POSTRmagazine is a Quarterly Magazine Published by Not Another Graphic Designer VOF - © 2013 - All Rights Reserved [email protected] - www.postrmagazine.com @POSTRmagazine - www.facebook.com/POSTRmagazine Editors: Monkeys With Typewriters (Robbert van Jaarsveld & Michaël De Wilde) Art Direction & Graphic Design: Not Another Graphic Designer In honour of Timmy V.G. and Hunter S. Thompson

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“Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding “kill list,” poring over terrorist suspects’ biographies on what one official calls the macabre “baseball cards” of an unconventio- #13 nal war. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises — but his family is with him — it is the president who has reserved EDITORIAL THE TARKIN DOCTRINE to himself the final moral calculation.” — Jo Becker & Scott Shane, The New York Times – http://nyti.ms/JKJjiM WHATS TRENDING IN A Dissertation on the Unspeakable FEAR? – “Fear will keep the local systems religion of choice) is not exclusive to on Eternal Redemption but are essen- in line. Fear of this battle station.” – Western religion. The Islamic equiva- tially based on the same mechanism We don’t generally talk about our fears Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin lent to Hell (Jahannam) is pretty much as Little Red Riding Hood or Cinderella. – for the most of us, our daily routines the same thing, which means you end The fact that the concept of Hell has include putting on a mask in the morn- If we had to guess, we’d say you’re up in a dark pit outside of time (as in recurrent themes throughout different ing, a plastered facade that is in place scared of a bunch of things. Death you’re not leaving anytime soon) that cultures points out exactly how primi- to convince the rest of the pack that at probably ranks pretty high amongst features a lot of flogging, dragging and tive a tool it is: it uses primal fears least to a certain degree, we know what anybody alive (or at least, those whipping mixed with the visual imag- (darkness, fire, pain,…) that are pret- we’re doing. Every individual mask among us who actually have a life, ery of fire (flaming clothes, whips and ty much universal to the species to is carefully tuned and fitted to a very you pathetic social reject), followed chains, burning genitalia, etc…). Nota- scare the individual into being a good specific social dynamic and hierarchy, closely by the basic physical fears ble difference: Jahannam has 7 levels, person. That might have worked in things that one should be cautious not that relate directly to our survival the top one being reserved for regular ancient times but we doubt its ef- to upset – especially when you’re not (lions, heights, disease, violence,…) – sinful Muslims – the floors below are ficacy in the neo-hedonist year of exactly alpha-material. Now within but the ones that really warp the living reserved for Christians, Jews and other 2013: we want our fears personalized some social structures that we try to shit out of the human mind are gener- assorted infidels. The Chinese have and custom-catered, labelled by psy- navigate through as we grow up, ad- ally the ones that have sprung from anywhere between 3 and 10 ‘Courts Of chiatrists and treated with prescrip- mitting to fear in public might be inter- the complex social clusterfuck that Hell’ or up to 18 ‘Levels Of Hell’ (reduced tion drugs. Time flies in the 21st cen- preted as a sign of weakness, a mod- we’ve created over the last centuries. from the Buddhist version which men- tury – the world has gotten bigger yet ern version of rolling on the ground The fragile consensus that we call civil tions 118 levels). As in most versions easier to reach so you better make paws up with the softer underbelly society is dependent on everyone’s re- of Hell, sinners are assigned a cham- sure you let The Good Times Roll be- exposed – a grovelling display of sub- luctance to disturb the balance: basi- ber and corresponding punishment fore the hourglass runs out. Religion servience in a society that holds only cally we’ve built a huge house of cards based on the nature of their sins yet has become a comic footnote in con- a grudging respect for its leaders and and now we’re actually trying to live Chinese Hell (Diyu) seems more imagi- temporary culture – the Bible is the nothing but contempt for anyone out- in it, which means that everybody is native with its resources and does not epitome of uncool while the inter- side the alpha-class. Truly, the Group walking on the tips of their toes for rely primarily on fire like conventional net has brought the world into your might not feel like the safest place to fear of making the whole thing crash Western Hell. Visitors to this exotic living room, showing you all the action throw your innermost fears and inse- down. The framework of our world retreat will be able to enjoy a myriad of you’re missing out on. No need to wor- curities. In fact, most of the times that has so many pitfalls that we have never-ending torture methods, includ- ry about eternal damnation (still wait- DRONES IN SHINING people actually start a sentence with to dread a single wrong step, espe- ing but not limited to tongue-ripping, ing for the first Google user review on the words ‘I’m afraid that…’ they’re cially with everybody’s smart phone eye-gouging, skinning, being gored by that one), what you need to be afraid not really afraid of anything – they just camera’s perched for the kill. As if animals, burning, sawing and having of is not getting proper bang for your ARMOR know that what they are about to tell we couldn’t live without 90% of the hooks pierced into the bodies while buck while the offer lasts. As far as you actually sucks for you and as such social circle that we despise anyway being hung upside down. we know, you only live once – so you Cosmetic civility FROM ABOVE might elicit some negative emotions for not really knowing us, a feeling better make sure that you’re peaking on your behalf (e.g;. ‘your credit card of resentment that is in itself a re- all the time, before you’re too old to has not been accepted’ or ‘we had to verse psychological projection based wear skinny jeans and be in the club. So what’s the modern application of sequentially, declaring a war on that are not our own – we believe in them take both your kidneys’,…), something on how much of a shit we don’t give What you need Our lives have become that much sub- fear as an instrument? By far the most method and the ones practicing it is on good faith – very much the same which in turn makes them feel queasy. about others. Consequentially, these jected to the free market, we approach brilliantly coined strategic keyword and a great way for to a leader to cater to way that people in the Middle Ages be- The ‘fear’ that they refer to is the feel- feelings of fear also become the ones to be afraid of is it with the same goal of profit maximi- political reinvention of the past decade his nation’s civilians, especially if your lieved in Hell. Why? Because we need ing in them that hopes that you’re not that may potentially run and ruin your zation and squeezing it for every last has been terror and the subsequent population thinks it needs to be afraid that framework - it gives us a clear-cut going to cry or yell or – God forbid – life. The fear of speaking in public or not getting proper drop of happiness and enjoyment we war against it – it is a classic political/ of terrorist attacks, whether or not that choice on how to feel, act and talk. The ask them for help. Basically anything confronting someone higher up the can get out of it. Only in the Western military term that has its origins in Latin fear be justified. At the same time, a fact that people accept fear as a given NOT SO F.A.Q. that is not in the pre-written protocol ranks than yourself is as real as you bang for your buck world will you find a copy of The Way (terrere – to frighten, strike fear into), a War on Terror is not limited by territori- mind state hints at how primitive our or social script. Oh we’ve all heard it: decide to make it for yourself – and Of The Tao next to someone’s toilet – strong foothold in popular culture and a al restrictions or army uniforms which consciousness really is: we revel in the ‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.’ – the words this decision will correlate highly with while the offer spiritual enlightenment is something variable control span that can be adjust- provides a wide margin to operate in. simplicity that fear offers us. What we spoken with a smirk that says they love a person’s desire to do well within that we try to squeeze into the daily routine ed to include virtually any target. Un- You can make your enemies include are really scared of is life and the infi- telling you exactly that. group, whatever that group may be: it lasts. when we have 5 minutes available to like other politically motivated acts of anyone you like and you can take the nite complexity of it – combined with When was your last does not matter at this point whether take a shit. Anything to steer clear of violence, terror is aimed not at military fight anywhere you wish. The strategic our natural hardware, our instinct that True fear is a tool of evolution – it you’re running for president of the the existential void gaping beneath or political targets but strikes straight advantages of starting a war against demands that we make some kind of alerts us of danger, gives us a shot of country or president of the hooligan Visit Diyu yourself and experience first- your Converse Chucks (the preferred at the civilian population with the goal an undefined enemy gives you the lib- rational sense out of it all. The truth is, confession? adrenaline and revs up our heart rate, club, in order to be successful you’ll hand the perpetual spiritual agony of sneaker of the life-enjoying individual of spreading fear amongst the public. erty of changing targets and methods we humans are all equally blessed and prepping us for what comes next; fight have to please at least the majority of being tortured, killed and reborn only who lives by his own rules and is not Terror in the post-9/11 era has been as you go along. You can stick your cursed with the ability to understand or flight. The decision to either stand your audience. to be tortured again – book once and afraid to show it). carefully redefined and re-marketed, POW’s in secret CIA prisons around the the world around us – sadly, most of Hello? Is anybody In HERE? your ground or fight