Doomer

A doomer is someone who believes that global problems—including but not limited to ecological exhaustion, such as overpopulation, peak oil, climate change, and pollution—will cause the collapse of civilization, significant human population die-off, and potentially lead to eventual human extinction.[1] The ideology is defined in opposition to more optimistic outlooks on life. Doomers believe that government corruption, civilian apathy, and/or structural oppression are unfixable.[2] Mainstream climate scientist Michael Mann said that doomerism may exacerbate climate change by causing people to feel powerless and not take action against climate change.

Not to be confused with Wojak § Doomer.

Common themes

Self-identified doomers identify with a wide range of political and cultural values, but tend to fall on the far-right or the far-left. Those on the far-right often cite the effects of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory and degrading cultural institutions, while those on the far-left reference the effects of late capitalism, ecological collapse and growing corporate control.[3]

Media

The term "doomer" was popularized in the commentary surrounding Jonathan Franzen's 2019 essay in The New Yorker titled "What if We Stopped Pretending". The piece made an argument against the possibility of averting climatic catastrophe. In addition to popularizing the term among general audiences, Franzen's piece was highly popular among online "doomer" communities, including the Facebook groups Near Term Human Extinction Support Group and Abrupt Climate Change.[4]

In an article in the BBC, Jem Bendell's self-published paper Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy was described as "the closest thing to a manifesto for a generation of self-described 'climate doomers'". As of March 2020, the paper had been a downloaded more than a half million times. In it, Bendell claims there is no chance to avert a near-term breakdown in human civilization. As the BBC review also noted, "Prof Michael Mann, one of the world's most renowned [climate scientists], describes Bendell's paper as 'pseudo-scientific nonsense'".[5]

The New York Times notes that supporters of Uncivilization: The Dark Mountain Manifesto have been described as "doomers" for the reckless nature of the text's message. The manifesto critiques the idea of progress, having been published by Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine to signal the beginning of the artists' group the Dark Mountain Project.[6]

In February 2020, Kate Knibbs of Wired noted the development of a popular and growing strain of "doomer" climate fiction, in contrast to the typically optimistic undertones of the genre. In addition, Amy Brady, a climate fiction columnist for the Chicago Review of Books, notes that the genre has moved from future scenarios to near-past and present stories.[7]

Criticism

Climate scientist Michael Mann sees doomerism as a "dangerous new strain of crypto-denialism", stating that the doomer ideas "will lead us down the very same path of inaction as outright climate change denial. Fossil fuel interests love this framing."[5]

gollark: A chest would make sense, I'll add some perhaps.
gollark: I'm not sure, but it SEEMS that way.
gollark: Yes, but it doesn't seem to be fast enough?
gollark: * then
gollark: I'll definitely have to look at transfer node mining them.

See also

References
  1. Read, Max (2019-08-01). "Is Andrew Yang the Doomer Candidate?". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  2. "4chan's 'Doomer' Memes Are a Strange Frontier in Online Extremism". MEL Magazine. 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  3. McGrath, Ben. "The Dystopians". The New Yorker. The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. Purtill, James (7 November 2019). "Breaking up over climate change: My deep dark journey into doomer Facebook". ABC AU. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  5. Hunter, Jack (16 March 2020). "The 'climate doomers' preparing for society to fall apart". BBC News. Retrieved 20 April 2020. Bendell, a professor in sustainable leadership at the University of Cumbria, is the author of an academic article, Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy, which has become the closest thing to a manifesto for a generation of self-described "climate doomers".
  6. Smith, Daniel (17 April 2014). "It's the End of the World as We Know It . . . and He Feels Fine". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. Knibbs, Kate (17 February 2020). "The Hottest New Literary Genre Is 'Doomer Lit'". Wired. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  • Doomsters(sic) - A journal article discussing peak oil and "Doomsters"
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