You know those nut jobs in Times Square proclaiming the end of the world is coming? It appears they have company. A lot of company. According to a worldwide polls, nearly 15 percent of people believe the world will end during their lifetime while 10 percent believe that the Mayan calendar shows that it will end in 2012. Once again, I will simply note that sea otters appear far more advanced than humans in every meaningful way.
The polling involved 16,262 people in more than 20 countries. The French were the least likely to believe in the end of the world (now the end of the euro is another matter). Belgium and Britain were also among the least likely to believe in the end of the world. The most doomsayers were found in Turkey followed by South Africa and Argentina. That is interesting because it would indicate that this does not change with religious beliefs. The most important common denominator was low education and low incomes among those who believed the end was coming. Also, younger people were more inclined to believe in the doomsday scenario.
The obsession with the Mayan calendar is particularly interesting since there is ample evidence that even the Mayans did not believe that December 21, 2012 would be the day for the world to end as opposed to changing the calendar. It is like finding the ancient equivalent to a note to “remember to buy milk” and building a doomsday faith around it. Experts have debunked the theory surrounding 13th Bak’tun — one of the 400 year periods in the Maya calendar. There is absolutely no reference or indication of the Earth coming to the end. It is merely the end of that calendar year and there is a reference to God descending — a reference that is not viewed by experts as signifying the end of anything. That has not stopped the government from capitalizing on the belief of course.
It is the Mayan belief that is so striking for me. I can understand the fear of nuclear war and global warming as threats to our existence. However this poll could have been entitled “Ten Percent of Earth’s Population Found To Be Morons.” I would have been far more impressed if the Mayans would have seen the Spanish coming or their collapse in the 8th or 9th centuries. Those little events appeared to have escaped their special eye.
Besides the only sign of the apocalypse that we have seen in our lifetime has been the GOP presidential primary and that appears to have come to an end. Of course, most of us were praying for the end of the world for much of it and were again left to suffer. Having made it through the primary, I refuse to have some ancient Mayans jacked up on entheogenic mushrooms tell me that the world is going to end in 2012. The Bears just finished a strong draft for this season (even if they did not reinforce their offensive line) and I intend to make it to the playoffs — Mayans or no Mayans.
The end of the corrupt is just around the corner, and here is where it begins:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/89970926/Philli-Mayor-REMOVAL-TALLY-Lnotice
Civility seems to be coming to an end, can civilization be far behind?
Depending on what one defines “world” as, that 15% would include scientists.
Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky give mankind a 50-50 chance in the near future.
I would guess, then, that they define “world” to mean “current civilization.”
I’m rooting for the sea otters and the whales. But methane and hydrates may take us all. We WILL all go, if only individually. Here’s a thought for this moment. Capture yours.
“Seize every second.
Scan the sky, the city’s lights and the light of the moon pale the stars. A sun not far under the horizon near the pole lightens the sky. A finger of a thin cloud points the course of the wind..
Nothing stirs, only silent black cats given hours of freedom to roam the bushes. Oddly the large rats are not to be seen. Someone keeps after them with death-baited food perhaps.
Nothing moves behind the windows, all are perched with glowing screens. Never mind what, as long as it moves.
No youths cross the gård, no parties or gatherings midweek. The Spring celebration was two nights ago. 185 were arrested for drunkenness in a historical university town some miles to the north. The rolling parties on the subway trains were orderly, only the driver complained of “blocked doors”. “Kamraterna” must also come with us, the teenagers screamed back.
The trees breathe and eat our refuse, and we theirs. It is a busy time of year for them. Leaves to be made, bark to grow, roots to be fed sugar. And for us too. Summer is short. The sap rises in us. More babes are made at midsummer than……you’ve heard the tale. It is true. The best time to be born is when April says goodbye to March.
The air sings almost like a bee hive: summer is coming, summer is coming.
Only a few short hours and the sun will again repeat the story told by the stars—-the world turns, time flows. Can we catch up with our youth? What do you think?
But we have memories to claim and retain. Where are our claim tickets. In our minds.
The last treasure we old want to keep—-our minds. All else can flee, broken, with ironic grins and scornful guffaws.
