Stories should do more than scare us. They should wake us up

The Advertiser

06-06-2025

This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
It was another ordinary Sunday evening in November 1983 when more than 100 million Americans and many others around the world sat in the comfort of their living rooms watching the end of the world.
For the next few hours they looked on in horror as humanity's worst nightmare unfolded. Children were turned to ash, cities to dust and vast regions of the planet destroyed as a series of nuclear strikes plunged civilisation into a barbaric new Stone Age.
The Day After was a television movie unlike any other; its primetime depiction of the savage aftermath of nuclear warfare traumatised so many that counselling helplines were inundated. Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, scribbled in his diary that the film left him depressed. The movie was credited with nudging him toward arms control negotiations that, a few years later, culminated in an historic nuclear reduction treaty with the USSR that helped end the Cold War.
The Day After's lesson? Never underestimate the power of storytelling. We have always clung to fables, myths and parables to help us make sense of the world. It's why sober charts and statistics never quite stir the soul like the visceral emotion of believable characters trapped in unimaginable scenarios.
But despite the existence of so many more existential threats now facing us - the world's nuclear stockpile is rising again, climate change grows more extreme and scientists increasingly warn of the menace of artificial intelligence and future pandemics - it's difficult to imagine any film packing the same punch these days as The Day After.
We're suffering doomsday fatigue. Our nights are saturated with the end of days. Apocalyptic movies and TV series depicting dystopian futures fill our screens, social media algorithms feed us worst-case scenarios to keep us scrolling and an unrelenting 24-hour news cycle amplifies catastrophes and threats.
Studies show that relentless warnings about melting ice caps, mutant viruses, economic collapse and Terminator-style machines creates society-wide emotional burnout, making us less likely to stand in the street and demand change, even when many threats are real and, like climate devastation, imminent or already with us.
Let me be the first to plead guilty. After three weeks in the Arctic last year crossing melting glaciers and discovering polar bears were foraging in rubbish bins for food as their ecosystem collapses, I returned home eager to prosecute the case for change. A succession of glazed eyes and patient yawns quickly blunted that enthusiasm.
Surely, though, there must be a way to reignite the same global sense of urgency that sprang out of The Day After. It's why you should watch Television Event - a brilliant documentary now streaming on SBS that revisits that Sunday evening of collective dread in 1983 when a fictional drama with lousy special effects by modern standards crawled inside the world's psyche, triggering worldwide demonstrations that piled on the pressure for nuclear disarmament.
The infamous Doomsday Clock is now at its closest point ever to midnight - just 89 seconds away, according to the latest update by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Yet our sense of alarm has never felt more muted.
We can blame it on doomsday fatigue. But that's the easy way out. If charts, statistics and endless warnings of Armageddon alone won't shift us, it's time to reimagine the way we talk about these threats.
Instead of more apocalyptic tales of destruction and despair, we need human stories that refuse to let us off the hook; tales that show us the lives of those on the front lines of rising seas or within reach of ballistic missiles; stories to remind us that no one is immune and that the consequences won't be confined to someone else's time zone.
We need more solution-focused journalism highlighting what's working, not just what's going wrong. The social media giants need to show greater responsibility with algorithms (try not to laugh too loudly) that would help amplify a sense of progress, not just panic. And instead of focusing on the potential devastation we face, we need to relentlessly ask one basic question: what are you prepared to do about it?
That Doomsday Clock is ticking. Apathy is no longer a refuge but a death sentence.
If we shouldn't underestimate the power of storytelling, nor should we underestimate the power of collective action.
Now, more than ever, we need stories that do more than scare us. We need stories that wake us up.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you suffer from Doomsday Fatigue or have you found an antidote? What other solutions could jolt our current apathy toward climate change and other existential threats? Do you remember when The Day After first screened in Australia and, if so, what was your reaction? Email us: [e-mail]
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs in 2024 as heatwaves struck more than 10 per cent of the world's marine waters.
- Federal police should take over the investigation into the death in custody of a young Aboriginal man as a "step towards healing and justice", an Indigenous MP says.
- People who want to learn more about their family's service in the Australia military will have easier access to priceless records at a new research centre at the Australian War Memorial.
