It's all gone wrong!, I tell W. It's falling apart! W. feels he has to pull me back from the brink. It's not that bad, he says. I tell him we should stab ourselves in the throat – now, immediately! I over-react to everything, says W. It's my dramatic nature. I'm an hysteric.
W., by contrast, takes the long view. He's more grandly apocalyptic than I am. 'You have to see it all in terms of the apocalypse', he says. I do have my apocalyptic moments, W. concedes, but I do not have the sobriety and broadness of view required by apocalypticism. 'You see it's not just you or I', he says, it's everyone'. I'm calmed by his words. The disaster is everywhere.
Lars Iyer's Blog 