How Did We Go from “We Are The World” to “Eve of Destruction”?

Dez Lewis
Sep 25
2 min read

Updated: Oct 10

Once upon a time, pop stars held hands and sang about feeding the children. Now we’re doomscrolling through climate collapse, fascist creep, and billionaires launching vanity rockets while the rest of us ration serotonin. So what happened?

Let’s rewind.

🎤 We Are The World (1985): The Optimism Era

This was peak performative unity. Michael, Lionel, Cyndi, Bruce—all crooning for a cause. The vibe? “We can fix this if we just care hard enough.” It was earnest, glossy, and deeply American in its belief that celebrity + charity = salvation.

But beneath the harmonies, the cracks were already showing. Reaganomics was gutting social programs. The AIDS crisis was being ignored. And the same system that created global hunger was now selling us the soundtrack to solve it.

☢️ Eve of Destruction (1965): The Warning We Ignored

Barry McGuire’s gravel-throated protest anthem was a raw, unapologetic scream. Vietnam. Civil rights. Nuclear dread. It didn’t ask for unity—it demanded accountability. It didn’t soothe—it agitated.

And it was banned from some radio stations for being “too negative.” Because nothing says freedom like silencing dissent.

🌀 From Hope to Hype to Collapse

The shift from We Are The World to Eve of Destruction isn’t linear—it’s cyclical. We swing between performative optimism and radical truth-telling, depending on how much reality we’re willing to face.

Right now? We’re in a truth-heavy era. The masks are off (literally and metaphorically). The vibes are unhinged. And the soundtrack is less “heal the world” and more “burn it down, but make it poetic.”

🛋️ Enter the Slacktivists

We’re not marching in lockstep—we’re spiraling in nonlinear protest. We’re neurodivergent, queer, and tired. Our resistance looks like mutual aid spreadsheets, sarcastic memes, and community care circles. We’re not singing kumbaya—we’re remixing Eve of Destruction into lo-fi beats for burnout recovery.

Because sometimes, the most radical thing you can do is tell the truth, take a nap, and refuse to perform hope for a system that refuses to change.

✨ Final Chorus

So how did we go from We Are The World to Eve of Destruction? We didn’t. We’ve always been both. One hand reaching out. One fist raised. One voice harmonizing. One voice screaming. And somewhere in between—us. The Slacktivist Rebellion.

Still here. Still weird. Still resisting.