Mayan doomsday is highly overrated
Calm down. Take a deep breath. Tweet. NASA, the Pope and the Mayans themselves tell us that December 22, 2012’s sunrise will be as spectacular as any other day. Despite converging calamity rumors, we do not need to desperately find a friend for the end of the world or dwell on paranormal wardrobes. WV Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has not taken a position on the mystical prediction, however, he has ensured that the Sandy emergency declaration remains through Dec. 21 for 40 percent of the Mountain State.
Speculation that Dec. 21, 2012 will be “the end” of life as we know it began from a civilization that peaked between 250 A.D. and 900 A.D. Supposedly, the Mayans, a culture advanced for their time, did not configure a calendar running past December 21, 2012.
However, Felipe Gomez, leader of Guatemala’s Mayan descendants, has called a culture ministry-backed Guatemala City getaway a moneymaking scam. The event is expected to draw 90,000 tourists who may not have made round-trip accommodations
Gomez explained that the Mayan calendar has thirteen time cycles made up of 400 years. One of the cycles ends in 2012, but the calendar continues for about 5,200 years. The intentional and government-supported delusion coincides with celebrating a new cycle’s commencement – a period which often brings personal, family, and community changes so “there is harmony and balance between mankind and nature,” Gomez said in an October 2012 interview.
One carpenter in China squandered his life savings during a prior world’s end prophecy. He quit his job to play video games 24/7 then found himself staring at the sun praying that his ex-girlfriend would return and forgive his obsession.
The prevailing false prophecy money train has been decried as disrespectful to Mayan culture, but the preparation for civilization’s end has fostered a hybrid of spreading “doom” speculations that incorporate astronomical oddities and reality’s hope challenged days and years after. NASA.gov has debunked further speculations ranging from rogue planetary collision (Nibiru, Planet X), a comet (Elenin), and solar flares.
Internet spam survivalists have seized the opportunity to flood inboxes with the message, “any disaster could make you go weeks without food” and assorted deviations. Short of your own private survival island on which no one can foreclose upon or vote you off, current events and popular culture expound on nearly infinite scenarios. Doomsday Update contains a click ad for closeout pricing on 225,000 items.
Save your cash, debit and credit lines. Do you really require a survival expert to re-write Red Cross tornado and blizzard precautions? Many states have emergency preparedness links on line. Don’t forget weather.com, accuweather.com, and utility web sites for sanctioned extreme circumstances – too much heat, too much water, too much snow – discussions.
Pop in a few DVDs, such as “On the Beach,” “Fail Safe,” and “Dr. Strangelove” to experience 50s and 60s (and beyond) living with the prospect of nukes exploding, radioactive fallout and does anyone survive. “World, the Flesh and the Devil” explores a post-apocalypse setting where two men and one woman have made it through the cataclysm.
The films “Panic in Year Zero,” “Year 2889,” “Testament” and “WFD” postulate small numbers of humans struggling to rebuild and repopulate the planet. Others, “The Omega Man,” “I Am Legend,” “Land/Dawn of the Dead” and “Zombieland” conjecture the birth of toxic flesh eating zombie mutants challenging normal human beings for world control. Others such as “28 Days /28 Weeks Later,” and “Resident Evil Extinction” hypothesize a plague and the drudgery of day-to-day urban decay living projects in “The Road Warrior,” “Book of Eli,” or “20 Years After.”
Your mandated “share” video marathon should include a few flicks from Hollywood’s big budget disaster era – a period where dysfunctional relationships merged with an “Earthquake,” “Towering Inferno,” or “Poseidon Adventure,” coupled with the alien invasions of “Independence Day” or “Cloverfield.”
Since climate change has inconveniently been forced into our frontal lobes, an awesome intellectual endeavor might be to take a few hours on Dec. 21 to educate yourself and those you love concerning energy (shale, nuclear, wind), economics, national and international political realities, or devote the day to escapism by watching a movie, going to a spa, or your favorite “time out” stress reducer.
Of course, the event may not afford us the convenience of an exact time, date, challenge or coping strategy. J.J. Abrams’ “Revolution” and the 1984 cult original, “Red Dawn,” and its 2012 re-boot propose an instant happening triggering a hurried grab-your-friends, family, pets, and self-determined essentials-for-your-secret-safe-spot exit.
And, do not forget psychological priorities. Those screwed and fit “Hunger Games” winners had to overcome emotional vacuums. Check out “The Divide,” a 2011 indie concerning the tribulations of NYC apartment dwellers who found a subbasement bunker in which to pull together during the weeks thereafter. Or, for a plague alternative, try “The Carriers.”
What has rippled the preoccupation with a collapsing world, which ebbed following the dismantling of the U.S.S.R.? Back in 2006, “We Are Marshall” filmmakers cited the one-two gut busting wake up calls of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.
Despite the best collection of prophetic gurus, many a passionately believing group have sold their possessions be ready for the ending, only to face their new life homeless, broke, and lacking stuff to move forward. The digital computer shivers over the new Millennium illustrates but one doomsday forgotten. And, even, The Bible states that the time and date are unknown to man and woman.
No criticality to propose Top Ten things to do, acquire, visit, or say. Everyone’s priorities are varied and truthfully mostly private. Just in case, you might want to sincerely embrace and verbally state an extra “I Love You” to significant family, friend, lovers and enemies before laying down to sleep on December 20, 2012. Heck, avoid the crowds, hand out Christmas gifts early. No reason to procrastinate this year to the day before Christmas.
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