APOCALYPSE NOT NOW AND NOT SOON

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when the end of the world doesn’t happen on December 21, 2012, I will laugh and point at the True Believers (idiots/morons) who profess this asinine notion.

Honestly, I can’t imagine running around all day, day after day, actually believing that the world is going to end in my lifetime or my granddaughter’s lifetime or any time in the foreseeable and not foreseeable future.

A new survey found that fully 15 percent of the world’s population believes the world will end in their lifetime and 10 percent actually believe the Mayan calendar designates 2012 as the ending date.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Is that unkind? Should I be more understanding and compassionate? Hell, I’m a liberal, I’m not a racist or a bigot, I’m not a bully or a sexist but….but…but I know from my life experience that you can’t fix stupid! You can educate the ignorant, you can teach the hungry to fish, you can provide shelter and protection to the poor, the infirm and the needy, but you can’t fix stupid!

“Whether they think (the world) will come to an end through the hands of God, or a natural disaster or a political event, whatever the reason, one in seven thinks the end of the world is coming,” explained Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs that conducted the survey for Reuters.

"Perhaps it is because of the media attention coming from one interpretation of the Mayan prophecy that states the world 'ends' in our calendar year 2012," Gottfried added.

I would certainly not challenge the veracity of the international poll. Researchers questioned 16,262 people in 20 countries. A viable statistical sample is usually about 1500. According to Reuters responses “varied widely with only six percent of French residents believing in an impending Armageddon in their lifetime, compared to 22 percent in Turkey and the United States and slightly less in South Africa  and Argentina.

“But only seven percent in Belgium and eight percent in Great Britain feared an end to the world during their lives…the greatest numbers were in Russia and Poland, the fewest in Great Britain.”

People under 35 with less education and a lower household income were more likely to “believe in an apocalypse during their lifetime or in 2012, or have anxiety over the prospect.”

Well, whatever, I will still laugh and point and dance a little see-the-world-didn’t-end-you-morons jig when 2013 rolls around. And if I happen to drop dead before then, watch for a laughing specter doing an I-told-you-so boogie.