(Wherein the bright spark of competitive sport ignites into the dark flame of apocalyptic destruction, and we have a frank discussion about ED …)

T here’s so much Olympics coverage right now my brain is filled with thoughts of competition, whether that be swimming the fastest 1500 meters, running 200m in record time, or getting the gold in high jump, fencing, vaulting, gymnastics, etc etc. (Or, if you’re watching the commercials, apparently you should just tell your children to give up and let AI write letters to their favorite athletes for them, as apparently even writing an effusive letter is beyond the reach of normal humans now.) But as plastic Coca-Cola cups are left scattered about the Paris venues, and as the constant medal tallies show that this is as much about aggrandizing countries as actual people, we may be reminded that racing to be the best is sometimes the worst thing for humanity as a whole, for we have politicians, technobillionaires, and fossil fuel companies all vying for the top spot in ED … err, that’s Environmental Degradation, not that the other kind of ED isn’t applicable as well, in some metaphysical way.

Right now the real race, the one that overshadows sport of all kinds, seems to be between destroying our environment and some other form of apocalypse; oh, the pretty words are spoken, about how we’ll regulate polluting industries, and research new, clean technologies, and stop war in our time, and our governments meet with one another every year to pretend that they’re doing something, but really, compliance with their own promises is entirely voluntary; the reality is we have Project 2025 people trying to defund all environmental protection, deregulate polluting industries, and bring war home to their own people (well, I’m sure they’ve already decided that anyone to the left of Christian Nationalism isn’t really their own people, and much like wartime propaganda from WWI and WWII, are dehumanizing all who disagree with them, so that any military action on Dictator Turnip’s part against “protestors” will be against an Other, not against actual Americans).

In this race, we’re basically encouraged to bet on whether we can make the air so toxic we all die before someone throws a nuke at someone else, or it becomes so expensive to live that millions die of starvation and homelessness, or we’re all ordered into the gulag by a gang of thugs we accidentally (or on purpose) let into government, or we come up with some other way to destroy ourselves while the Earth shakes in dismay and the gods all get ready to dispose of another science experiment. (And then I suppose with their last breaths the Turnips and Muskovites of the world will blame the rest of us for not being great enough, or for being too liberal, or gay, or trans, or for being female, or not manly enough, or not white enough, or … well, the thousand excuses about how it couldn’t really be their fault, could it, for their own follies and mistakes that have brought us down, and (sigh) we get to live and die with that, so …

Well, that was a dark path away from the light and power and joie de vivre of the Olympics, wasn’t it? And I feel it’s a path we (I) tread here at Penumbric regularly. Partly because it’s our job, or at least a focus, these dystopias that litter our lives. But still, maybe too regularly. So while the issue is filled with ED and apocalypse, we’ve sprinkled a few hopeful pieces here and there, as we try to do every issue. Which does still, at this time, anyway, mirror the real world—there is still hope, still time (just) to survive our nightmares. And while the hope may be as elusive as a gold medal (or any medal), it’s there, it exists, and we’re not done yet.

Jeff Georgeson
Managing Editor
Penumbric