Do Smart Guys Just Seem Crazy - Or Are They?

Glenn Reynolds has a quote from Walter Russell Mead that got our attention:

We worry about the end of the world. The Greeks worried about seeing their city burned, the men killed, the women and children forced into slavery. Their culture, their identity, their dignity, their rights: gone with the wind. Our fear seems detached from daily life; theirs was part of it.

This raises two questions related to NewAge spiritual, and religious, beliefs:

Who is this apocalyptic "we", and what does Mead mean, that such irrational fear "seems" crazy?

Love the graphic by the way, very cool.