Four years ago, I wrote the following note in my Facebook notes
page. It was about the prediction that
Harold Camping made about the end of the world. I decided that I would repost this note just for kicks, since
we've survived two more apocalyptic events since then.
As the bottom of this Facebook note will verify, this note was
written on Sunday, May 22, 2011...the day after the so called rapture event
which would see earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves completely destroy the
whole world, and everybody on it.
As you may have guessed, May 21, 2011 was just another ordinary
day. No rapture. No widespread deaths. Though, there was that volcanic eruption
which must have freaked the poor people of Iceland out amidst all the
pandemonium of the rapture.
Prior to this, we were all lead to believe that 2012 would be
the real end of days, and that the only rapture that existed was the 1981
Blondie song.
The whole rapture paranoia kicked off when Harold Camping, the
leader of Family Radio Worldwide was proclaiming that at six o'clock in the
evening on the twenty-first of May in 2011, the apocalypse would begin. He was
dead serious about it too. Billboards were put up, he used his radio show to
broadcast warnings of death and destruction, and even took out advertising
spaces on public transportation to get the word out.
And, it's absolutely amazing how many people were convinced that
he was right this time. It didn't really matter that he had predicted that the
world was SUPPOSED to have ended back in late summer of 1994. This time, people
believed it. They quit their jobs. They left school. They emptied out their
bank accounts, and sold their houses. One man reportedly spent almost $150,000
of his own money to promote the May 21 rapture.
Luckily, I was one who scoffed at the idea of the rapture taking
place in the first place. For one, how can anyone use mathematical formulas to
calculate the exact moment the world would die? Look how well it worked for
Homer Simpson when HE tried to predict the rapture (which he originally
predicted to be on MY birthday, but due to a miscalculation, it was really the
day after...hmmm...now that I think of it, I know exactly what they were
parodying with that episode...LOL).
But, anyway...let's get back on track here. The point is that
while I and many, many millions of people were secretly making fun of the idea
of the rapture happening at all, many others bought into it. In some ways, the
whole idea of this whole farce had me feeling all sorts of emotion. I get angry
when I think about some of the kids who were freaked out about the rapture, not
really maybe understanding what it was, or why they had to be a part of it. I
don't believe in subjecting children to any sort of illegitimate fear, and on
that note, Mr. Camping should be ashamed of himself. He should also be ashamed
of himself for putting fear into so many people to the point that that they
really did believe that the world was ending, and how so many people basically
ended up digging themselves into an even deeper hole both financially and
emotionally. All because a crackpot with a lousy track record to begin with
said to them that the world was going to be no more after May 21.
Shameful.
But, you know...just to look at it on both sides here...did
anyone REALLY believe that we'd have no more life after May 21, 2011? Of course
not. You have to wonder what would possess some people to BELIEVE an almost 90
year old radio host who unsuccessfully predicted the apocalypse at least once
before. But, some of them did.
And, there's a part of me that wonders why some people seem so
quick to believe the worst, no matter how farfetched or irrational the worst
may be.
The so-called rapture said that the world would be destroyed by
a giant earthquake. What does Mr. Camping think, that we've never survived
earthquakes before? We've had two massive sized earthquakes in New Zealand and
Japan this past year, and while they are nowhere near being back to being
rebuilt as of this writing, they haven't let that stop them from trying to
rebuild their lives. That same never give up attitude was essential to the
reconstruction of San Francisco after the earthquakes of 1906 and 1989.
Earthquakes are terrifying things, but nothing that we can't handle. And, sure,
if we did have one on May 21, I'm sure that humans are adaptable and strong
enough to handle the crisis and rebuild. Because that's the way we are. We're
not the weak-minded, scared little lambs that Harold Camping seems to think we
are. We're a lot stronger than that, and frankly if you believed that tripe
about the rapture, you really should give yourself a slap in the face and
realize that we can get through anything...even the end of the world.
Well...unless we propel into the solar core or we turn into
zombies...then we're really screwed.
See you December 21, 2012...when I disprove yet another
apocalyptic theory.
And, wouldn't you know it?
We survived that date too. Guess
we're just not ready to die yet.
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