Throughout the history of mankind, humans have been falsely predicting the end of the world. And the ATS website is flooded with posts "proving"
that the end of the world is coming in 2012.
Well, I just don't buy it.
Here is a very simple list of previously predicted end-of-the-world dates. It is surely not a complete list, but one I just did a very quick search
for. Of the 200+ listed, NONE of them came true - amazingly enough - because we're still here.
www.bible.ca...
So why should anyone believe that this time, 2012, is going to be the "end" date? "Oh there are so many signs." Well, nothing really different
than the rest of history. Rampant disease, corrupt governments, warfare, changing environment... seems like all these things have happened time and
time again throughout our past. Oh, and that Mayan calendar which is just resetting itself as it has done before.
So the question is... Why are so many people jumping on the 2012 bandwagon?
To answer that... I believe it is because of the easy exchange of information, both true and false, across the internet.
Communication and the spread of information has become much, much easier over the past 5-10 years. YouTube was only created in 2005. Myspace
launched in 2003. Anybody can be an armchair conspiracy theorist and post ideas on a video blog and make it public. From there, it can spread like
wildfire for those willing to believe it. I mean, many people are just suckers for a good end-of-the world prediction - and they want to believe our
miserable existance is coming to a cataclysmic end.
Without internet and video websites, the 2012 end-of-the-world predictions would still exist, but probably not as widespread. It would certainly
spread via books, magazines, conferences and word-of-mouth. But it would not spread as quickly to the general public as it is today.
Ask for proof about 2012 and they will likely link you to web-videos - youtube, metacafe or whatever the current website of choice is. Toss the
speculative theories of Stichin, Icke and others into the mix and the internet blazes like wildfire with 'amazing & unbelievable proof' that the
2012 theories are true. Of course, several of these theories contradict each other, or worse, contradict themselves. And most confuse accepted facts
with speculation and theorical information.
Regardless, the internet allowed this prediction to spread, to grow and to expand. With so much information about it available, it is probably
difficult for a 2012 believer to extract what 'may' be true and what could have easily been falsified.
A difference between this theory and the 200+ others in the link above is this rapid spread of the theory to the public. Apparently, the more people
who have heard about it, the more credible it must be.
I do not post this as an anti-2012 thread - because I respect your right to believe it.
I post to discuss why I the 2012 theory has spread so fast and to so many people (outside the regular conspiracy theory circles). Now, does this
rapid spread lend additional credibility to the theory - or does it harm it?
I firmly believe 2012 will come and go like any other year. There will still be wars, economies will continue to shift, diseases will run rampant,
and government officials will remain corrupt. The US will elect yet another president to pretend like they run the country. New "end" dates will
emerge and the cycles will just repeat themselves.
Just my 2 cents...
M.M.