The Day After – Looking back at the TV Event 40 years on

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/09/entertainment/the-day-after-abc-movie-cec/index.html

Thanks to FarceBork blocking most linked content I’ve decided to move back to my roots and post my thoughts on my own soapbox instead.

I woke up this morning thinking about this show for some reason. Doomscrolling past the days latest on CNN, I discovered this retrospective on this pivotal moment in TV history. I must be psychic or something, either that or the nano-bots in the vaccines really do read minds. LOL. At the time I was 21 years old and resigned to the possibility of my ending as a greasy shadow on a concrete wall. The film made a huge impression on me, along with the grimmer UK effort “Threads” and other post-apocalyptic movies of the time.

The current trajectory of the worlds pendulum seems to be swinging back to a laissez faire attitude regarding war, especially if it’s in a land far, far away and doesn’t impact us directly. The minds driving this bus are looking to turn our countries into cannon fodder it seems. Deluding themselves (and us) with the belief that, once the fuse is lit, they stand a good chance of winning. Subjugating the fairer sex into being little more than baby factories while the men duke it out on the field of battle at their bidding. Just so long as nobody pushes the actual “button”, we’ll all be fine, just fine. Problem is, us peons end up getting hit with the shitty end of the stick no matter how far we retreat into the shadows.

The point got driven home for me watching 100 year old soldiers paraded on a beach they first set foot on 80 years ago to the day being regaled by an old politician who was 3 years old at the time of the landings. He’s still their man however and their last hope of cementing their legacy and sacrifice. Their generation suffered greatly for a noble cause and made the conscious decision to change the way the world worked so that it never happened again. Their plan didn’t work out obviously, but they did manage to control the narrative and wrest the reigns of power from the hands of the robber barons and carpetbaggers long enough to reset the system in their favour. At least for those fortunate enough to return from the war and their direct offspring, the Boomers. The fact that it’s still the same old faces making the decisions is telling. The current political climate is shaped by the old guard refusing to relinquish their power over society and their realization that they can set the agenda for the next 80 years as a giant fuck you to anyone that thinks their ideas are outdated. They intend on teaching us all a valuable lesson on how fragile our perceived existence is and how quickly and irrevocably it can change.

Just like when they were kids.