It's hard to separate fact from propaganda these days, so thank you for laying things out in a clear concise manner, Lovely. (And thanks David for continually inviting guest writers on. It's a nice change of pace from other social media, where everyone pretends to be an expert on everything.)
I'm no expert obviously, but I'm feeling a lot of dread these days too. At it's simplest, I think it's a loss of stability and the uncertainty of knowing what the world will look like each morning. Will everything I take for granted still be here? Will I still have time to do all things I've always wanted to do but never have because I've always assumed there was more time? How much worse will things have to get before people decide enough is enough?
I feel like we're in a world run by narcissists now, and we're being forced to play along with their delusions lest we anger them too much.
All of that, and this added element that we now have access to such much information, all the time. And with that - access to so much misinformation and disinformation that we have to parse.
Growing up, for me it was the 6pm news for our main information dump. Now it's that, 24/7, on crack.
Yeah, this too. I don't want to be one of those people whose constantly banging on about how "things were so much better when I was kid", but there have been major changes to the way we consume information since then.
Sometimes I want to disengage from the entire online ecosystem entirely. But I also know that a) my anxious brain likes to fill in any gaps with all sorts of horrible imaginings and b) we do have some duty to stay informed about the goings on in the world. Ignorance is bliss, but it's also a privilege.
My dad was born in 1952 and grew up in London. He remembers the Cuban Missle Crisis, he remembers doing nuclear bomb drills at school. I sit now and watch the news, with my 5 year old asleep in bed, wondering if this is what it felt like for him. I remember a teacher at school during the international politics part of gen ed when I was 17 in 2006/2007 telling us that if WWIII ever started, it would start with Israel attacking other Middle Eastern countries.
I live in Glasgow, basically down the road from the UK's nuclear stockpile at Faslane. It's a scary time to be alive. I guess every time is a scary time to be alive, but... it feels like things have changed so much since I was a kid in the 90s.
Hi fellow Glaswegian - before I moved to Aotearoa I lived in Glasgow during the 69s to mid 80s and it was terrifying knowing that Faslane would be a primary target in any nuclear war as all the UK’s nuclear submarines operate from there. I too read ‘When the Wind Blows’ and saw the now unavailable documentary about post event nuclear winter. I could not join CND fast enough. I did not think that as I edge towards retirement I would be experiencing existential dread about this again because idiotic, egoistic leaders want to mould the world the way they want it.
Fair enough! Things are grim enough at the moment what with idiots chucking bombs around. But there are good people in the world doing good things, and I am optimistic that your wee'un will live in a good world <3
I can't remember if I saw the movie. They probably showed it to us at school though - we tended to get a fair bit of nuclar-war-is-bad stuff. One of the most amazing visits we had when I was around 10 years old was a Japanese lady who came to talk to our class. She had been a little girl when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and lived because her mother sheltered her with her body. I will never forget her.
Thank you for this little piece of sanity. There is no way the gleeful brutality and destruction will bring security anywhere and I fear that the tendency of autocrats to create their own little alternative realities ("There was a secret Hamas hideaway under that school/hospital/apartment building we just bombed" "The Democrats are shooting themselves to make us look bad") will just exacerbate the rush to more fighting.
I lived in Tehran in 1979, when the Shah was attempting to suppress mass opposition in the same manner as the Israelis are trying to "effect regime change" today. The grief, anger and thirst for revenge that followed each killing ran in 40 day rinse-and-repeat cycles. The shockwaves of change are still being felt. These things do not go away.
What an amazing experience that must’ve been to live there at that time, Neil. Speaking to a few people at work who have visited Iran in the last few decades, all have said the same thing - the Iranian people were the most welcoming and friendliest people they have ever encountered. Wondering if that’s what you found too back in the 70s?
The Iranian people were and still are incredibly hospitable and friendly. I feel terrible for their current predicament.
I remember walking to watch a demonstration against the Shah that had a million people marching through the city. A million. People kept stopping and offering us food and drink. A friend who cycle toured through the country just a few years ago reported that he was overwhelmed with generosity there (in contrast to parts of the States, eg Florida where he was called "a bum" and told to move on)
That said, Iran in the late 70's was very much a police state - a frightening glimpse of future America. Every shop and office had a framed picture of the Shah on prominent display. People were terrified of the secret police, SAVAK, an organisation which tortured and murdered thousands of Iranians.