THEY SAID IT: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
YOU SAID IT: When he noticed a hole in his cargo pants, John realised they had lasted longer than World War II. It was a reminder of the false economy of fast fashion.
Mike owns a rarely worn 1970s suit bought in Hong Kong: "Still can't throw it out. It's not clothing anymore; more of an heirloom. Meanwhile, a velvet dress from the same era, my wife retains, still gets invited to events and still turns heads. Her dress is living its best life. My suit's still waiting for a '70s revival tour."
John gets 20 years' wear out of a T-shirt by observing four cycles: "1: Only wear out socially. When I get home, I immediately take off and replace with; 2: home clothes which are good enough to go out shopping with; 3: When these clothes are no longer fit to even go to the local Bunnings store, I just wear them for yard and handyman jobs around the house; 4: When totally threadbare they are ripped up for rags."
Chris, who's become a dab hand at mending so his clothes last longer, writes: "I applaud your article here on saving clothing costs while working from home because that's exactly what happens. I've worked out of home for more than 30 years and there's nothing more comfortable than having nice, clean but older and well worn clothes to wear while working."
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
It was another ordinary Sunday evening in November 1983 when more than 100 million Americans and many others around the world sat in the comfort of their living rooms watching the end of the world.
For the next few hours they looked on in horror as humanity's worst nightmare unfolded. Children were turned to ash, cities to dust and vast regions of the planet destroyed as a series of nuclear strikes plunged civilisation into a barbaric new Stone Age.
The Day After was a television movie unlike any other; its primetime depiction of the savage aftermath of nuclear warfare traumatised so many that counselling helplines were inundated. Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, scribbled in his diary that the film left him depressed. The movie was credited with nudging him toward arms control negotiations that, a few years later, culminated in an historic nuclear reduction treaty with the USSR that helped end the Cold War.
The Day After's lesson? Never underestimate the power of storytelling. We have always clung to fables, myths and parables to help us make sense of the world. It's why sober charts and statistics never quite stir the soul like the visceral emotion of believable characters trapped in unimaginable scenarios.
But despite the existence of so many more existential threats now facing us - the world's nuclear stockpile is rising again, climate change grows more extreme and scientists increasingly warn of the menace of artificial intelligence and future pandemics - it's difficult to imagine any film packing the same punch these days as The Day After.
We're suffering doomsday fatigue. Our nights are saturated with the end of days. Apocalyptic movies and TV series depicting dystopian futures fill our screens, social media algorithms feed us worst-case scenarios to keep us scrolling and an unrelenting 24-hour news cycle amplifies catastrophes and threats.
Studies show that relentless warnings about melting ice caps, mutant viruses, economic collapse and Terminator-style machines creates society-wide emotional burnout, making us less likely to stand in the street and demand change, even when many threats are real and, like climate devastation, imminent or already with us.
Let me be the first to plead guilty. After three weeks in the Arctic last year crossing melting glaciers and discovering polar bears were foraging in rubbish bins for food as their ecosystem collapses, I returned home eager to prosecute the case for change. A succession of glazed eyes and patient yawns quickly blunted that enthusiasm.
Surely, though, there must be a way to reignite the same global sense of urgency that sprang out of The Day After. It's why you should watch Television Event - a brilliant documentary now streaming on SBS that revisits that Sunday evening of collective dread in 1983 when a fictional drama with lousy special effects by modern standards crawled inside the world's psyche, triggering worldwide demonstrations that piled on the pressure for nuclear disarmament.
The infamous Doomsday Clock is now at its closest point ever to midnight - just 89 seconds away, according to the latest update by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Yet our sense of alarm has never felt more muted.
We can blame it on doomsday fatigue. But that's the easy way out. If charts, statistics and endless warnings of Armageddon alone won't shift us, it's time to reimagine the way we talk about these threats.
Instead of more apocalyptic tales of destruction and despair, we need human stories that refuse to let us off the hook; tales that show us the lives of those on the front lines of rising seas or within reach of ballistic missiles; stories to remind us that no one is immune and that the consequences won't be confined to someone else's time zone.
