2012: Year of the online doomsday cult?
Originally published at The Preternatural Post. Please leave any comments there.
The world as we know it is ending, and it isn’t just the Mayan calendar that says so. Figures from religion, pop culture, science and politics are taking this prediction seriously and taking to the internet to convince you that you should, too. Interestingly, not many role players appear to be among the doomsayers thus far nor are there any major doomsday storylines now underway. Then again, it’s only April.
“We’re going to see a lot of doomsday groups grown online,” says Dr. Rosanna Guadagno, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Alabama. “If one of them gets big enough, we’ll see the kind of crazy things some people were doing on New Year’s Eve in 1999.”
Doomsday cults present many theories about what may happen in 2012. Global war may break out, probably ignited by the turmoil in the Middle East. Natural disasters may occur with increasing frequency. An asteroid or solar storms may strike the Earth. The planets will all line up with the center of the galaxy causing the Earth’s magnetic poles to flip. The Messiah will come or perhaps it is the four horsemen of the apocalypse who are riding across the land.
Any of these theories, or prophecies, could provide fodder for RP or fiction. Many have. So have doomsday cults. That doesn’t mean they will come to pass even though the modern entertainment industry, including role players, has shown itself to be quite adept at identifying possibilities. Which is something to keep in mind if you have a popular character that plan on introducing an apocalyptic storyline. After all, we dont’ want to start a panic about an online doomsday cult in the real world…do we?
Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) waits for the end in 2012