Why is doom so sexy?

If doom actually destroyed our world, we probably wouldn't see it as sexy, that is if we were still alive to see.

But from this comfortable first-world, computer vantage point, I find myself very attracted to the various scenarios involving doom.

Why is this so?

I'm at the point in my fairly old life when it's pretty clear that excitement isn't going to be a big feature of the rest of my life. The steps leading up to doom will definitely not be boring. No more gray skies when doom approaches. Mostly just thunder and lightening. Scary but exciting stuff.

I also have to say that I have gradually become disgusted with the way the power centers on our planet are doing business. Our technology has improved big time, but the politicians and the powerful people that pull their strings are just as heinous as Hitler and other ruthless types that have stained human history down through the ages, Where is the progress? Evil is still leading the parade.

It's hard to resist the desire to blow it all up.

And finally, there's my somewhat feeble hope that something much more positive could rise from the ashes of doom. There are so many people on Earth that are ready to live on a new planet where violence and exploitation are completely absent.

It will take something very powerful to rid this world of the evil that makes me ashamed to be human.

I actually don't want doom, but I'd like something to rudely shake the sickness from our nearly doomed home.

Love the title!

Well, I guarantee you I feel the same. I don't necessarily feel attracted to doom (not judging by my avatar) but I feel attracted to a new beginning of sorts.

reply to post by droid56



we are living after the end of history. we have been deliberately desensitized to violence and carnage and horror have been deliberately eroticized. the west is in a freefall toward decline and decadence. this has been going on for a long time and we have become conditioned to see the final destruction as the climax and so yes, it is right and natural to long for this.

reply to post by droid56


There was a time when I was just a little plucky living in SoCal and the sun shined just right, under--not a haze--but a canopy or something, perhaps dusk. I always knew that's what my last day on earth would be like. You feel it in your throat and stomach. It's like you know there will be no more, that the wait is over, and it is time to proceed on....

And in that sense, very sexy/romantic, yes.

It's the natural order of things, it's cyclical. It's "The Fourth Turning".
Neil Howe and William Strauss (generational historians) wrote the book. Simplified, it's based on 20 year generational cycles.

1st turning- HIGH (post war)
2nd- AWAKENING- (60's and 70's)
3rd- UNRAVELING- (decay of the old order)
4th- CRISIS- (replace the old with the new, upheaval, war)

The book also goes into how each generation creates history and how history creates each generation, the symbiotic relationship of life and time.

It is a magnificent read and gave me much insight into why my parents, grandparents and my now adult children think and react the way they do. Why I (baby boomer) have had a sense of impending doom for the last 20 years. And its "sexiness" I believe stems from my growing up in the sixties.

Prophetic.

I think our human dark sides like to be fed...we like drama and decay and destruction....and it's part of our biology to look for things that might hurt us, so we can be ready to fight them or avoid them. Apparently, we're quite good at this. That's why there are 6 billion of us and counting....

Cait