It's The End Of The World Again
Haven't done an end of the world post for a while, and seeing as someone just sent me an email about the apocalyptic movie 2012 (nice special effects), I trawled the web during the lunch-break and found this: 5 Horrifying Apocalyptic Scenarios (That Have Already Happened). Heavenly bodies smashing into the planet, virulent diseases, volcanic explosions, they've all occurred at one time or another. And while we're at it, I also found this on the same site: The 6 Best 2012 Apocalypse Theories.
You know what? The disastrous events and the prophecies are indeed catchy, but more interesting are how people react to them. Try tossing this topic into a discussion and find out for yourselves. My own example: In the 1980's, at the height of the cold war (and the popularity of the movie "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow"), I found myself with some people who were discussing this very topic (I forget the reason why; maybe there was just nothing to do that afternoon). One person was deeply religious and was afraid that the world was going to be flooded again, or destroyed ala Sodom and Gomorrah; he really took The Book of Revelation, The Rapture, as well as Nostradamus' quatrains, to heart. Other people started quoting from the soothsayer and from the Bible to support or disclaim armageddon. Then a more scientific person started talking about the chances of good ol' sol going nova, about asteroids hitting Earth, about epidemics (hey, just like in the post above). The most pessimistic of us believed that man was going to lay waste to himself, if not through nuclear war, then through suicide via pollution (man's actions causing weather patterns to change and kill him had not yet "come of age", so to speak, but I wish I knew of it then, so I could've shared my own world-ending scenario). Speaking for myself, I couldn't contribute much, but I enjoyed the talk because it was all "story" to me; and not just for what was being said, but for what made these people opt as their most likely method of mankind's destruction. I learned a lot about those people that day.
And we're all still here, decades later. I don't know if they remember that talk or not, but I do, and I'm suddenly curious to find out how the years have changed their mindsets. I think the next time we're all together (which isn't often, but happens maybe once or twice a year) I'll throw this topic into the conversation and see if they still react the same way, or if they don't react at all (which is my bet, given how daily living has pretty much consumed us all).
Heh. All this from an email about the 2012 movie.
You know what? The disastrous events and the prophecies are indeed catchy, but more interesting are how people react to them. Try tossing this topic into a discussion and find out for yourselves. My own example: In the 1980's, at the height of the cold war (and the popularity of the movie "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow"), I found myself with some people who were discussing this very topic (I forget the reason why; maybe there was just nothing to do that afternoon). One person was deeply religious and was afraid that the world was going to be flooded again, or destroyed ala Sodom and Gomorrah; he really took The Book of Revelation, The Rapture, as well as Nostradamus' quatrains, to heart. Other people started quoting from the soothsayer and from the Bible to support or disclaim armageddon. Then a more scientific person started talking about the chances of good ol' sol going nova, about asteroids hitting Earth, about epidemics (hey, just like in the post above). The most pessimistic of us believed that man was going to lay waste to himself, if not through nuclear war, then through suicide via pollution (man's actions causing weather patterns to change and kill him had not yet "come of age", so to speak, but I wish I knew of it then, so I could've shared my own world-ending scenario). Speaking for myself, I couldn't contribute much, but I enjoyed the talk because it was all "story" to me; and not just for what was being said, but for what made these people opt as their most likely method of mankind's destruction. I learned a lot about those people that day.
And we're all still here, decades later. I don't know if they remember that talk or not, but I do, and I'm suddenly curious to find out how the years have changed their mindsets. I think the next time we're all together (which isn't often, but happens maybe once or twice a year) I'll throw this topic into the conversation and see if they still react the same way, or if they don't react at all (which is my bet, given how daily living has pretty much consumed us all).
Heh. All this from an email about the 2012 movie.
posted by pgenrestories at 2:40 PM
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