We need more solution-focused journalism highlighting what's working, not just what's going wrong. The social media giants need to show greater responsibility with algorithms (try not to laugh too loudly) that would help amplify a sense of progress, not just panic. And instead of focusing on the potential devastation we face, we need to relentlessly ask one basic question: what are you prepared to do about it?
That Doomsday Clock is ticking. Apathy is no longer a refuge but a death sentence.
If we shouldn't underestimate the power of storytelling, nor should we underestimate the power of collective action.
Now, more than ever, we need stories that do more than scare us. We need stories that wake us up.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you suffer from Doomsday Fatigue or have you found an antidote? What other solutions could jolt our current apathy toward climate change and other existential threats? Do you remember when The Day After first screened in Australia and, if so, what was your reaction? Email us: [e-mail]
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs in 2024 as heatwaves struck more than 10 per cent of the world's marine waters.
- Federal police should take over the investigation into the death in custody of a young Aboriginal man as a "step towards healing and justice", an Indigenous MP says.
- People who want to learn more about their family's service in the Australia military will have easier access to priceless records at a new research centre at the Australian War Memorial.
THEY SAID IT: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
YOU SAID IT: When he noticed a hole in his cargo pants, John realised they had lasted longer than World War II. It was a reminder of the false economy of fast fashion.
Mike owns a rarely worn 1970s suit bought in Hong Kong: "Still can't throw it out. It's not clothing anymore; more of an heirloom. Meanwhile, a velvet dress from the same era, my wife retains, still gets invited to events and still turns heads. Her dress is living its best life. My suit's still waiting for a '70s revival tour."
John gets 20 years' wear out of a T-shirt by observing four cycles: "1: Only wear out socially. When I get home, I immediately take off and replace with; 2: home clothes which are good enough to go out shopping with; 3: When these clothes are no longer fit to even go to the local Bunnings store, I just wear them for yard and handyman jobs around the house; 4: When totally threadbare they are ripped up for rags."
Chris, who's become a dab hand at mending so his clothes last longer, writes: "I applaud your article here on saving clothing costs while working from home because that's exactly what happens. I've worked out of home for more than 30 years and there's nothing more comfortable than having nice, clean but older and well worn clothes to wear while working."
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
It was another ordinary Sunday evening in November 1983 when more than 100 million Americans and many others around the world sat in the comfort of their living rooms watching the end of the world.
For the next few hours they looked on in horror as humanity's worst nightmare unfolded. Children were turned to ash, cities to dust and vast regions of the planet destroyed as a series of nuclear strikes plunged civilisation into a barbaric new Stone Age.
The Day After was a television movie unlike any other; its primetime depiction of the savage aftermath of nuclear warfare traumatised so many that counselling helplines were inundated. Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, scribbled in his diary that the film left him depressed. The movie was credited with nudging him toward arms control negotiations that, a few years later, culminated in an historic nuclear reduction treaty with the USSR that helped end the Cold War.
The Day After's lesson? Never underestimate the power of storytelling. We have always clung to fables, myths and parables to help us make sense of the world. It's why sober charts and statistics never quite stir the soul like the visceral emotion of believable characters trapped in unimaginable scenarios.
But despite the existence of so many more existential threats now facing us - the world's nuclear stockpile is rising again, climate change grows more extreme and scientists increasingly warn of the menace of artificial intelligence and future pandemics - it's difficult to imagine any film packing the same punch these days as The Day After.
We're suffering doomsday fatigue. Our nights are saturated with the end of days. Apocalyptic movies and TV series depicting dystopian futures fill our screens, social media algorithms feed us worst-case scenarios to keep us scrolling and an unrelenting 24-hour news cycle amplifies catastrophes and threats.
Studies show that relentless warnings about melting ice caps, mutant viruses, economic collapse and Terminator-style machines creates society-wide emotional burnout, making us less likely to stand in the street and demand change, even when many threats are real and, like climate devastation, imminent or already with us.
Let me be the first to plead guilty. After three weeks in the Arctic last year crossing melting glaciers and discovering polar bears were foraging in rubbish bins for food as their ecosystem collapses, I returned home eager to prosecute the case for change. A succession of glazed eyes and patient yawns quickly blunted that enthusiasm.
