(C) Alec Muffett's DropSafe blog.
Author Name: Alec Muffett
This story was originally published on allecmuffett.com. [1]
License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.[2]


On Nuclear War and Eating cold Pop-Tarts

2022-02-25 23:44:19+00:00

I was going to simply quote-tweet "Can confirm" to this hilarious and accurate joke; but then I made the mistake of reading the replies from butthurt younguns shouting "…but when did Gen-X fear World War 3?"

People: It literally defined our generation.

Hey, millennials and zoomers who are dealing with your first bout of World War III panic:



Find yourself a Gen X friend to see you through it.



We spent the entirety of our childhoods prepping for nuclear war, alone, while eating Pop Tarts cold from the foil.



We got you. — Jay Black (@jayblackisfunny) February 24, 2022

I got a degree in astronomy is that amongst all the US-Soviet tub-thumping I was a 13-14yo physics nerd who couldn't sleep for fear of being vapourised as eventually depicted in "Threads" or "The Day After".

Aside: Go read Carl Sagan's original COSMOS, it will terrify you.

End Of The World Mind Blown GIF by Daybreak

The Soviet premier – eventually, several of them in quick succession – died, and there was a jingoistic US President literally joking (on a hot mic) about declaring war on Russia, and burbling about the "axis of evil"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_begin_bombing_in_five_minutes

It is not an exaggeration to say that I spent most of 1981 through 1990 with half an ear listening out for air-raid sirens and in a media environment which was obsessed with the potential for [essentially stupid political differences] being the death of this wonderful world.

Smile Louis Armstrong GIF

It even leaked out into our popular culture:

So: Jay is right. If you want to talk to someone who understands what it feels like when a Boomer/other crusty is threatening to evaporate the planet because their ego is hurt, talk to a Gen-Xer.

We lived that for literal years.

And yes, I still eat Pop-Tarts from the foil.

Pop Tarts Strawberry Pop Tarts GIF

Originally tweeted by Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) on 2022/02/25.
[END]

[1] URL: https://alecmuffett.com/article/15989
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

DropSafe Blog via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/alecmuffett/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.