(no subject)
Buffing up on the end of days as you do...two minutes into my research and this bloke tells me: "we hear almost daily from people of all ages...deeply concerned, truly frightened that they will not live into their teen years or into adulthood"
Yes. But people who fear not reaching thirteen before the end of 2012 were probably born this century. Most of them have yet to reach double figures. We call them children and they may also fear ghosts, dinosaurs and not touching a particular set of railings the correct number of times. The scary thing is that in an increasingly illiterate and attention-deficient world there is a significant subset of pre-teens, among them possibly even very young children, who have been raised with the patience and presence of mind required to sit and write a letter addressing their concerns about our planet but a value system so skewed that their concerns are the all-consuming fires of a vengeful god. So far, so normal in a depressingly Bible-belt/Amish kind of way, but then rather than run with their handwritten prayers to whichever Bible-bashing kinsman brought them up so good'n'God-fearin', the adult they feel is best equipped to assuage their fears is a TV evangelist who looks like a photofit for the ageing lovechild of The Demon Headmaster and Andrew Marr. Actually, a combination of youth-orientated hypnotism and reasoned reportage might be both an apt description of the tactics of the popular religious-right and a disturbingly understandable source of succour for a frightened child. Still, I'm barely 90 seconds in and I've already found this much cud to chew. For my own sake I will watch no more. Suffice to say it was never going to change my mind, but on the offchance the world does end in 2012, bags England the Celebratory Apocalympic Games.
Yes. But people who fear not reaching thirteen before the end of 2012 were probably born this century. Most of them have yet to reach double figures. We call them children and they may also fear ghosts, dinosaurs and not touching a particular set of railings the correct number of times. The scary thing is that in an increasingly illiterate and attention-deficient world there is a significant subset of pre-teens, among them possibly even very young children, who have been raised with the patience and presence of mind required to sit and write a letter addressing their concerns about our planet but a value system so skewed that their concerns are the all-consuming fires of a vengeful god. So far, so normal in a depressingly Bible-belt/Amish kind of way, but then rather than run with their handwritten prayers to whichever Bible-bashing kinsman brought them up so good'n'God-fearin', the adult they feel is best equipped to assuage their fears is a TV evangelist who looks like a photofit for the ageing lovechild of The Demon Headmaster and Andrew Marr. Actually, a combination of youth-orientated hypnotism and reasoned reportage might be both an apt description of the tactics of the popular religious-right and a disturbingly understandable source of succour for a frightened child. Still, I'm barely 90 seconds in and I've already found this much cud to chew. For my own sake I will watch no more. Suffice to say it was never going to change my mind, but on the offchance the world does end in 2012, bags England the Celebratory Apocalympic Games.