Surely, though, there must be a way to reignite the same global sense of urgency that sprang out of The Day After. It's why you should watch Television Event - a brilliant documentary now streaming on SBS that revisits that Sunday evening of collective dread in 1983 when a fictional drama with lousy special effects by modern standards crawled inside the world's psyche, triggering worldwide demonstrations that piled on the pressure for nuclear disarmament.
The infamous Doomsday Clock is now at its closest point ever to midnight - just 89 seconds away, according to the latest update by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Yet our sense of alarm has never felt more muted.
We can blame it on doomsday fatigue. But that's the easy way out. If charts, statistics and endless warnings of Armageddon alone won't shift us, it's time to reimagine the way we talk about these threats.
Instead of more apocalyptic tales of destruction and despair, we need human stories that refuse to let us off the hook; tales that show us the lives of those on the front lines of rising seas or within reach of ballistic missiles; stories to remind us that no one is immune and that the consequences won't be confined to someone else's time zone.
We need more solution-focused journalism highlighting what's working, not just what's going wrong. The social media giants need to show greater responsibility with algorithms (try not to laugh too loudly) that would help amplify a sense of progress, not just panic. And instead of focusing on the potential devastation we face, we need to relentlessly ask one basic question: what are you prepared to do about it?
That Doomsday Clock is ticking. Apathy is no longer a refuge but a death sentence.
If we shouldn't underestimate the power of storytelling, nor should we underestimate the power of collective action.
Now, more than ever, we need stories that do more than scare us. We need stories that wake us up.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you suffer from Doomsday Fatigue or have you found an antidote? What other solutions could jolt our current apathy toward climate change and other existential threats? Do you remember when The Day After first screened in Australia and, if so, what was your reaction? Email us: [e-mail]
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs in 2024 as heatwaves struck more than 10 per cent of the world's marine waters.
- Federal police should take over the investigation into the death in custody of a young Aboriginal man as a "step towards healing and justice", an Indigenous MP says.
- People who want to learn more about their family's service in the Australia military will have easier access to priceless records at a new research centre at the Australian War Memorial.
THEY SAID IT: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
YOU SAID IT: When he noticed a hole in his cargo pants, John realised they had lasted longer than World War II. It was a reminder of the false economy of fast fashion.
Mike owns a rarely worn 1970s suit bought in Hong Kong: "Still can't throw it out. It's not clothing anymore; more of an heirloom. Meanwhile, a velvet dress from the same era, my wife retains, still gets invited to events and still turns heads. Her dress is living its best life. My suit's still waiting for a '70s revival tour."
John gets 20 years' wear out of a T-shirt by observing four cycles: "1: Only wear out socially. When I get home, I immediately take off and replace with; 2: home clothes which are good enough to go out shopping with; 3: When these clothes are no longer fit to even go to the local Bunnings store, I just wear them for yard and handyman jobs around the house; 4: When totally threadbare they are ripped up for rags."
Chris, who's become a dab hand at mending so his clothes last longer, writes: "I applaud your article here on saving clothing costs while working from home because that's exactly what happens. I've worked out of home for more than 30 years and there's nothing more comfortable than having nice, clean but older and well worn clothes to wear while working."
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
It was another ordinary Sunday evening in November 1983 when more than 100 million Americans and many others around the world sat in the comfort of their living rooms watching the end of the world.
For the next few hours they looked on in horror as humanity's worst nightmare unfolded. Children were turned to ash, cities to dust and vast regions of the planet destroyed as a series of nuclear strikes plunged civilisation into a barbaric new Stone Age.
The Day After was a television movie unlike any other; its primetime depiction of the savage aftermath of nuclear warfare traumatised so many that counselling helplines were inundated. Ronald Reagan, the US president at the time, scribbled in his diary that the film left him depressed. The movie was credited with nudging him toward arms control negotiations that, a few years later, culminated in an historic nuclear reduction treaty with the USSR that helped end the Cold War.
The Day After's lesson? Never underestimate the power of storytelling. We have always clung to fables, myths and parables to help us make sense of the world. It's why sober charts and statistics never quite stir the soul like the visceral emotion of believable characters trapped in unimaginable scenarios.
