There Are Billboards Everywhere
Over the years, humans have seen a lot of doomsday predictions. All of the major religions on Earth make some kind of prediction about the way the world ends, not to mention the thousands of prophets, from Nostradamus to Mother Shipton, who have told us we’re living at the end of days. It’s probably just human nature; a combination of the way people seek out beginnings and endings, a strong desire to be proven absolutely correct, and the generally poor foresight our species is afflicted with. But at the risk of pulling an Andy Rooney, the apocalypse just bugs me.
Let’s start off with a really concrete example. Harold Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster from Colorado, says that the world is going to end on May 21st, 2011. Mr. Camping has provided some highly suspect numerology in order to prove his claim, and somehow managed to get a small but determined following. To be quite honest, I found Mr. Camping’s movement to be little more than an irritation, until I read a story on NPR that talked about how his followers were preparing for the end. The article describes people who have, for all intents and purposes, given up on life. People who have drained their bank accounts, given up on school, work, hobbies, anything that had given them meaning before.
And in the end, that is what I hate most about apocalyptic predictions: they encourage people to give up. The underlying message of most, if not all apocalyptic visions, are that your problems don’t matter, because you’re going to be dead soon. It means that people have given up everything they have, based on what is essentially a deep, abiding faith in the power of death. Out of cash? Can’t make rent? Not doing well in school? Don’t worry, none of that will matter after Jesus comes down from the sky and slays Quetzacoatl with the sword of Mormon Shiva, who will then restart the universe!
So what do I want? Well, there are always going to be some people to whom death and the end of the universe will be comforts. I don’t think we could stop that without changing the fundamental nature of humankind. What I would like to see is this: the formation of some sort of legal contract which binds apocalyptic prophets to those who follow them. I would like to see Harold Camping sign a document stating that, at 12:01 AM, May 22nd, 2011, he assumes responsibility for recovering every shiny dime squandered by those who followed him to the edge of a cliff, hoping to see a golden bridge appear. Because it seems that right now, there are no consequences to shouting apocalypse in a crowded society.
Let’s start off with a really concrete example. Harold Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster from Colorado, says that the world is going to end on May 21st, 2011. Mr. Camping has provided some highly suspect numerology in order to prove his claim, and somehow managed to get a small but determined following. To be quite honest, I found Mr. Camping’s movement to be little more than an irritation, until I read a story on NPR that talked about how his followers were preparing for the end. The article describes people who have, for all intents and purposes, given up on life. People who have drained their bank accounts, given up on school, work, hobbies, anything that had given them meaning before.
And in the end, that is what I hate most about apocalyptic predictions: they encourage people to give up. The underlying message of most, if not all apocalyptic visions, are that your problems don’t matter, because you’re going to be dead soon. It means that people have given up everything they have, based on what is essentially a deep, abiding faith in the power of death. Out of cash? Can’t make rent? Not doing well in school? Don’t worry, none of that will matter after Jesus comes down from the sky and slays Quetzacoatl with the sword of Mormon Shiva, who will then restart the universe!
So what do I want? Well, there are always going to be some people to whom death and the end of the universe will be comforts. I don’t think we could stop that without changing the fundamental nature of humankind. What I would like to see is this: the formation of some sort of legal contract which binds apocalyptic prophets to those who follow them. I would like to see Harold Camping sign a document stating that, at 12:01 AM, May 22nd, 2011, he assumes responsibility for recovering every shiny dime squandered by those who followed him to the edge of a cliff, hoping to see a golden bridge appear. Because it seems that right now, there are no consequences to shouting apocalypse in a crowded society.