Thank you Lovely and David. Tbh I’m kind of lost for words when it comes to what’s happening out there, these articles matter. They are the difference between what the perpetrators are doing (propaganda) and what the world needs (truth), so thank you.
A genocidal apartheid state pushing an entire population to utter desperation and shooting them during aid distribution has no credentials to topple another state, however problematic the politics of the other state may be. I can only hope that this is a turning point for the world and that all the suffering is not in vain.
I need to educate myself more! What exactly is an "undeclared nuclear weapons state?" Does this mean that Israel's nuclear capacity is unconfirmed and not subject to the kind of inspections that are so insisted upon for Iran?
I would also love to understand the judgment that makes the "regime" in Iran any more deplorable than the regime in Israel, given it's recent actions against Palestinian people.
Thanks for bringing Lovely's writings to your platform, David. Love your work.
I’m eighty and thinking, here we go again. But in the past America wasn’t ruled by an autocrat and his capitulating sycophants so now I am scared for the world and everything that lives on it. Have grandsons in three countries all of fighting age and think of my father and uncles who fought in the Second World War and my father’s pacifist ideation when he returned. I’m not too sure where I am going with this but it scares me more than the Cuban missile crisis which was scary enough for the young woman I then was. I am writing this and thinking of all the anti nuclear marches, the boats out in Auckland harbour, the Cook straight ferry strike in protest to keep NZ nuclear free. Was it in vain.
Thanks for the article Lovely and David. I will sit here and dunk my ginger nuts in my tea and ponder some more.
I can send you some. They’re ginger so should get through customs. I’m sure the address Ginger nuts, David Farrier, Somewhere in LA, America should find you. 😂
I feel like maybe this didn't break down much? What is the spiral? Where does it end?
Most of us know we're in some kind of stand-off with all nuclear states pointing nukes at each other. I've read the theories about how the world only wants Putin to lose a little, and gain a little so he doesn't pull the trigger on his nukes.
I kinda wanna know how much of the dread I'm feeling is irrational... technically all of it is because I have no power over it anyway. I'm a big history nerd and there are a thousand parallels between the beginning of WW1 and WW2 and now.
Perhaps I should just go stare at a tree. Or at the matariki stars.
Wow Umayam is amazing David, what wonderful insight into this tragic situation… it is deeply troubling times, I have been having nightmares, time to find a beautiful tree
I didn't catch your comment, but thanks for being self-aware of this stuff. Appreciate you being measured. It's pretty easy to be fear-mongery - and not always without merit here in 2025.
Thank you David for providing a safe, sane place in the on line world. Where we can get quality information and the opinion of an actual expert on a topic affecting us all.
It's really hard not to feel swamped by dread every day, so everyone look after yourself and those around you and go at sit with a tree.
Is it just me, or does the world feel so much smaller now? And yes, I do think this is a good thing.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and insight on what’s going on right now, Lovely. And thank you, David, for inviting her to write this enlightening piece. We need community now, more than ever, if humanity is to survive.
If you want to get even more freaked out, read "Nuclear War: A Scenario" by Annie Jacobsen. It's well-researched and an extremely disturbing reminder of why nobody wins in a nuclear war. I think the old movie that gave me nightmares as a kid is available on Youtube - "The Day After".
But for me personally, I think I'm going to choose to go and look at some trees. Trees are good.
I haven’t had the time to listen to this yet but a great friend, Kumars, has a good podcast - “Delete Your Account” and I highly recommend. The co-host is Lebanese and Kumars is Iranian-American. They have a recent one “Iranian Exceptionalism”
I so appreciate the guest writing & info! It seems like diplomacy is an alien language to both Trump and Netanyahu. They both appear to want to just swing dicks around, and not actually solve problems. Netanyahu in particular seems like violence and death's biggest cheerleader.
As for security: it has become clearer and clearer that security does not mean safety for everyone. It means keeping the rich and powerful insulated from anyone they disagree with or don't like. And we dissidents and non-wealthy are paying for it.
It's hard to separate fact from propaganda these days, so thank you for laying things out in a clear concise manner, Lovely. (And thanks David for continually inviting guest writers on. It's a nice change of pace from other social media, where everyone pretends to be an expert on everything.)
I'm no expert obviously, but I'm feeling a lot of dread these days too. At it's simplest, I think it's a loss of stability and the uncertainty of knowing what the world will look like each morning. Will everything I take for granted still be here? Will I still have time to do all things I've always wanted to do but never have because I've always assumed there was more time? How much worse will things have to get before people decide enough is enough?
