re: #255 Naso Tang

Talking of Change, did anyone catch Glenn Beck’s show on the end of the world today?

I only got a part of it, and while I don’t disagree with playing “war games” of different scenarios, he manages to convey, along with liberal interspersion of religion, that he DOES believe one of these worst case scenarios is going to happen.

Given what I believe to imagine is the state of mind of many of his fans, I think that kind of program format is irresponsible in this climate of uncertainty.

Anyone thinking I’m now in favor of censorship?

I came of age in the height of the Cold War. I was born weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I grew up in an area we knew was a Class A target for the USSR—the port of New Orleans and the heavy industry up and down the river. There was no way to escape the city—look at Katrina.

We knew at an early age that if something bad happened, we were pretty much dead in NOLA. If not the initial blasts, then the fallout or lack of food or fresh water. My friends in the neighborhood resolved that if we ever heard the EBS come on followed by the sirens, we’d get up on the roof with a bottle of whatever, our smokes and some lawn chairs and wait for the fireworks show to start.

I do not fear the end of civilization. It’s gonna happen. I don’t want to see it happen—I want my kids to have a shot at life. But, if it happens—c’est la vie. There is no sense in hushing up people who have an apocalyptic mindset.