for survival used suffer for all eternity! Go for a vitaliz- discussed in many late-night brain- world because they are not soldiers us shrink in fear at the opportunity/ to be reflexive; a matter of seconds FOLLOW THE LEADER ON ing climb on the Mountain of Knives storm sessions before being presented but terrorists, a lower form of military responsibility of doing exactly that that made the difference between life or take a refreshing dip in our Pool Of ° In ‘Murica – round the period of to the public. It is now a deplorable tacti- foe than a man in a uniform and as and instead rely on the words of oth- and death, being prey or predator. But INSTAGRAM Blood (parental supervision prohibit- Halloween – hardline Christians use cal measure that can only be resorted to such undeserving of any protection ers. At the same time, survival isn’t Do you like your how do we handle our fears in a soci- L’enfer, c’est les autres. The majority ed) – load up on unbearable pain and ‘Hell Houses’ to reintroduce the fear by the ‘enemy’ because of its insidious granted by the Geneva Conventions. the straightforward race that it was for ety that has as many unspoken rules of our fears are a direct result of what distress in our hot water cauldrons or of Hell to sinful (read: all) young and inherently evil nature – as a result, You can make half of Pakistan live in 99,99% of our evolutionary process. as it has written ones – what is it that we think other people think of us, and have a boiling oil cocktail at the bar members of the community: this declaring a War On Terror is the military perpetual fear of your drone strikes Even a fear as remote and intangible as terrorists white or red? you need to be afraid of when there are since we all seem to be dealing with in the lobby. Cool off in our Ice World method actually entails decorating a equivalent of taking the moral high (consider the meaning of true terror) a terrorist threat or a life of mediocrity no sabre tooth tigers or roving bandits huge inferiority complexes and feel- where frostbite will slowly eat away building to look like Hell – including ground. It wasn’t always like that: ter- and still get a Nobel Peace Prize in the puts the world in some kind of (skewed) around? How do you fight the fear of ings of unfulfilled potential, our esti- at your body, or get hot and steamy in a cast of bad actors who re-enact ror has often been a government tool process, just because you’re doing it perspective and gives meaning to do you know what the failure? The odds of winning are close mations of third party judgments are our five-star inferno (guaranteed hotter scenes of sin and punishment, all in post-revolutionary nations dealing with more charisma than the guy be- some of the complexity around you; to nonexistent. And how have we man- usually not very positive. Of course, the than any Chinese Hell you’ll find in your aimed at scaring youngsters into with (perceived or fabricated) opposi- fore. Militants and insurgents are the us against them, me against the world. aged to bend our feelings of fear into fact that advertisement is profession- local Chinatown!). High-profile guests living with The Lord instead of sex, tion. Examples include far-from-home new forces of evil; they don’t get the Fight or flight is dead; we hide from most frightening thing in phobias so paralyzing and debilitating ally chipping away at your self-confi- will receive special accommodation in drugs & rock ‘n roll. Includes strobe- dictatorships like Cambodia under Pol empathy that we reserve for rebels and our fears behind laws, embargoes, that we now need to see therapists dence by showing you who you could Avici, a restricted-access area for only lights, screaming, graphic violence Pot and Russia (the ‘Red Terror’ under freedom fighters, even if that is exactly governments, anti-depressants, blogs about? How scared of public bath- be (who you are is not good enough), the most vile, devious and unremorse- and other disturbing images. Lenin and his Bolsheviks) but also in- what they are. Robespierre’s disserta- and custom-made t-shirts – hoping the world is? rooms do you need to be? does not make it any easier. Forget ful souls. Please note that the Avici- clude France with its post-revolutionary tion on terror and its necessity looks that whatever scares us doesn’t pop about the purity of your immortal soul package is offered exclusively to a spe- Reign Of Terror, when the guillotine or good in the history books but unfit for its ugly head into our reality. It doesn’t and a thousand lifetimes in purgatory cific set of clients. Send personalized NOTE TO THE FREE ‘the National Razor’ became a symbol marketing purposes in modern times. take a terrorist to scare us: we have the Do You loathe fear? for indulging in vanity, Jesus was not request forms for specific details and for the Revolution. We demand that we not just be the most out of everyone, which means we on Twitter and if he had been, his 12 timetables. MARKET MERCHANTS: winners, we also have to appear to be are already living in fear of not hav- followers would not exactly have con- In Christianity, indulgence is the full the good guys while doing it. ing the most and having what we own How original is your sin? stituted the Mark Of The Trendsetter. FOREVER