A couple years ago my friend and I were driving home from Big Bear after snowboarding all day and started chatting about random stuff when he brought up 12 21 12 which stands for December 21, 2012. He went on to explain that on that date something catastrophic will occur that will drastically change human history forever. You see, the ancient Mayan civilization had devised a calendar based on solar and lunar observations and it happens to end on 12 21 12. The trippy part is that the Aztecs and Incas calendars also stop on 12 21 12. Furthermore, the famous prophet Nostradamus predicted that something bad is going to occur around this time. Go here to read more about events that lead to 12 21 12. It is easy to brush off these kinds of stories about the end of the world after witnessing the Comet Hale-Bopp mass suicide by believers who thought that a UFO is riding alongside the comet and the Y2K bug scare. But humans are fascinated with the idea that everything is building up to doomsday. Even some religious scriptures predict chaos and destruction for the future. I was very excited to learn about this theory from my friend not because he convinced me but because the evidence is appealing and 12 21 12 will occur in our lifetime. Faith and destiny dominates popular culture and this theory taps into this concept with a vengeance. It is no wonder so many people think the world is going to end when they try to connect events occurring today to predictions of tomorrow during these turbulent times. Events such as an increase in severe weather activity, war in the middle east, tough economic times, looming global warming, increasing disparity between the rich and the poor, fewer religious follower, and political unrest makes the idea that the world is hopeless and dying very convincing. It could all be a bunch of baloney just like conspiracy theories but the cool thing is that we shall find out sooner rather than later.
I came across this video mocking 12 21 12 and wouldn’t you know it was from Fox News, the most fair and balanced network on cable. I found it ironic that they had a blonde lady (no offense to blondes) explaining 12 21 12 while a couple old white dudes sat around chuckling uncontrollably and commenting how ridiculous it sounds. Just to prove the point that stories and theories can garner differing opinions by the way they are presented to the audience, one can see that persuasion relies on illusion. Say I had watched this clip on TV before discussing 12 21 12 with my buddy I might have had a slight bias and ridicule him for believing in such a nightmare. Or say I had visited the 12 21 12 website before our conversation we could of have had a field day blasting the current state of affairs. Instead, by being open minded about the topic from no previous exposure we were able to have a polite chat about the theory. Basically, the light in which stories/theories are casted in has the ability to influence opinions and decisions.
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I actually heard about this too, the end of the world scheduled in the year 2012. This is because the ancient Mayan’s calendar ends on that date and it was said “the world would be engulfed in fire.” Now if the world really ends on that day, that means we should be using everyday to its full advantage. I don’t know about you, but if the world is somehow crippled by a comet or nuclear war, I don’t want to be around to suffer the rest of my life just to survive. So I would be living up life all the way till 2012 and beyond, if anything happens then it happens. Some people, however, have really taken this too seriously. According to this article http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=5301284
Patrick Geryl quit his job and saved up just enough money to last him to December 2012. With or without a global catastrophe, that man will suffer the rest of his life. If something happens, he would suffer, if nothing happens, he would run out of money and still suffer. Many did the same thing during the year 2000 when people feared all the computers will fail due to Y2K. And yet, we are still here today. So my suggestion to everyone is to live life to its fullest and ignore these ancient-old predictions about the future. You have the ability to control your own life; don’t let anyone else tell you differently.
Adding on to what I said before, there's a movie coming out about the end of the word appropriately named "2012."
You can watch the teaser trailer here
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/2012/
It would be in theaters July 10, 2009 (luckily before 2012)
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