I had a really similar experience. In so many ways, I found it so terrorizing about how normalized things were early in the film (the beginning of the end) and I realized that I wanted to add a total absence of information to my list of biggest fears. That tesla scene will haunt me for a long time.
It was interesting to juxtapose their information blackout with our real-life information overload. I get panicked when my GPS glitches out for a minute!
I’ll swear up and down I’m a liberal, never voted Republican and doubt I ever will, but it probably won’t convince you of my sincerity in what I’m about to say:
You claim the biggest threat to destroying America is MAGA. Despite their concentration of firearms, they’re not getting anywhere without the support of the Army, at which point who has conventional firearms just doesn’t matter. So focus on the Army, not a bunch of yahoos. So far, the Army has been a rock for democracy and discriminating lawful and unlawful orders, let’s hope it stays that way.
I think the larger threat is entryism into government by college kids who have been taught a very radical and somewhat doomer ideology about the United States. The anonymous petition by State Department employees in opposition to the Biden Administration’s position on Israel is the latest example, and I think will only get worse. “Slow walking” policy directed by Trump was a more normalized example of the same trend (there’s some precedent there, at least), but openly opposing policy without resigning is new, and normalizing that will lead to a crack in the idea of democratic rule: If nameless flacks are calling the shots, what are we voting for?
I'm actually in agreement with you -- and, if you saw the film, there's a brief moment where your scenario is, in fact, what leads to the endgame: some rogue military commanders taking matters into their own hands. So you and Sam Esmail agree. I just think the film gave Kevin Bacon's character too much of a pass. But in the real world, yes, the handful of reasonable people, in the military and govt, who stopped the madness on January 6... could easily not have done so, in which case we'd be in a different world. I'm not as worried as you are about the college kids - the 1968 generation had even more radical ideas and didn't change much. But I'm with you on the rest.
Great article, thank you. Helps me put words to the unsettling trends that are disturbing and have me hearing a lot about despair. One of the most disturbing points of the poll is the high number of historically black Americans who are so monumentally discouraged. I’m not happy with the Obamas for producing this. Grateful that I am not in the world-is-ending camp.
Thanks for the review. I now know enough about the film so I won’t have to watch it. I have enough boomer angst to last through the apocalypse. This is actually way beyond enough. Happy New Year!
LOL. Paraphrasing, “The people that will end democracy get a complete pass. Not biased in the least…The people that will end democracy are doing just that every day in Washington DC. The care more about getting re-elected than solving America’s problems.
I had a really similar experience. In so many ways, I found it so terrorizing about how normalized things were early in the film (the beginning of the end) and I realized that I wanted to add a total absence of information to my list of biggest fears. That tesla scene will haunt me for a long time.
It was interesting to juxtapose their information blackout with our real-life information overload. I get panicked when my GPS glitches out for a minute!
I’ll swear up and down I’m a liberal, never voted Republican and doubt I ever will, but it probably won’t convince you of my sincerity in what I’m about to say:
You claim the biggest threat to destroying America is MAGA. Despite their concentration of firearms, they’re not getting anywhere without the support of the Army, at which point who has conventional firearms just doesn’t matter. So focus on the Army, not a bunch of yahoos. So far, the Army has been a rock for democracy and discriminating lawful and unlawful orders, let’s hope it stays that way.
I think the larger threat is entryism into government by college kids who have been taught a very radical and somewhat doomer ideology about the United States. The anonymous petition by State Department employees in opposition to the Biden Administration’s position on Israel is the latest example, and I think will only get worse. “Slow walking” policy directed by Trump was a more normalized example of the same trend (there’s some precedent there, at least), but openly opposing policy without resigning is new, and normalizing that will lead to a crack in the idea of democratic rule: If nameless flacks are calling the shots, what are we voting for?
I'm actually in agreement with you -- and, if you saw the film, there's a brief moment where your scenario is, in fact, what leads to the endgame: some rogue military commanders taking matters into their own hands. So you and Sam Esmail agree. I just think the film gave Kevin Bacon's character too much of a pass. But in the real world, yes, the handful of reasonable people, in the military and govt, who stopped the madness on January 6... could easily not have done so, in which case we'd be in a different world. I'm not as worried as you are about the college kids - the 1968 generation had even more radical ideas and didn't change much. But I'm with you on the rest.
Great article, thank you. Helps me put words to the unsettling trends that are disturbing and have me hearing a lot about despair. One of the most disturbing points of the poll is the high number of historically black Americans who are so monumentally discouraged. I’m not happy with the Obamas for producing this. Grateful that I am not in the world-is-ending camp.
Thanks for the review. I now know enough about the film so I won’t have to watch it. I have enough boomer angst to last through the apocalypse. This is actually way beyond enough. Happy New Year!
LOL. Paraphrasing, “The people that will end democracy get a complete pass. Not biased in the least…The people that will end democracy are doing just that every day in Washington DC. The care more about getting re-elected than solving America’s problems.