Will The World as We Know It, End in 2012?

I’m a huge fan of conspiracy theories, as people who know me well may attest. Not in the crazy ‘everything in our lives is controlled by others’ kind of way as portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film Conspiracy Theory; but in the excited fascination that ‘what we see surely can’t be all there is to life’ kind of way – the bubbling under the surface of my normal everyday life that is tapped into with films such as Deep Impact, Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow among others (including the aptly named, 2012). The fascination that goes along with contemplating the end of the world, or life, as we know it leads me to ponder such questions as “Would I be one of the people to survive? If so how long would I survive after the event or cataclysm?” given the paucity of services, law enforcement and general order that would ensue (portrayed so stunningly in The Stand by Steven King as an example). If I was to be one of the humans not slated to set up a new world or survive, would I see the end of the world coming? How would I behave? How would society behave and how quickly would it break down? Would the powers that be, governments and the like, inform citizens or keep the truth a secret?

2012 appears set to be a portentous year, if nothing else because of the famous, much-hyped and long-awaited end of the long-count Mayan calendar on 21 December, 2012. Those who can remember the Y2K hype of 2000 can rest assured that the hype will likely be repeated, possibly on a grander scale this time around. Google ‘December 21, 2012’ and you will find a plethora of sites dedicated to communicating information about the end of the world as we know it – including phrases such as “The world as we know it is in for some dramatic and devastating changes” and also sites debunking the ‘myth’.

Of course this is not the first time that the end of the world has been prophesized – many people have predicted the end of the world many times before, most recently the American Harold Camping, who surely if he was the boy who cried wolf would have been devoured many times over http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097462_2097456_2097489,00.html and http://www.ranker.com/list/the-12-greatest-end-of-the-world-prophecy-fails/ivana-wynn. It must be very disappointing to all those who have prophesized and will continue to be into the future that the one time someone gets it right – they and nobody else will be around to appreciate the fact and celebrate their success!