Apocalyptic Daze

L’Étoile Mystérieuse

As an asteroid hurtles toward Earth, terrified citizens pour into the streets of Brussels to stare at the mammoth object growing before their eyes. Soon, it will pass harmlessly by—but first, a strange old man, Professor Philippulus, dressed in a white sheet and wearing a long beard, appears, beating a gong and crying: “This is a punishment; repent, for the world is ending!”

We smile at the silliness of this scene from the Tintin comic strip L’Étoile Mystérieuse, published in Belgium in 1941. Yet it is also familiar, since so many people in both Europe and the United States have recently convinced themselves that the End is nigh. This depressing conviction may seem surprising, given that the West continues to enjoy an unparalleled standard of living. But Professor Philippulus has nevertheless managed to achieve power in governments, the media, and high places generally. Constantly, he spreads fear: of progress, of science, of demographics, of global warming, of technology, of food...

by: Pascal Bruckner… Read on @ City Journal.

Note: The above article’s opening paragraphs refer to a TinTin story by Belgian author Hergé. In researching this, we were synchronisticly surprised to find “L’Étoile Mystérieuse” or “The Shooting Star” to be a tale that originates off-world. The story begins with TinTin observing an “extra star” in the constellation Ursa Major. The star turns out to be a meteor, which sparks the messianic prophecy referenced in Bruckner’s article.

We were doubly surprised to find the cover of “The Shooting Star” to feature a gigantic Amanita muscaria mushroom sprouting out of the meteorite that reached earth, causing Earth’s flora and fauna to magically grow to incredible proportions. Once again we see the imagery of extra-terrestrial intelligence, in the form of a Magic (psychoactive) Mushroom… seeding Earth and interacting with earthling DNA to produce amazing terrestrial mutations.

Curiouser & Curiouser…

This article was brought to our attention by our friend and colleague, Dennis (aka: Agent 87).