This week was a difficult one, as there was plenty to write about, but nothing that was particularly interesting or new. To put it simply, this week was just another boring episode in the extended slouch towards Armageddon that the human race seems to be heading towards. But hey, I refuse to write something with as bland a title as “Why I love my cat,” so let’s instead talk about ballistic missiles and how nobody seems to care about them anymore.

North Korea, I suppose, would be the hot topic this week, as their saber-rattling tendencies seem to be reaching new avenues, as they fired a series of short-range ballistic missiles over the ocean. And, as you might expect, the world goes through the motions: the United Nations imposes stricter trade sanctions, South Korea pulls any workers they have over the border, North Korea liquidates South Korean assets (because their economy can definitely afford that), Japan begins arming their anti-ballistic missile defenses, and the United States and China both groan exhaustedly, hoping that they won’t have to fight each other.

This isn’t a new scenario, and it’s been one that has systematically repeated itself for the past couple of decades. What makes things more dire is the fact that North Korea has, allegedly, obtained the capacity and technology to produce basic nuclear weaponry, a development that actually gives some heft to their threats of war against the United States and its allies. However, the key proponent missing from North Korea’s doomsday plan is that they lack the capability of miniaturization, or, in lay people’s terms, they can’t fit their nuclear warhead into a missile. Think of it as having a Lego set but missing the directions so you have to do a lot of guess work.

“Oh…” Says North Korea, having already sent a letter to their “enemies” threatening their immediate destruction.

What’s most interesting, however, is how the media is handling this. Normally, the media would play these headlines repeatedly, rallying people in fear to increase their ratings. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case this time. As I scan through many articles getting information for this piece, there’s an atmosphere of resignation about the affair. Everybody’s just sort of rolling their eyes and reporting it, and I can’t say I blame them.

How many times must we go through this charade, North Korea? Certainly you must be aware of the long list of “enemies” you have, and how many of them spend vast portions of their government spending on military endeavors. South Korea and Japan, the closest enemies you have by physical proximity, spend respectively 33.4 and 41.4 billion dollars a year on their military. North Korea’s spending doesn’t even put them in the top twenty nations in terms of military, measured in US dollars. Essentially, if North Korea were to declare war, the United States and allies would turn Pyongyang into a new parking lot for tourist visiting South Korea in a matter of days, if not, a matter of minutes.

And what about you, China? Are you not as sick of this nonsense as we are here in the United States? Is a war between the United States and China really worth it for North Korea’s sake? No, the United States owes China so much money and buys so much of China’s exports that if something were to happen to it, then China would be just as hurt, at least on an economic level. And of course, the United States doesn’t want to start anything, mainly because our track record with overthrowing governments and replacing them with democracies has been a bit “ISIS-y” lately, to coin a phrase.

Normally the way these incidents get resolved is by North Korea going back on their psychosis medication for a couple months before inevitably saber-rattling again, but this time the world is just getting a little fed up. On this slouch towards Armageddon that the nations of the world seem to be partaking in, how long before we just stop caring? When was it that nuclear threats, or implications of them, became an exhausting sideshow?

P.S. By the way, whenever North Korea tries for attention, we ignore them and they go away, so why can't we seem to do that with Trump?