Reductionist point of view here.
At it's most basic it's thought control. It's a tool invented to manipulate and control the minds of people, via a very powerful emotion (fear of doomsday) that came into being right as this fear was most powerful in the minds of the public. It appears it may have been created with good intentions, however it was done out of fear. The people who invented this clock probably didn't think about how it could be used or abused as a tool for thought control, but that's always the case when you let fear overpower your decision making process. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. For this reason I think it's a relic of the cold war and should be retired as such and left to the history books.
>should we be worried?
>is it just a meme
The question isn't is it a meme. The question should be do you trust the people setting the hands on this clock? Trust comes in 2 varieties. (IMO, but I there may be more kinds of trust) There is trust that they are competent or capable, and then there is trust that they are morally sound and/or have your best intentions at heart, or rather that they are serving the good of the whole and not serving what's good for them personally/individually. I'm not articulating that last point well but I think you get the idea.