ALONE or partial remission of temporal pun- Fear is fed to us taken from us. A word of advice to Life was complex enough when it ishment due for sins that have been those living in fear: the main reason was simple but since the dawn of So Hell is not just other people, it’s forgiven through the act of Confes- by governments FROM THE FEAR OF that you’re scared is because you’re the internet, the platform for em- also a recurring cultural phenomenon sion (basically a sentence reduction LIFE TO A LIFE OF FEAR not using your head. We know that it are you peaking right now? barrassing yourself has expanded that exists even in cultures that claim on your time in Hell/Purgatory). Orig- and marketeers, might seem like a huge challenge to to a whole new apparatus that is to have nothing in common with each inally limited in time (e.g. 40 days – ATROPHIED BRAIN start using it from now but there’s no operational 24/7 and more perma- other. Does that make it more real and of redemption) and granted only for who give us ideals MONKEY HYSTERIA use in wallowing around it in self-pity What would Jesus Fear? nent than herpes. The social strug- something you should be afraid of? works charity and prayer, indulgences like a fat man who keeps putting off his gle of the fashionable young adult Probably not, and not just due to the would become a great source of abuse to fall short of and Editorial conclusion: we need fear for first visit to the gym. is a perpetual game where referees fact that as a technologically advanced during the late Middle Ages as pro- a variety of reasons. In a society that areWHAT you scared of a might change sides at any given time species, we’ve dug some pretty deep fessional ‘pardoners’ became whole- enemies to be is increasingly complex and critical yet CAN NOT UNFEAR and only the highest scores are worth holes around the world and so far, sale vendors who catered to even the physically safer than ever before, fear a second glance. Stand out too much none of them have opened up trans- worst sinners, selling indulgences up afraid of. is an impulse that gives us a line on Life is big and complex and crazy and military animal? and you’re a pariah, fit in too much dimensional gateways to the realm of to thousands of years (eternity last- the abstract and offers us a way to act full of insecurities and the only way and you’re just another unique snow- Satan yet. Looking at it from a social/ ing forever, there was no limit on the Now it doesn’t take a strategic analyst accordingly. Fear is fed to us by gov- to find any kind of truth is one step at flake of mediocrity in a blizzard of ethical/political point of view, Hell is amount of sin you could pay off). This to figure out that a military method ernments and marketeers, who give us a time, for yourself and by yourself. what is the norm? things better and more interesting a thinly veiled attempt at complete practice would be one of the primary aimed at the civilian population will ideals to fall short of and enemies to Whatever you do, don’t take my word than you. Dreams of finding yourself social mind-control aimed at basical- causes of the Protestant Reformation not do well in the public ratings. Con- be afraid of. These second hand fears for it. in class with no pants on, fears of pub- ly every person gullible or subservi- and the consequent rift in Christianity how does pantone 666 lic rejection by a desired male/female. ent enough to believe in it. Using the – it is also a prime example of an in- Social awkwardness strikes, leaving concept of a ‘Hell’ as a behavioural stitutionalized body of authority capi- you suffocating in your brand new sec- modifier is a long-term ethical strat- talizing directly on a fear it has created make you feel? ond hand shirt and vintage designer egy that corresponds to what psy- itself. This business model – which jeans, gasping for a gulp of air and chologists call ‘positive punishment’, was essentially built on Holy Hot Air something cool to say as the loudest which means altering undesired be- – financed everything from papal hats What's your favorite silence ever builds up in your ears to haviour by making a person associate and robes to cathedrals and full-blown a deafening roar. Maybe you should that behaviour with an added pun- crusades or travelling genocides to the look at your phone and see if you have ishment. The core mechanism lacks Holy Land. Extra scumbag-points go to an excuse you can mutter and walk off subtlety and is actually quite naïve in the Church for convincing its followers scary movie? "Comrades! The insurrection of five kulak districts should be pitilessly with – make one up in case of none its set-up: convince a person (read: so- that it had a monopoly on a completely suppressed. The interests of the whole revolution require this because 'the last being available – but for God’s sake, ciety) that there is an omnipresent be- fictional yet indispensable and infinite decisive battle' with the kulaks is now under way everywhere. An example must whatever you do, don’t look like you ing keeping tabs on everything you do resource that –for them– couldn’t have Did you feel down when be demonstrated. care about how you look because that and if you spend your life consciously come cheaper if it had been made in makes you look even more sad and un- being a dick, that being will make sure China: a clean conscience. Take that 1. Hang (and make sure that the hanging takes place in full view of the people) deserving of human empathy. Face it: that his assorted minions (Ox-Head, for profit maximization. the apocalypse didn't no fewer than one hundred known landlords, rich men, bloodsuckers. life is a test and you are consistent at Hades, Lucifer, Maalik,…) will face- 2. Publish their names. failing it. The fact that winning (reach- rape your soul for everlasting eternity. “If virtue be the spring of a popular 3. Seize all their grain from them. ing alpha status in your desired group) It’s a negative-impulse-based fear tac- government in times of peace, the happen? 