Quantcast
Latest Stories

Brave new world

By

We must be excused to wonder if all this talk about the end of the world is nothing more than a gimmick to sell guns. the regular cable TV fare seems to indicate it. And while guns are always a charming toy to contemplate and play with, there will be times when contemporary American popular culture simply brings it to sickening  lows.

But what can you do?  The children are still too young to keep from watching “Walking Dead 3″ and real life TV fare like “Doomsday Preppers”. Even so, the extensive collection of features on the impending apocalypse were nothing if not interesting. Another take on Nostradamus always found itself  an audience. And why not, if it could complement such cues as Mayan calendar and alien invasion? We must wonder if all these will end now?

Likely not. Years ago in the 70s,  The Doors’ Jim Morrison was already rocking,”…this is the end, my only friend, the end…” And we would all miss it too much.

What will we think of next for a 2013 apocaplypse? Not to worry. Something is bound  to come along. For if one were to really see into the constructs of our seeming obsession with the end, one might see it is only a reflection of the inevitable anxieties which accompanies all life in general.

The possibilities for drawing metaphors between personal and collective fears are endless. Global warming, a new ice age, global pandemic, worldwide economic collapse are part of the landscape of our collective consciousness. How is one supposed to react to all these fears? If you believe TV, buy a gun and wait.

But since the world did not end in 2012 then we can at least sit back and relax if only for a while. On the other hand who can say with certainty that indeed the world did not end as predicted. Perhaps it did end. We just do not know it yet. For who is to say that the mechanisms for our collective doom or doom’s opposite has not already begun?

And then one might contemplate if every day we wake up from night into a new morning, we do not wake into what one author called “a brave new world”, day  one of  the next epoch. And things will be entirely different from here on. The world as we know it is no more.

And its passing might have been marked by the most insignificant events. Such as when your phone conks out on Christmas eve taking with it all your contacts. Or as when you wake up on new year’s eve only to find your laptop gone possibly for the rest of time. And all your life is there. Will your back-up work? Are your files still there? And now Kinutil will have to written from an iPad.

Ah, it will not kill you if you do not allow it to. Every ending is only a new beginning of something. That much is so plain it must have come out in a song already. As kinutil sings to you now: Happy day one!


Follow Us

Follow us on Facebook Follow on Twitter Follow on Twitter


Recent Stories:

Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines.



Copyright © 2013, .
To subscribe to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper in the Philippines, call +63 2 896-6000 for Metro Manila and Metro Cebu or email your subscription request here.
Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer's Reader's Advocate. Or write The Readers' Advocate:
c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94
Advertisement

News

  • Graduates in tornado-raked Oklahoma town vow to stay
  • Business leaders welcome Rama’s reelection, ‘friendly ties’ with Capitol, Mega Cebu progress
  • BO-P K witnesses say they were given P100
  • Bullet through the heart for both lovers
  • Radazas obtain witness against Pelaez
  • Sports

  • Gay soccer player Robbie Rogers joins LA Galaxy
  • Gay wins 100 at Adidas Grand Prix in New York
  • Vengeful Beermen destroy Slammers
  • Ateneo goes for sweep
  • Que fires career-low 62, rules Orchard by four
  • Lifestyle

  • A life well lived
  • Kevin Tan takes a bride
  • In Tokyo, Bulgari dazzlers amid the sakura blooms
  • Desperately seeking Sarah Jessica
  • Don’t let your husband be the be-all and end-all of your existence
  • Entertainment

  • NYPD investigating actress Bynes allegations
  • Cambodian film tops Un Certain Regard
  • Cannes: ‘The Immigrant’ stirs emotional response
  • Julie Delpy on life at 40
  • It takes two to do the show biz breakup cha-cha
  • Business

  • Storm brews over control of US newspaper group
  • Coco sugar sweetens small town’s finances
  • Along Mt. Bulusan’s foothills: A balmy ‘agricultural resort’
  • For Mona Serrano, there is no ‘escape’ from entrepreneurship
  • Buildings designed with unique character finding market
  • Technology

  • A new way for Filipinos to connect on social media launched
  • Statement of Smart Communications
  • Yahoo takes big leap with $1.1B deal for Tumblr
  • Poll: More US teens turn to Twitter; Facebook old
  • Tips to avoid becoming an identity theft victim
  • Opinion

  • Deep impact
  • The return of traditional politics in Pampanga
  • Most important investment incentive
  • Making (and keeping) friends
  • The Trinity and us
  • Global Nation

  • Sky lanterns light up Iloilo sky, set world record
  • Filipino WWII veterans used to cover up for senators’ inaction on family unification
  • Warship from US here next month
  • Taiwan has new terms
  • Taipei welcomes start of fisheries talks with PH
  • Marketplace
    Advertisement
    Federland
    Federland
    © Copyright 1997-2013 INQUIRER.net | All Rights Reserved