Underground bunkers. Food stockpiles. Suicide pacts.
All of these are coming into play as people interpret the infamous "Mayan calendar" to mean that the world will end on Dec. 21. According to a Reuters survey of 16,000 people in 21 countries, at least 10 percent of the population is genuinely concerned that we’ll all be annihilated on that date.
Yes, one in 10 people are really agitated by all the books, documentaries and bumper stickers ("How’s my driving — as I dodge lava, meteors and stampeding wildlife?").
(Let’s not forget the Incas and Aztecs who are agitated about missed opportunities — slapping their foreheads and declaring, "Calendars! And we wasted our promotional money on stupid ink pens!")
The diehard true believers, who’ve immersed themselves in occult tomes and survivalist manuals, inspire me to paraphrase my favorite line from "Monty Python’s Life of Brian": "I know an end-of-the-world scenario when I see one. And I should know — I’ve been through a few."
Then there are the anxiety-plagued individuals who have overheard and retained just enough to be dangerous. ("Yeah, I remember this guy on this show said something or another about the end of the world and stuff. Something to do with trans fats — or was it adjustable rate mortgages...?")
Thank goodness there are still a few individuals who have remained mercifully oblivious to the whole business. ("2012? Man, I thought it was 1954. No wonder I’ve been waiting so long for my pipe and slippers.")
(Granted, some people are actually EMBRACING the apocalypse. Some of my co-workers are planning to take tequila shots every time someone screams, "Help! That indestructible building is collapsing on me! Aieeeeeee!")
It doesn’t help when quasi-governmental agencies buy into the hysteria. The United States Postal Service recently petitioned Congress for the authority to raise the price of first-class postage to "a 5-gallon jug of water and a zombie-killing kit."
Archaeologists, astrophysicists and other mainstream types have made little headway in dispelling the panic. Perhaps they’ll benefit from a recent proclamation from the Vatican: "If a calendar doesn’t have puppies, daffodils, classic cars or Norman Rockwell, it’s not worth diddly."
Some scholars admit that there’s a grain of truth behind the far-fetched predictions but say that the "end of the world" is much more narrowly focused than the universal cataclysm usually pictured. Says one expert on the classical Mayan period: "The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar actually says that on December 21 Jeremy Higgenbottom must take an afterschool job and start paying for his own &%$# first car." ("Nooooooooooo!")
Of course not everyone who gives credence to the "2012 phenomenon" interprets the calendar as indicating doomsday. Various New Age types view Dec. 21 as the beginning of a touchy-feely "dawning of the age of Aquarius" sort of transformative spiritual event. Ere long, mankind will join hand in hand to declare something like "Please be kind...remember to rewind." (Hey, YOU have trouble remembering anniversaries. Cut the Mayas a little slack if a 5125-year calendar cycle is a few decades late.)
Maybe we should all just ignore the hype, focus on cherishing our loved ones on Christmas, change our fire alarm batteries on New Year’s Eve and make sincere resolutions for a bright 2013.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world.
wgalison posted at 9:58 am on Wed, Dec 12, 2012.
The song to sing on December 20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmHQNwCrfU
Accuracy posted at 10:52 am on Wed, Dec 12, 2012.
So, Danny Tyree has 'Doomsday' Fears
According to David Morrison, a NASA scientist who answers letters from the public, even NASA authorities are receiving letters and emergency calls from panicked citizen fearing the Mayan calendar-based prediction the world will end Dec. 2.
Rising fears in many people about this day.
"One touching letter (said) simply, 'My best friend is my little dog, please tell me when I should put her to sleep so she won't suffer in the apocalypse,'" Morrison said.
Cerulean posted at 8:23 pm on Wed, Dec 12, 2012.
The Mayan were keen observers of the planets and practiced mathematicians. Their calendars (they have several), like ours, ran in cycles. Most of us understand that the earth rotates around the sun in fairly regular sequences. So we have a twelve month calendar to represent that rotation. Do we think the world will end on December 31st? No. Neither did the Maya.
By the way how many remember that Monday is a day named for the moon,
Tuesday is for the God Tiw (or Mars),
Wednesday is for the God Wodin also known as Odin (or the planet Mercury),
Thursday is for the God Thor (also correlates with the planet Jupiter),
Friday is for the Goddess Frigg or Fritag (she associates with Venus),
Saturday is Saturns day (also the day to celebrate the Mother of God),
Sunday is of course the sun’s day (today many celebrate the God Father or the son of God).
Dale Whiting posted at 5:12 am on Thu, Dec 13, 2012.
At least the Mayans got the solstis right! It's December 21st or there abouts, not December 31st!
Now, someone explain the names of the months. July and August got thrust into the middle by Caesars Julius and Augustus. Where September once was the 7th month, now it's the 9th month! How vain can a ruler be? Most years when I go to write the date in numbers, I get Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec mixed up. Rather than being 7, 8. 9. and 10, they have become 9, 10, 11, 12. Let's go back to a 10 month, 7 week per month, 350 day calandar with one heck of a year end celeration of 15 days at the end! We can call that celebration Caesar's holiday.
Masterrogue666 posted at 1:23 pm on Thu, Dec 13, 2012.
I remember some people panicking during 1999 because older computers wasn't programed for the year 2000.
If there is an "end", then we'll all die, and there'll be no need to worry. Personally, I'm more concerned (for mankind) what will happen when fossil fuel oil runs out. However, science is making new strides at replacing fossil fuel oil, so my concern lessen every day.
Rich posted at 6:11 pm on Thu, Dec 13, 2012.
Well, better get your shopping done. All those people who believe the Mayans are going to have a lot of last minute shopping to do over three days.
Bingo6 posted at 6:56 am on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
.....and if were all lucky maybe these tea party crackpots will all submerge themselves into their underground bunkers and then we can all celebrate a return to common sense and peace of mind again instead of listening to all those who are out of theirs, me I'm going to see the Hobbit, there should be plenty of good seats.
Cerulean posted at 9:46 am on Fri, Dec 14, 2012.
The Hobbit is good,
I will be watching Nostalgia For The Light. ( http://youtu.be/0VEIeAa6DiM )
‘Chasing Ice’ will be showing in Jan. at the Valley Art Theater.
See: https://www.facebook.com/chasingice
Accuracy posted at 2:26 pm on Sat, Dec 15, 2012.
The ancient Mayans were astute astronomers and the ancient Mayan calendar predicts that the present age will end on Friday, December 21, 2012.
In November 2009, the Hollywood blockbuster released the End of Times movie “2012” worldwide, and predicted the end of the world would come December 21, 2012. Theory based on the Mayan calendar – which comes to an end on that day. The Sony Pictures action saga tells the story of a scramble to save remnants of humanity aboard giant arks as the earth's crust shifts and flood waters pour over most of the planet.
I DO NOT believe that it will happen that day, next Friday.
Bible prophecy is important for the Christian – here is the Bible's version of what's to come on the earth. Matthew 24:20-31 – “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”