Happy Halloween...unless you're unlucky enough to
still be Germaine Greer;
Hallowe’en is the time when we celebrate the netherworld, by which is usually meant the world of the dead, the underworld. We like to frighten ourselves and each other by inventing spooky stuff – zombies, ghosts: all unconvincing, which is partly why we do it.
By being pretend-frightened of fictions, we can shrug off real threats. It might be fun to pretend to be frightened by plastic creepy-crawlies; but we should be frightened for real creepy-crawlies.
When the sharks are disappearing from the seas and the ice caps are melting, it is time to be frightened. When today’s witches try to scare you, they mean it. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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