The philosopher Slavoj Zizek often re-tells this joke: > There is an (apocryphal, for sure) anecdote about the exchange of telegrams between German and Austria

The philosopher Slavoj Zizek often re-tells this joke: > There is an (apocryphal, for sure) anecdote about the exchange of telegrams between German and Austrian army headquarters in the middle of the First World War: the Germans sent the message "Here, on our part of the front, the situation is serious, but not catastrophic," to which the Austrians replied "Here, the situation is catastrophic, but not serious." His point is that this is the situation we find ourselves in today: ecologically and socially, the world is falling apart. We can see the catastrophe coming but we don't take it seriously.