FIVE TIMES, THE SIMPSONS PREDICTED OUR FUTURE
Can The Simpsons predict the future? It can’t. The animation show’s ability to predict the end is more due to its longevity than any magical prowess. It’s not surprising that some stories or Gags have crossed the line between reality and fiction. There is over 30 years’ worth of political and social material. These coincidences, while no one would believe that a TV empire written by many staff writers is prophetic in any way, are still fascinating to look at. These are five predictions made by The Simpsons.
5. THE CORONAVIRUS
Too soon? Is it too soon? Many people fell for the familiarity of old TV shows, such as everyone’s favorite yellow family, only then to discover a coincidence with our covid-era. The twenty-first episode in season four features “Marge in Chains,” a disease that spreads via packages from Japan to Springfield. The Osaka Flu “… yes, I do know.
At the pandemic’s start, there was some concern about covid spreading via mail and packages. However, we now know that transmission via mail is deficient to null. This episode also shows the flu as a mist. This 1993 episode is funny, but it’s not medically authentic or prophetic. However, there are killer bees, so I think it’s something.
4. THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY
The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump’s presidency? No. No. She mentions that Trump’s former president has destroyed the economy. Despite its political biases, this gag was simply a reference to Trump’s 2000 failed presidential campaign. This is not a case where a crystal ball is necessary.
Donald Trump declared his intention to run as president in 1999. Trump was an experienced politician, but he contemplated a run for president for many years. Trump focused his campaign on universal healthcare and free trade.
He did everything required of him in every media outlet and talk show. Although many thought his campaign was a joke, it helped to transform his public image, which had been one of a debt-ridden, comical oddity to one of a successful property magnate and TV star. The rest, for better and worse, is history.
3. THE 9/11 ATTACKS
This episode is strange and unsettling, even for a skeptic—the City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson is the premiere episode of season 9. A drunk Barney takes Homer’s car and then leaves it in Manhattan. Bart shows a flyer advertising Greyhound-like bus services to help him find a way to get to his car at the lowest price. The brochure costs $9 and features the silhouettes of the twin towers. It is called 9/11. Although the leaflet was insignificant when it was released in 1997, four years later, it would be a painful reminder of one of the most devastating attacks on American history.
Two aircraft crashed into the World Trade Centre on the 11th of September 2001. This was a historical event and the most severe attack on democracy in history. The event affected all media, including comic books and video games. People seized on the absurd idea that a Comedy show had predicted this four years before, perhaps to minimize the impact of the attacks. A kind of fatalism is a way to help people deal with extreme pain and loss. This is the saddest entry on the list. It’s not a prediction for the future but a longing for the past.
2. THE HORSE MEAT SCANDAL
Some Simpsons jokes don’t have witty lines. Instead, they are conveyed using visual gags that “predict” the future. In 1994’s Lunch-lady Doris used meat from a large barrel with “a variety of horse meat parts” on the side. The shocking discovery that beef could be substituted with horse meat shocked the British public in 2003. Some products even had a 100% rate. This scandal led to widespread reforms in the food industry. It is not surprising that this scandal led to increased veganism and vegetarianism, as well as the availability of meat substitutes such as Quorn and tofu.
Horse meat sounds pretty reasonable when you consider that Lunch Lady Doris used human flesh in her recipes.
Horse meat is not uncommon in certain countries in Europe, but it was considered unacceptable for products made in the UK. Food industry lied to food standards authorities and people who depended on its products for their food. This is a sad fact. It has less to do about prediction and more with the shockingly low standards that the food industry set for the products it sold before being discovered out.
1. THE SIEGFRIED & ROY TIGER ATTACK
Let’s put this topic, which is admittedly sad, on a lighter note. If you consider the act of tigers attacking beloved entertainers to be a “lighter tone”, then it is. You’ve probably never heard of Siegfried or Roy, the amazing duo that entertained Las Vegas tourists for decades. When Springfield was too uninformed, the Simpsons used the gambling Mecca to their advantage and hired Gunter and Ernst, tiger-wielding entertainers. The 1993 episode $pringfield (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) features the Simpsons as they arrive at Burn’s new casino, but are soon attacked by their white Tiger.