4. Designate hostages in accordance with yesterday's telegram. is a near mathematical impossibility tic designed to scare you into being spring of that government during a Do it in such a fashion that for hundreds of kilometres around the people might does not make you any less of a pa- a good person, a Sword Of Damocles revolution is virtue combined with ter- see, tremble, know, shout: "they are strangling, and will strangle to death, the thetic loser because we’re all in the that taps you on the head every time ror: virtue, without which terror is de- Would you like to join us? bloodsucking kulaks". same race and if the man before you you think about pillaging someone’s structive; terror, without which virtue is trips and falls, it’s more profitable to harvest and raping his wife or – more impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, Telegraph receipt and implementation. walk over his back than help him up. contemporarily – plundering a nation’s severe and inflexible; it is then an em- what are you afraid of? pension fund and giving yourself a anation of virtue; it is less a distinct Yours, Lenin. ETERNAL DAMNATION IN multi-million dollar lay-off bonus, principle than a natural consequence HAWAI VS. #YOLO something we civilized folk would of of the general principle of democracy, PS: Find some truly hard people” course never dream of doing. applied to the most pressing wants The concept of your immortal soul of the country ... The government in Ramírez Sánchez aka “Carlos the Jackal”, a committed Marxist-Leninist, is regarded as one of the most famous political terrorists of his era. being tortured for eternity for all the Religions are simple morality tales a revolution is the despotism of lib- When he joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1970, officer Bassam Abu Sharif gave him the code name “Carlos” because bad shit you didn’t atone or tithe for gone institutionalized, castles of cards erty against tyranny.” – Maximilien de of his Venezuelan roots. After several bungled bombings, he achieved notoriety for the 1975 raid on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, which Lung cancer - CAB002300 - Female, age 75 - Lung (T-28000) - Neoplasm, malignant, NOS (M-80003) - Patient id: 496 – © The Human Protein Atlas project (donate 10% of your income to your that hold a self-proclaimed monopoly Robespierre killed three people. This was followed by a string of attacks against Western targets. Ramírez is currently serving a life sentence in France for All drawings of bats are © Ralph Steadman ever since Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was first published in 1971 – period. the 1975 murder of two French counter-intelligence agents and an informant for the French government. While he was in prison he was further ARE YOUconvicted of attacks in France that killed 11 and injured 150 people and sentenced to an additional life term. Far fetched prophecy THE EXPERT QUESTIONS: Barbarously reported hours before doomsday 1. What is our modern, western society most afraid of nowadays? 2. Do you think the individual pressure on people is peaking these days? The pressure to achieve, to look good, …? Finding ourselves writing on the sub- “And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an effective remedies for fear is what must have been tumbleweed roll- Mary's cave. So there we were, soak- 3. Is it difficult to sell fear to a society? ject of Fear in the unique year of 2012, agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling rage, we learned. There are highly ing down off a mountain in Bugarach, ing wet and walking in the mud, as we 4. What are you most afraid of? down upon the ground.” Luke 22:44 we thought it seemed appropriate to sophisticated wars and conflicts a commune in the Pyrenees. passed by the cave that symbolized spend our potentially last field report going on for decades on this planet, Christ's agony at Gethsemane. on documenting the anxious hours waiting to escalate and manifest So we were somewhere halfway be- It was the one time we had high state of denial. Of course we know cide. You can't handle this alone even before the supposed apocalypse. Of into irreversible man-made disaster. tween POSTRmagazine's HQ and hopes for during this trip, even – or at least everyone should know though you are expected to. Failure course, this highly accurate report It might be a sectarian group of Nazareth, the first stop of this con- though somewhat later our world vaguely - that this political cocoon- is