But despite the existence of so many more existential threats now facing us - the world's nuclear stockpile is rising again, climate change grows more extreme and scientists increasingly warn of the menace of artificial intelligence and future pandemics - it's difficult to imagine any film packing the same punch these days as The Day After.
We're suffering doomsday fatigue. Our nights are saturated with the end of days. Apocalyptic movies and TV series depicting dystopian futures fill our screens, social media algorithms feed us worst-case scenarios to keep us scrolling and an unrelenting 24-hour news cycle amplifies catastrophes and threats.
Studies show that relentless warnings about melting ice caps, mutant viruses, economic collapse and Terminator-style machines creates society-wide emotional burnout, making us less likely to stand in the street and demand change, even when many threats are real and, like climate devastation, imminent or already with us.
Let me be the first to plead guilty. After three weeks in the Arctic last year crossing melting glaciers and discovering polar bears were foraging in rubbish bins for food as their ecosystem collapses, I returned home eager to prosecute the case for change. A succession of glazed eyes and patient yawns quickly blunted that enthusiasm.
Surely, though, there must be a way to reignite the same global sense of urgency that sprang out of The Day After. It's why you should watch Television Event - a brilliant documentary now streaming on SBS that revisits that Sunday evening of collective dread in 1983 when a fictional drama with lousy special effects by modern standards crawled inside the world's psyche, triggering worldwide demonstrations that piled on the pressure for nuclear disarmament.
The infamous Doomsday Clock is now at its closest point ever to midnight - just 89 seconds away, according to the latest update by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Yet our sense of alarm has never felt more muted.
We can blame it on doomsday fatigue. But that's the easy way out. If charts, statistics and endless warnings of Armageddon alone won't shift us, it's time to reimagine the way we talk about these threats.
Instead of more apocalyptic tales of destruction and despair, we need human stories that refuse to let us off the hook; tales that show us the lives of those on the front lines of rising seas or within reach of ballistic missiles; stories to remind us that no one is immune and that the consequences won't be confined to someone else's time zone.
We need more solution-focused journalism highlighting what's working, not just what's going wrong. The social media giants need to show greater responsibility with algorithms (try not to laugh too loudly) that would help amplify a sense of progress, not just panic. And instead of focusing on the potential devastation we face, we need to relentlessly ask one basic question: what are you prepared to do about it?
That Doomsday Clock is ticking. Apathy is no longer a refuge but a death sentence.
If we shouldn't underestimate the power of storytelling, nor should we underestimate the power of collective action.
Now, more than ever, we need stories that do more than scare us. We need stories that wake us up.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you suffer from Doomsday Fatigue or have you found an antidote? What other solutions could jolt our current apathy toward climate change and other existential threats? Do you remember when The Day After first screened in Australia and, if so, what was your reaction? Email us: [e-mail]
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Ocean temperatures in the south-west Pacific reached fresh highs in 2024 as heatwaves struck more than 10 per cent of the world's marine waters.
- Federal police should take over the investigation into the death in custody of a young Aboriginal man as a "step towards healing and justice", an Indigenous MP says.
- People who want to learn more about their family's service in the Australia military will have easier access to priceless records at a new research centre at the Australian War Memorial.
THEY SAID IT: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
YOU SAID IT: When he noticed a hole in his cargo pants, John realised they had lasted longer than World War II. It was a reminder of the false economy of fast fashion.
Mike owns a rarely worn 1970s suit bought in Hong Kong: "Still can't throw it out. It's not clothing anymore; more of an heirloom. Meanwhile, a velvet dress from the same era, my wife retains, still gets invited to events and still turns heads. Her dress is living its best life. My suit's still waiting for a '70s revival tour."
John gets 20 years' wear out of a T-shirt by observing four cycles: "1: Only wear out socially. When I get home, I immediately take off and replace with; 2: home clothes which are good enough to go out shopping with; 3: When these clothes are no longer fit to even go to the local Bunnings store, I just wear them for yard and handyman jobs around the house; 4: When totally threadbare they are ripped up for rags."
Chris, who's become a dab hand at mending so his clothes last longer, writes: "I applaud your article here on saving clothing costs while working from home because that's exactly what happens. I've worked out of home for more than 30 years and there's nothing more comfortable than having nice, clean but older and well worn clothes to wear while working."