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Saturday, May 07, 2016

Remember When The World Ended in 2011? Me Either...

Hey, remember that time back in 2011 when the world ended?  Wasn't that such a crazy time?  I mean, it started with an earthquake, birds, snakes, and aeroplanes, but Lenny Bruce wasn't afraid?

No, wait...that was an R.E.M. song.

But you remember the end of the world, don't you?  I mean, we had mountains collapsing into the sea, skyscrapers crashing down in the streets, sun spots toasting parts of Europe, and melting glaciers sent Canada and half of the United States underwater.  That was like the worst day ever.  I still have a fear of swimming in ice water because of it.

What's that?  You don't remember any of those things?  Actually, come to think of it, neither do I.

BECAUSE NONE OF THAT HAPPENED AT ALL.

Do you remember what you were doing on May 21, 2011?  Well, I can tell you exactly what I was doing.  I had to work that day until 6pm in the dairy department - which according to what some people were saying was the exact time when the world was set to implode on itself - so, I'm thinking to myself, great...I just turned thirty and I'm going to spend the apocalypse at work.  Just my luck, right?

Only there was no apocalypse.  There was no rapture.  There wasn't even a thunderbolt.  It was just another regular day in the neighbourhood.



I suppose that one could blame Harold Egbert Camping for this mess.  At the time, Camping was an 89-year-old Christian radio talk show host who had been at the Family Radio station since 1958.  It was he who made the prediction that Jesus Christ would return on May 21, 2011 to take those who were pure of heart to heaven via the rapture.  The rest of the damned ones would stay on Earth for the next five months, having to be forced to live in a world of fire and brimstone, with millions of people dying each day until the 21st of October when the world would more than likely explode.

And the sad part about all of this is that people not only believed this to be true, but actually donated their hard earned cash to Camping - and honestly, I have no idea why they would even do that!  Did they think that he had the power to stop the world from dying?  I don't think ANYONE had that power.

I mean, this is coming from a man who had made several predictions about the world ending, and every single one of those predictions backfired on him!  Prior to May 2011, he had predicted that the world was supposed to end on September 6, 1994 - and I'm pretty sure that never happened, as that date was the first day of eighth grade for me - and I know that I made it through that day unscathed!

Well...at least physically, anyway.

You know, to be completely honest - and I'm sure that some may think that I am being too hard on this guy - especially since he died two and a half years ago - but I don't care.  I think what he did was completely outrageous.  I don't particularly care for the use of fear mongering to try and control people into doing things that they would not normally do.  It's one reason why I can't support the current Republican nominee that I will not name in this blog entry as I feel he has gotten far more attention than he deserves anyway.

But back to Camping, I really hated the fact that he played on people's fears to siphon millions of dollars in donations just so he could use them to keep his radio show on the air, or to maintain his lifestyle, or what have you.  It's disgusting, and foul, and it's yet another reason why I don't believe in organized religion.  I believe that a person can be spiritually rewarded in ways that don't require donating to a collection plate, or wiring money to a crackpot who likes to predict the end of days.

It's not as though any of us wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and want the world to die a slow and painful death.  Most of us probably want to look at ways in which we can protect our planet - not sit back and wait until it gets destroyed. 

I think that Harold Camping took advantage of a lot of people with his predictions - which as we all know were a bunch of baloney.  And when the May 21, 2011 prediction was a bust, he amended it to October 21, 2011.  Once again, October came and went and no incidents took place.  Shortly after that, Camping officially "retired" from the prediction business, and claimed that his attempts to predict a doomsday date was "sinful".

Gee...you think?

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