not an option. So when all normal, would be safely encapsulated within religious extremists or a maniac dic- fusing journey. After doing a little would collapse again – after dis- ing is nonsense. We have never put social connections and structures are an indestructible tube and launched tator with the wrong assault codes. research we found out that this guy covering that Mary had been remo- our footprint on the entire world like gone, the individual is left in the cold. into space by means of rocket propul- We're constantly living under the called Jesus of Nazareth was believed ved from her cave for restoration. this before. Mutual independence or If you lose your job in this currently sion, mere seconds after meeting our shadows of brutal hazards. Paranoid to be some kind of teacher who per- Redemption was in the workshop internet tendency – as some refer to very unstable market, you might as deadline of 90 seconds to Doomsday. is the new happy. Deal with it. formed miracles, rose from the dead getting an overhaul. Society had it – became the rule these days. Ob- well just go mad. This has to result in If we all had to go out with a bang, at and achieved other amazing feats of tricked us again. Every Christian viously the internet as an instrument repression and murder. That's indi- least we would have had the prover- Traveling with wizardry. Some of the gospels por- country in Europe has at least a dozen indicates that. You're connected with vidualization on the loose, abused by bial balls to face our fears. We would Godspeed, chasing tray Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, places called Lourdes or Nazareth the whole world but at the same time the market and the economical circles have attempted to publish the fitting preparing his fellow Jews for the im- and all of them are equally meaning- you depend on it. This also correlates with all the perfect new media tools guidelines on how to collectively step the myth minent end of the world. Therefore he less in a quest like this one. We were with the enormous urbanization that that are at their disposal. Except, they into the darkness and send a mes- had to be the perfect guy to help us completely disillusioned, and the Rik Pinxten has been going on in the world, espe- are perfect for only one group. It's sage in a bottle to the future, hoping In the weeks before the culmina- out of our cataclysmic predicament. rain became like great drops of blood Professor and researcher in cultural cially since World War II. In 1900, only always bad for weaker people. And that one day it might arrive and be tion of all the eschatological mass Precious time was ticking away, al- falling down upon the ground. anthropology at Ghent University. four generations ago, approximately we're all in a weak position. I dare read with awe and inspiration when hysteria we had tried to circumvent though we still had plenty of time to In 2004, he received the Ark Prize of 10 percent of the world's population you to remain indifferent after you're intelligent life returns to Earth. these what-if-scenarios with massive complete this story, since Nazareth the Free Word for his book The Artistic lived in a city. Now we're reaching up told that you're not cool enough for a drinking and drug abuse. Although was situated at hardly six kilometers On the cruel list Society. Pinxten conducted his to 60 percent. The world is starting couple of months straight. We really the whole doom circus didn't bother from our daily base. Of course we had fieldwork on the Navajo people. He is to be mainly populated by city peo- need a profound counter movement We're constantly us that much, we noticed a consider- a dark suspicion that Nazareth wasn't of death causes, an advocate for interculturalism over ple and along with this urbanization for that, and it's not going to come able increase of frightening binges the right place to find our answers, multiculturalism. comes migration. It's always been from the industrials or the economy. living under in our agenda, some of them running not to mention having any real hopes awaiting a like that, even in ancient Rome and up to the 48 hour mark. We like to of meeting the actual Jesus. Indeed – Athens. At this point however, we're 3 I'm afraid it's not. Take the so called the shadows of believe that these mind-expanding after a short survey, the only things gigantic meteor to “That's not prepared at all. And if you don't Arab Spring, through which social trips can be quite resolving, although we found were the complete excess individualization know how to deal with your fears, media had a considerable impor- brutal hazards. they didn't really help us to get rid of of parking space next to the 19th cen- splatter earth has then your fears will get stronger. The tance. We notice that in a few years our end-of-the-world paranoia. Can tury church and the realization that on the loose, world has gotten significantly bigger Islamic tendencies became much Paranoid is the one find a proper solution through hard liquor doesn't need to be served to be somewhere Maximilien de Robespierre over the last few decades and there is stronger worldwide. Why? Because religion, the cause of so much evil? A in a fancy glass to be consumed so abused by the a lot more that you might