Existential questions

I challenge you to pick up a newspaper or magazine and not encounter the word “existential,” especially compounded with “threat.”

• Climate change is an existential threat to the human race. 
• Trump is an existential threat to democracy.
• Inflation is an existential threat to the economy.
• Tik Tok is an existential threat to Instagram

The root of existential is the same as existence. So an existential threat is one that has the potential/likelihood/promise of completely zapping whatever is being threatened. As Dictionary.com puts it when explaining why they chose it as their 2019 Word of the Year, “It captures a sense of grappling with the survival—literally and figuratively—of our planet, our loved ones, our ways of life.”

I’ve grown so accustomed to encountering this word, that I sort of sniff when reading it, and dismiss the entire argument being made as being unlikely. The opposite impact of what the writer intended. An over use of such a dramatic term soon casts a shadow of hyperbole. 

Sadly. When one reads that both the entire planet due to a meteor strike and the supply of toilet paper at the local Walmart both face existential threats, well, one just has to reflect just how serious something that is described as existential really is…

Oh, existential has a second, less used meaning. It can also refer to one’s reason for existence. “Why am I put on this earth? is an existential question. Does “Why am I writing this blog entry?” fall into the same category?