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Is there a silver lining to a manmade apocalypse?
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THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WWIII
The last thing my wife said to me this morning was, “Brian better hope he doesn’t get drafted.”
Brian, which is a name I made up, goes by Barb now. This was shortly after talking at length to someone else close to us. I’ll call her Tracy. As a young person, Tracy got really into doing cosplay and hanging out with other kids who were obsessed with anime. Eventually she declared herself gender fluid, then completed the transition by calling herself a man. I personally begged her with tears in my eyes to seek help. After years of insisting to me that transgenderism was not a mental illness and was not subject to social contagion, Tracy sat with Brian and talked for hours and eventually Brian, a gay man, decided he too was transgender.
They’ve both begun ruining their bodies with hormones.
Late last evening and early this morning I told my wife I was beginning to see the potential for a catastrophic war. I generally have always been an optimist when it comes to war. Most people don’t want to die. Most wealthy and powerful people – generally the folks who decide wars are necessary – don’t want to lose their wealth and power.
There have been some moves as of late, however, that have my own personal apocalypse clock ticking.
While I’m not referring specifically to AI, on that front, I will say it was more than mildly disconcerting to see that an AI hallucination misidentified a Chinese shipping vessel as carrying nuclear components and that almost led to US forces intercepting and boarding the vessel.
“You’re right to push back on that!”
There are also non-AI things that have spooked me a bit lately. Poland is freaking out. Polish PM Donald Tusk cited NATO and US intelligence saying a more widened scope of attacks could hit “Ukraine-supporting” NATO allies in the region. Putin, according to Tusk, would call the strikes “accidental” in order to cast doubt on NATO obligations.
In the meantime, Belarus, a client state of Moscow, is staging massive military training exercises. Pretty much exactly what Russia did prior to the invasion of Ukraine. Lithuania is preparing for mass evacuation. Estonia’s foreign intelligence chief puts Russian mobilization at 50/50 odds.
And, recently, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reiterated his longstanding concern that China would see any widening of the war in Eastern Europe as a likely opportunity to strike Taiwan. How they would ensure further weakening of US-response in the region is to simply order Rocket Man in North Korea to start shelling Seoul. That would certainly keep American and Japanese forces a bit pinned down.
Lastly, US Intel Chief John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow recently for a face-to-face with the Kremlin. The last time such a move happened, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Now, am I just fearmongering? I’d like to think not. I don’t actually want this to happen. One thing I’ve learned over the years, however, is that once punches start getting thrown, everything can go to shit in a hurry.
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Look at all that’s happened since the attacks on Oct. 7, for example. Now Washington is in Tehran and the entire region has changed.
And should it all go down and turn into a worst-case scenario, one both the hard left and hard right have mutually self-immolated over for years now, with a new axis and new allies, a new WWIII but this time with robots, drones, missiles, artificial intelligence and WMDs?
“Well, the upside for me is I’m 45, so I’d probably go last,” I say.
“Do you really think there’d be a draft?”
“Compulsory service is not abnormal in existential situations. Look at Ukraine and Russia. If you’re an adult male in your 20s, you’re probably fighting.”
Or dead.
They start with everyone in their 20s, then 30s and then 40s and so on. I might get bumped up for prior service, but who knows.
Then as she’s dropping me off, she says, “Well Brian better hope he doesn’t get drafted.”
“They won’t give a damn what he calls himself or what his pronouns are,” I say, then imitating a senior officer, “Whatever, kid, here’s your rifle. The fighting is in that direction.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Very few of the things that we think matter actually matter. Do we have food, energy, resources, and do our guns work? That’s really all that matters. That and having enough capable bodies to fight.
Even famed subversive liberal intellectual Noam Chomsky admitted the first things to go when conflict comes around are all the liberal sacred cows (and even most of the liberals). War has a way of reorienting a country and resetting a culture away from luxury beliefs.
I’m not saying we need it by any means. Existential war is a net negative. It’s the only game where everyone loses (and please, before you start, spare me the post WWII analysis. I’m very aware).
No country facing an existential war puts its boys on estrogen because they got confused and mentally ill watching Twitch streams.
It’s the tiniest sliver of silver, folks. All the bellyaching we hear about racism, sexism, all the isms would basically evaporate overnight.
It’s just that particular relief would come to the tune of global gunfire.
Let’s all just pray we don’t have to see that cloud.
TRENDING SOTDs
The attention economy has a way of ruining women.
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We will not apologize. America is great.
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THEY REALLY CAN’T FIND NORMAL GUYS
But you lift weights and climb utility poles, how relatable!
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