find scary they realized they were humiliated new happy. Deal large part of the world's population is early in the morning. But If God's very on top. market and the out there. My question is: how do for generations, reaching back to the depending on the religious rumors it own Son didn't go back to the place we learn to live with the difference days of colonization and stretching with it. was conditioned into over the course where he grew up, where did He go economical circles in a positive way? People still have into the western oil politics of the last of history. Life suggested that the instead? We figured out that he The worst and most dangerous part the reflex to get rid of the difference decades. Their time is now. You can main answers about our existence are might as well have went to his moth- about this whole buzz is that we with perfect new to solve the problem, but that's non- see that it pays off to talk fear into the ThroughoutAFRAID the course of history, to be found in the belief of a collec- er, who had been spotted in a cave people started thinking and wonde- media tools.” sense. We can say it or dream about it people with the certainty of the Islam, many theologists, scientists, philos- tion of gossip and unsubstantiated several times by a young girl called ring, with an abominable admiration but it really is a tragic, old-fashioned which is comparable with the certain- ophers and futurologists have tried rumor, more than in rational dia- Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes. and fascination, towards the end conception of things. That's not going ty of our nationalism. It was striking to predict the end of times. There's a logue and common sense. In Chris- of this planet. The apocalypse is so 1 There's still a very precocious feel- to reduce our fear, it will only increase to see that in any of those states dur- word for that. Eschatology includes tianity, the end of the world is often Entering the cave highly anticipated that everyone ing of fear that has its origins in 1990, it. To live in a situation like this for a ing the recent elections, most liberal the study that is concerned with what related with the Second Coming of of Agony wants to be there when it happens. when the Berlin Wall was destroyed. long time is not healthy, it's even dan- thinkers who finally made it to moder- are believed to be the final events Christ. The Mormons of The Church Just to feel special. To be able to It is caused by a big switch that has gerous. nity got scared and didn't show up. of history. Well, dear aliens of the of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The rain poured down when we go to the Afterlife and say ‘I was been taking place in the last couple Whereas the recruitment of votes by future, for the last past decade or so, believe that there will be a Second arrived in Lourdes, which became there.’ That's what apocalypses do of decades. In the past five centuries, 2 Now you're touching another side of the fundamentalists succeeded like another alleged apocalypse evolved Coming to the Earth sometime in famous for its apparitions of the to people. It almost seems like we're our western society had been coloniz- the whole internationalization story, never before. So at this point there into an unequaled worldwide craze the future, preceded by increasing Virgin Mary and had developed into waiting for an inevitable, collective ing and ruling the whole world, which the one that is currently being used are a number of regimes that are re- and even became a hot selling busi- war, earthquakes, hurricanes and a major place of Roman Catholic pil- and horrible death to happen. On the of course gave us the feeling that we by the market. In our regions, individ- ally floating on fear. Comparable with ness. Or at least, until December 21, man-made disasters. That time – if grimage and miraculous healing. All cruel list of death causes (over six were superior. We were, so to speak, ualization was already apparent for what George Bush junior did right af- 2012. The date on which the Mayan anytime – was now. The date on the morning we had been desperately million ways), awaiting a gigantic the embodiment of progression be- centuries. Nowadays it is strongly in- ter 9/11. These kinds of politics are calendar supposedly ends, heralding newspaper said December 20, 2012. searching for answers until the only meteor to splatter earth has to be cause of our dominant and excellent creasing because of the internet and very disadvantageous for a civilian the coming of an apocalypse by We were randomly driving through thing we were left to be afraid of somewhere on top. It's remarkable material position in the world. About other new media. I think that the way population. means of an interplanetary object morning traffic at ludicrous speed, was the imminent deadline we were that the human race is so selfish one generation ago, we started feel- things are going today is absolutely or a supernova. The End Of The Fifth burdened by heavy, cold rain and about to exceed. Due to an acute lack that we would rather die along with ing that we were about to lose all of barbaric as it involves the question- 4 At this point, I think that the great Era, time of cataclysm and destruc- winds and maddened by a persistent, of