Well people, it’s officially 2012, and I’d like to start things off by letting you know that contrary to popular belief, the world isn’t going to end this year.
I know, this may come as a shock to some, especially those who have been preparing for Doomsday ever since religious sects, wing nuts, The - now inappropriately named - History Channel (what garbage you have become these past few years) and even Hollywood (through the film masterpiece and aptly named “2012”) began filling our heads with their apocalypse propaganda some two or three years ago.
Some of you may be planning to spend the next several months repenting, building bomb shelters and preparing for the end of days, but please, take a minute to allow a rational thought to pass through your fear-laden mind.
Theories about the end of the world have been around as long as there have been crazies to spout them, but the most recent string of swing-and-a-miss Armageddon predictions began in 1999, when the world was predicted to end - or at least we were promised wide-spread panic and pandemonium - when the clock struck 12 a.m. on January 1st, 2000, due to some bonehead(s) screwing up date coding on all the world’s computer systems.
Midnight came, and - surprise, surprise - chaos, anarchy and self-destructing appliances did not.
Y2K believers then pushed the big day forward to 2001, because apparently modern calendars were off by a year in relation to the birth of Christ, but again nothing happened.
Next up to bat was the belief that in May 2003, a rogue planet known as Planet X (or Nibiru) was going to collide with Earth, thus ending existence as we know it, which again did not happen.
Does anyone remember the Rapture which was supposed to take place last year? How did that work out?
Every time these prophecies fail to come true, those who propagate their inevitability quietly push back the deadline and start anew at making people believe the next one will stick.
So what makes 2012 so special? Well apparently, it’s because of the fact that the Ancient Mayan people’s Long Count Calendar ended on December 21st of this year.
