Seriously.

I type in “World War III happening soon” on Google and get 2.2 billion hits.

Time magazine sought to parse the issue last November: Why So Many Politicians Are Talking About World War III:

Amid ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, fears about the prospect of another world war are rising, and Trump is just one of the political figures employing such dark language. On the left, the right, and even within the White House, the specter of the kind of global conflict not seen for nearly 80 years is proving to be a useful rhetorical tool, even though it’s a comparison that historians say isn’t apt for the current moment.

So what gives?

Per my usual beef with Cold War baby generations (Boomers, Xers), Cold War and World Wars are what they know, so it’s a go-to paradigm, as in, when in doubt, declare one, the other, or both. Rhetorically, it’s a form of “escalation dominance” not unlike somebody eventually bringing up the Nazis in some online discussion. You run out of arguments or logic and you reach for the killer reference.