time, we were forced to locate a everyone we love, hate or don't care this. Nowadays other people come ing or even the rejection of any form encapsulation of the more or less tion. Before it turned out to be the threatening click sound in the mo- closer variant of the real commune about, than silently blow out that over to our regions to take profit of solidarity. This kind of individual- self-sufficient West, the very seclud- most unspectacular non-event in the and outline all kinds of End-Of-The- self-fulfilling? What if a single nut- tor of the car. Our heads were buzz- of Lourdes in the South of France, so last, lung-cancer-filled breath into a of our superiority and wealth and ization implies that the market will ed Islam, the Indian Hindu funda- history of eschatology, the end of World scenarios, all of which they case with the power to push the wrong ing. We still had hours left. The radio we found one near Ghent, Belgium. sterile environment, all by ourselves. there's nothing we can do about it. find and address you, which is a piece mentalism and other threats to our the Mayas 13th b'ak'tun was shame- would reject with dismissive scorn button would – in a fit of hysteria was thick with delusional chatter Nevertheless it was the very Lourdes You don't want to be the one per- This gut feeling, or should I say gut of cake with tools like the internet or wealth like the Chinese and Russian lessly exploited by all possible media and laughter the day after Doomsday and delusional despair – attempt to of the paranoid kind, reporting that where a man called Pieter De Rudder son dying in a plane crash, do you? fear is expressed irrationally in politi- your cell phone. So there you are as economy creates a very dangerous to announce and even advertize the didn't happen. end the world with the flick of one dozens of schools in Michigan can- once miraculously recovered from There's gradual forms of dying and cal concepts like national socialism an individual, with a desire to distin- constellation. This means we are sit- “approaching” Apocalypse. But why switch? What if the people started celed classes this week due to a broken leg. We were suspiciously to go out with a big bang seems to and cultural conservatism by being guish yourself in that market so that ting on a ticking time bomb - unless is it that this time the media was try- Although you can place us in the large ranting and raging? Running riotous rumors of violence tied to the date. In eyeballing two old women when we be the most peaceful. It gives some dismissive of any kind of culture that you can raise your market value. But we can manage to come to some kind ing to stimulate the mass hysteria to group of people that didn't really into the streets only to eventually China, government authorities were entered a souvenir shop that was kind of skewed importance to your is not one’s own. Just take a look at how much can an individual take? of a global agreement. So the politi- such an extent? Even the sober guys believe the world was going to end turn on each other. After all, it was cracking down on a Christian group selling truckloads of similar thank- life, some insane kind of sense – and the wave of neo-nationalism or Mitt How many capacities and qualities cal and economical power positions amongst us must have been started according to the Mesoamerican Long Charles Manson who predicted that spreading panic about the world's you-our-lady-the-Blessed-Virgin- we will take any kind of psychotic or In 1873 the Marquise of Courtebourne-de Nédonchel had a Lourdes grotto built in the Romney's ideology. It is a new brand does one have? Can you buy quality to will continue to change, but changes reflecting on the continuation of hu- Count calendar, all this absurdity sure an apocalyptic race war would occur end, while preaching that Jesus had Maryshells which were left nearby mass-delusional answer to the Big gardens of her château at Slotendries. It was claimed that in 1875 Pieter De Rudder was mira- of passive-aggressive xenophobia tune up your social profile? I sincerely always include certain risks. And with man existence post 12/21 at some had sharpened our inherent sense of in 1969, prior to ordering the Tate- reappeared as a woman in central the shop immediately after purchase. Question, just so we don’t have to culously healed of a compound fracture while praying there. that celebrates cultural inertia in doubt it. So the answer is yes, that's all the available military toys and ma- point. Perhaps after another batch of paranoia here at the desk. What if the LaBianca murders in an attempt China. And in France, dozens of jour- “Follow the shells”, one woman said confront the responsibility of coming Upon our arrival in Lourdes the grotto was closed for structural works and we found Mary an era of dynamic global change - why we notice an increase of psycho- chos in this world, we're facing a po- qualityOF? newspapers tried to suggest prophecy somehow turned out to be to bring it about. One of the most nalists were staring expectantly at when we asked for directions to up with on for ourselves. Not The End. standing outside in the pooring rain, alone. the political equivalent of living in a logical pressure, depression and sui- tentially enormous conflict.