I feel like we're in a world run by narcissists now, and we're being forced to play along with their delusions lest we anger them too much.
All of that, and this added element that we now have access to such much information, all the time. And with that - access to so much misinformation and disinformation that we have to parse.
Growing up, for me it was the 6pm news for our main information dump. Now it's that, 24/7, on crack.
Yeah, this too. I don't want to be one of those people whose constantly banging on about how "things were so much better when I was kid", but there have been major changes to the way we consume information since then.
Sometimes I want to disengage from the entire online ecosystem entirely. But I also know that a) my anxious brain likes to fill in any gaps with all sorts of horrible imaginings and b) we do have some duty to stay informed about the goings on in the world. Ignorance is bliss, but it's also a privilege.
My dad was born in 1952 and grew up in London. He remembers the Cuban Missle Crisis, he remembers doing nuclear bomb drills at school. I sit now and watch the news, with my 5 year old asleep in bed, wondering if this is what it felt like for him. I remember a teacher at school during the international politics part of gen ed when I was 17 in 2006/2007 telling us that if WWIII ever started, it would start with Israel attacking other Middle Eastern countries.
I live in Glasgow, basically down the road from the UK's nuclear stockpile at Faslane. It's a scary time to be alive. I guess every time is a scary time to be alive, but... it feels like things have changed so much since I was a kid in the 90s.
Hi fellow Glaswegian - before I moved to Aotearoa I lived in Glasgow during the 69s to mid 80s and it was terrifying knowing that Faslane would be a primary target in any nuclear war as all the UK’s nuclear submarines operate from there. I too read ‘When the Wind Blows’ and saw the now unavailable documentary about post event nuclear winter. I could not join CND fast enough. I did not think that as I edge towards retirement I would be experiencing existential dread about this again because idiotic, egoistic leaders want to mould the world the way they want it.
I was a kid in the 70s and 80s - did you ever read that graphic novel "When the Wind Blows"? That was intense to have in a primary school library.
I have avoided it and Threads - I don't need the extra terror 😅
Fair enough! Things are grim enough at the moment what with idiots chucking bombs around. But there are good people in the world doing good things, and I am optimistic that your wee'un will live in a good world <3
It was made into a movie - same name.
That was scary too
I can't remember if I saw the movie. They probably showed it to us at school though - we tended to get a fair bit of nuclar-war-is-bad stuff. One of the most amazing visits we had when I was around 10 years old was a Japanese lady who came to talk to our class. She had been a little girl when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and lived because her mother sheltered her with her body. I will never forget her.
Thank you for this little piece of sanity. There is no way the gleeful brutality and destruction will bring security anywhere and I fear that the tendency of autocrats to create their own little alternative realities ("There was a secret Hamas hideaway under that school/hospital/apartment building we just bombed" "The Democrats are shooting themselves to make us look bad") will just exacerbate the rush to more fighting.
I lived in Tehran in 1979, when the Shah was attempting to suppress mass opposition in the same manner as the Israelis are trying to "effect regime change" today. The grief, anger and thirst for revenge that followed each killing ran in 40 day rinse-and-repeat cycles. The shockwaves of change are still being felt. These things do not go away.
What an amazing experience that must’ve been to live there at that time, Neil. Speaking to a few people at work who have visited Iran in the last few decades, all have said the same thing - the Iranian people were the most welcoming and friendliest people they have ever encountered. Wondering if that’s what you found too back in the 70s?
(Shah suppression aside that is of course)
The Iranian people were and still are incredibly hospitable and friendly. I feel terrible for their current predicament.
I remember walking to watch a demonstration against the Shah that had a million people marching through the city. A million. People kept stopping and offering us food and drink. A friend who cycle toured through the country just a few years ago reported that he was overwhelmed with generosity there (in contrast to parts of the States, eg Florida where he was called "a bum" and told to move on)
That said, Iran in the late 70's was very much a police state - a frightening glimpse of future America. Every shop and office had a framed picture of the Shah on prominent display. People were terrified of the secret police, SAVAK, an organisation which tortured and murdered thousands of Iranians.
Thank you Lovely and David. Tbh I’m kind of lost for words when it comes to what’s happening out there, these articles matter. They are the difference between what the perpetrators are doing (propaganda) and what the world needs (truth), so thank you.
