Red skies herald apocalypse and … status updates.
Photo: smh.com.au
This morning taught me more about people’s likely behaviour in the event of the apocalypse than it did about climate change.
Those with money in cyberspace can breathe a sigh of relief - in the event of the end of the world, people will still be updating their facebook status and tweeting their consternation as red dust envelops the world as we knew it. In fact, an internet addict who lives in a room with no windows and doesn’t check the news would still know that today, Sydney saw the end of the world*.
There was dust. A lot of dust. The sky was red. So, sadly, was my freshly washed car. But first news of the dust storm was not out my window, it was in the wide wonderful world of facebook, where status updates grew increasingly dusty . Religious leaders and doomsday prophets beware - when the apocalypse arrives, people will not run screaming for the hills. They will not bend knee and pray for their souls. They will compete for the wittiest dust puns on facebook and the most original way to tweet “DUST!!!!!!!!!”
They ranged from the witty:
Mitchell Ashwood Serena it’s mornings like this that white balance was invented for
Kate Leaver who you gonna call? dust busters. dusty springfield. another one bites the dust.
Nina Funnell thinks her dad is harsh for waking her up at 5.30am, pointing to the red, dust filled, zero viibility sky and announcing that a major meteor had hit earth and hundreds of thousands had died.
Ben Ryan New TV series idea: “Farmer Wants His Soil Back”
Mike Wziontek Are deep purple in town? ‘Cause there’s smoke on the water.
Kathryn Edwards rumour has it that not even the dust can stand living in South Australia…
Samantha Holland bad day to run out of hayfever tablets?
To the apocalyptic:
Nicolle Macbeth if it really was the end of the world this morning….what would that have meant for you?
Jack Jelbart flight delayed due to rapture…
Tim Clemens Woke up to find a blood red sky and my wife missing… almost double checked Revelation to search for the rapture.
Angela Evans is baffled by the biblical plague-come Great Gatsby dustbowl over Sydney; and sends her heart out to fellow allergy sufferers.
Ben Ryan The Apocalypse has come! We are all going to die! Here is hoping our new Alien leaders are kind and loving!
To the descriptive:
Andrew Young gods own sepia filter
Lexi Prabhakar it’s like living on the set of csi miami, everything has an orange tinge
Emilee Jenkins and it was all… yellow?
Kiera Fricker It looks the wizard of oz, before the technocolour! Stupid dust storm.
To the entrepreneurial:
Ben Ryan Off to buy stocks in a Car Wash Franchise! Make a mint!
To the just-plain-lazy:
Frank Brincat insert already cliche dust comment here
Belinda Clough something about the dust
Sarah Kelshaw dust related status update
Joel Raiter was going to comment on the color of the sky this morning, but feels like it has already been mentioned once or twice.
Not Obama’s election, Kanye West’s interruption of poor Taylor Swift, Kyle Sandilands’ bad taste rape comments could generate this much facbook action. To be sure, nature just trumped pop culture, politics and news. All hail the cold front!
*Note: This storm was not actually a sign of the apocalypse. To quote Ben Cubby from the Sydney Morning Herald: “It may look like Doomsday, but the causes of today’s storm are relatively prosaic.” I.e. High winds pick up dust. Move East. Thousands rush out to buy face masks. The end.
