[buth_lika]

Bush and Cheney promised war that would not end in our lifetime, or our children's lifetime, and I and many others took that to mean it's intended to be eternal. With varying intensity, but no moment of no war or potential external threat. Bush also said we're either cool with that, or we're with the terrorists. So while 1984 will not be built in one day, but it was pretty much completely outlined in one day, and we're on track.

[richardhod]

from 1984:

'Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been at war, but it was evident that there had been a fairly long interval of peace during his childhood, because one of his early memories was of an air raid, which appeared to take everyone by surprise. Perhaps it was the time when the atomic bomb had fallen on Colchester. He did not remember the raid itself […]. '

'Since about that time, war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible, since no written record, and no spoken word, ever made mention of any other alignment than the existing one. At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge, which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.'

[joering2]

A saying that i heard once and shocked me goes something like this: the only people that have seen the end of the world are the ones who died on it.

[Waterluvian]

I think it's worth framing it as the possible decline of the U.S. The whole world does not share the Americans' fate.

[Annatar]

Nostradamus predicted it would last 27 years, with the “Union of the great Trumpet” eventually emerging victorious, followed by “1000 years of peace”.

As a child I tried to decipher what the “Union of the great Trumpet” is, since it corresponds to no alliance I know of, and hypothesised that it would be the alliance of U.S.A., Europe and Russia. Since it’s known that Nostradamus misspelled Hitler as “Hister”, now I’m wondering if “Trumpet” isn’t a misreading of Trump. Nostradamus was French, so Trump might easily be transposed to “Trumpet”.

(I’m not in any way affiliated with the president of the United States.)

[orf]

> Since it’s known that Nostradamus misspelled Hitler as “Hister”,

Is it known? Because that's a pretty big leap. Hister refers to a river in Germany. In fact in his actual passage it refers to 'Hister' as a place, not a person.

[Annatar]

It’s difficult to say; his quatrens leave much to interpretation. I remember this from a documentary.

[orf]

Most are vague enough to be completely useless, I agree, but this is pretty clear. I guess your documentary wanted to have some sensationalist content, a-la 'ancient aliens', but no, it is not 'known' that Nostradamus predicted anything let alone WW2 after misspelling Hitler. In fact he references 'Hister' a few times in his writings, referencing a pretty large river in Germany.