A genocidal apartheid state pushing an entire population to utter desperation and shooting them during aid distribution has no credentials to topple another state, however problematic the politics of the other state may be. I can only hope that this is a turning point for the world and that all the suffering is not in vain.
I need to educate myself more! What exactly is an "undeclared nuclear weapons state?" Does this mean that Israel's nuclear capacity is unconfirmed and not subject to the kind of inspections that are so insisted upon for Iran?
I would also love to understand the judgment that makes the "regime" in Iran any more deplorable than the regime in Israel, given it's recent actions against Palestinian people.
Thanks for bringing Lovely's writings to your platform, David. Love your work.
I’m eighty and thinking, here we go again. But in the past America wasn’t ruled by an autocrat and his capitulating sycophants so now I am scared for the world and everything that lives on it. Have grandsons in three countries all of fighting age and think of my father and uncles who fought in the Second World War and my father’s pacifist ideation when he returned. I’m not too sure where I am going with this but it scares me more than the Cuban missile crisis which was scary enough for the young woman I then was. I am writing this and thinking of all the anti nuclear marches, the boats out in Auckland harbour, the Cook straight ferry strike in protest to keep NZ nuclear free. Was it in vain.
Thanks for the article Lovely and David. I will sit here and dunk my ginger nuts in my tea and ponder some more.
I wish we had gingernuts in the USA. I miss them a lot.
I can send you some. They’re ginger so should get through customs. I’m sure the address Ginger nuts, David Farrier, Somewhere in LA, America should find you. 😂
I feel like maybe this didn't break down much? What is the spiral? Where does it end?
Most of us know we're in some kind of stand-off with all nuclear states pointing nukes at each other. I've read the theories about how the world only wants Putin to lose a little, and gain a little so he doesn't pull the trigger on his nukes.
I kinda wanna know how much of the dread I'm feeling is irrational... technically all of it is because I have no power over it anyway. I'm a big history nerd and there are a thousand parallels between the beginning of WW1 and WW2 and now.
Perhaps I should just go stare at a tree. Or at the matariki stars.
Hey ya'll if you wanna stare at some trees. Here: https://www.treeoftheyear.co.nz/
Tree of the year competition for NZ.
Wow Umayam is amazing David, what wonderful insight into this tragic situation… it is deeply troubling times, I have been having nightmares, time to find a beautiful tree
Many thanks
The whole tree thing - or any natural object - is pretty good advice eh
Deleted my last comment as it was a bit fear-mongery and we need less of that right now really.
A great read though Lovely, hoping to see more pieces by you in the future on Webworm.
I didn't catch your comment, but thanks for being self-aware of this stuff. Appreciate you being measured. It's pretty easy to be fear-mongery - and not always without merit here in 2025.
A re-read of all posts after 5 mins is mandatory in my house lol.
Thank you David for providing a safe, sane place in the on line world. Where we can get quality information and the opinion of an actual expert on a topic affecting us all.
It's really hard not to feel swamped by dread every day, so everyone look after yourself and those around you and go at sit with a tree.
Is it just me, or does the world feel so much smaller now? And yes, I do think this is a good thing.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and insight on what’s going on right now, Lovely. And thank you, David, for inviting her to write this enlightening piece. We need community now, more than ever, if humanity is to survive.
It's a really good time to stare at a tree.
If you want to get even more freaked out, read "Nuclear War: A Scenario" by Annie Jacobsen. It's well-researched and an extremely disturbing reminder of why nobody wins in a nuclear war. I think the old movie that gave me nightmares as a kid is available on Youtube - "The Day After".
But for me personally, I think I'm going to choose to go and look at some trees. Trees are good.
I haven’t had the time to listen to this yet but a great friend, Kumars, has a good podcast - “Delete Your Account” and I highly recommend. The co-host is Lebanese and Kumars is Iranian-American. They have a recent one “Iranian Exceptionalism”
Thank you David and Lovely. I appreciate your articles David and your clear and concise article Lovely. Much appreciated.
I so appreciate the guest writing & info! It seems like diplomacy is an alien language to both Trump and Netanyahu. They both appear to want to just swing dicks around, and not actually solve problems. Netanyahu in particular seems like violence and death's biggest cheerleader.
As for security: it has become clearer and clearer that security does not mean safety for everyone. It means keeping the rich and powerful insulated from anyone they disagree with or don't like. And we dissidents and non-wealthy are paying for it.