As long as we can remember. Hold fast to the claim tickets. Grip and treasure. Smudged but legible yet. Paper-clipped, bunted with rubber bands. In small boxes, all in a jumble or neatly stacked. Let me see……A is for Admiral’s widow, B is for Börje, my shrink,……F is for friends……Oh yes, M is for Ma a lish which is “never mind” in Arabic…….or was it Mai pen rai in Thai? What is next? Here is one I just found!……….
Seize your moment. Go look at the sky for your message.
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“Ten Percent of Earth’s Population Found To Be Morons.”
Or 9.9% percent found to be liars. 10% would be 1626 people that think the Earth ends this year. I would be quite curious to see what they are doing special with the last eight months of their lives, or if they are still doing their chores and making a living as if nothing will happen to them or theirs.
The End is Near! For about 15% that might not be a bad thing. If your personal brand of superstition compels you to earnestly believe the end of days will signify the return of your Sky Daddy and an express trip to Shangi-La, you’re hoping for it. Why care about what happens here? Nuclear proliferation? Environmental degradation? All part of the Master’s Plan to “bring us home.” As for the “not us,” well off to hell fire and brimstone.
That’s what’s scary — not that they believe it, but why they believe it and what they’re willing to do or not do, to bring it about.
OS,
The Cubs will win the Series after the world comes to an end!
@Bron Hope you don’t mind…Cut & Pasted on my Facebook page….
Well, I don’t think it will end in my life time but lets examine a few things:
We have screwed with plants & animals in ways we do not fully comprehend & are wiping out whole species we depend on (e.g.bees)
We have upset the balance of the planet that had let our species exist for 200k years in ways that will make it extremely difficult to make a go of it in many if not most places we now inhabit
We have carelessly developed viruses and germs that ignore our attempts at stopping them while we have increased the likelihood of spreading them.
I’d say that is a great case for the end of life as we currently know it for our species. The world will go on & perhaps in another 200k years some new species will have emerged – hopefully one with the sense that seems to have escaped us, that we are part of this world not lords over it immune from repercussions of our hubris.
Jonathan,
Many people feel this way because they sense that things are very much out of kilter in the world. Something in the air is ominous to them, as if something big is going to occur that will change their entire way of life. Not that humanity will cease to exist but that things cannot go on the way they are currently. They sense a great imbalance that can only be corrected by the universe abandoning very fundamental aspects of everyday human life. Anyone familiar with history can see how significant events could be perceived as the “end of the world.” The fall of the Roman Empire, The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, The Holocaust, for example. If you lived in Japan during WWII, do you think it was the end of the world for them when they had nuclear bombs dropped on their country? What do you think Americans will think if their living standard drops to that of the third world due to an economic collapse. Impossible, you say? It isn’t impossible. And some smart people think it is likely. We are in unprecedented times economically in American today. The FED funds rate is stuck at 0.00% – 0.25% indefinitely. It has been stuck there for years. There is something very, very wrong with this, and indicates that the hull of the U.S. economy is rotten and falling apart. It is only being held together by ever continuing stimulus and monetary easing. Europe is in the same condition. Surely the wise men in Washington D.C. will get us out of this mess without much change to our lives, right, Jonathan? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
@Bron….Zactly!!!
Maybe not end, but it can sure get a lot more F’d up…just look at the direction we are headed…and (enough) people seem to be oblivious to it to assure we get as screwed up as possible before they “maybe” wake up.
Nal, I thought that would be when the Cubbies win the World Series.
When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see money flowing to those, who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.
It is more probable that the world will end than the Bears winning the Super Bowl. 🙂
Go Eagles!
It’s just vanity and exceptionalism.
They can’t come to terms with the thought that the world will continue after their death. Other people – fine. Them – No.
“I think it will end when it ends and there is not much we can do about it…..”
lol (Pretty well sums it up, AY …and “good morning” to you, too.)
It will end, but unless we are hit by a doomsday asteroid or manage to nuke the planet into becoming a giant radioactive glass parking lot, the sun will burn out and go nova in a several billion years. I doubt I will be around to see it, although I have had fantasies ever since I saw “Highlander.”
AN,
Really…. And good morning…..
I think it will end when it ends and there is not much we can do about it…..
“Ten Percent of Earth’s Population Found To Be Morons.” -Jonathan Turley
Only ten percent?