Dan nabi Muhammad yang diriwayatkan sebagai dukun jorok lagi menjijikkan serta
pembual ulung junjungan orang Islam yang dungu-dungu kayak babi itu bilang
empat belas abad yang lalu bahwa gerhana matahari itu pertanda dunia akan
kiamat...
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Apocalypse believers' big finish predictions vary
By Aaron Sagers , Special to CNN
December 25, 2012 -- Updated 1340 GMT (2140 HKT)
CNN.com
An ancient Mayan calendar claims that Burgarach, France (pictured), is the only
place on Earth that will be saved from the apocalypse on December 21.
An ancient Mayan calendar claims that Burgarach, France (pictured), is the only
place on Earth that will be saved from the apocalypse on December 21.
(CNN) -- When the Mayan "Long Count" calendar ends on Friday, December 21, some
people predict it could mark the end of the world as we know it. But despite
the attention that December 21 is garnering, many apocalyptic believers don't
actually give much thought to the hype surrounding the Mayan calendar.
Some doomsday believers pinpointed 2012 as a pretty good year for disastrous
solar flares, giant asteroids or global pole shifts that could likewise signal
the apocalypse. Other theories that may or may not happen this year involve the
Rapture, the catastrophic collapse of civilization or even a zombie uprising.
There is diversity among apocalyptic "prepper" groups, and to paint them all
with a broad stroke of the crazy brush is to ignore the nuances in what these
various groups believe.
John Hall, author of "Apocalypse: From Antiquity to the Empire of Modernity,"
said groups organized around 2012 end-of-world predictions -- driven by
pseudoscientific or numerological predictions -- are "more fanciful" than some
other doomsday believers. That's because they look toward dramatic external
events, as opposed to others that approach theories with a "fair amount of
scientific basis," such as the disappearance of natural resources.
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Although Hall and his colleagues have spent years trying to define or connect
them, the groups can be as hard to explain as their disparate beliefs.
"It's not like a pie of apocalyptic stories that can be divided up so much as
it is a story where people coming from many different places can ... express
the urgency of the crisis they foresee," Hall said.
For instance, Hall said the survivalists -- both those of the fundamentalist
religious persuasion and the nonreligious -- are looking to opt out of
post-apocalyptic strife.
That analysis applies to Dan Martin, a survivalist living off the grid and
author of "Apocalypse: How to Survive a Global Crisis," a book that teaches
skills for living a self-sufficient life after what he perceives to be an
oncoming collapse of civilization and governments. He said his readers are
"normal middle-class" soccer moms and teachers who read about world events and
"connect the dots."
"Most of my readers aren't die-hard, end-of-the-world subscribers or
enthusiasts," he said. "They don't want things to change, but aren't ignorant
to the fact that they most likely will within our own lifetime, so preparing
for such a strong possibility isn't desperation or ignorance or naivety, it's
just another insurance policy."
Insofar as civilization's collapse is something we're bringing upon ourselves
with a little help from world powers, Martin and his readers might relate to
radical environmentalists or peak oil environmentalists, who subscribe to the
theory that there is a date when petroleum production will max out and decline
rapidly.
Debunking doomsday: 6 rumors dispelled
Hall sees a connection between the survivalists and religious rapturists who
"look at themselves as missing out on the agonies of the apocalypse because
they're going someplace else."
Jerry Jenkins, co-author of the "Left Behind" book series about the Rapture
within the Christian Bible's end-of-days Book of Revelation, doesn't completely
agree with Hall's assessment.
He said the media has incorrectly portrayed his readers as triumphalists who
boast "We're going, you're not, too bad for you." The whole point of the "Left
Behind" books, Jenkins said, was to encourage people to read the Revelation
prophecies because religious rapturists want all people to have a better life
in heaven.
"[We're not] saying 'good' people go and 'bad' people are left behind," said
Jenkins, who believes the key to being raptured (or taken into heaven before
the Apocalypse happens on Earth) is to receive Jesus Christ. But Jenkins added
that even those "looking forward to being rescued" are still dedicated to
improving life for everyone on terra firma before they go.
Interestingly, Jenkins said Christ himself said he didn't even know the day or
hour of the Rapture, so the ilk of Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping
who attempt to predict its timing are "crazies" engaged in folly that "make us
all look like idiots."
Camping claimed he was able to use the Bible to calculate the exact date of the
Rapture (most recently it was supposed to be May 23, 2011, and before that in
1994).
Those who point to science instead of Biblical lore to predict the end of the
world are another apocalyptic subculture, according to Hall. These groups are
comprised of theoretical physicists and futurologists -- such as Michio Kaku --
whom Hall calls "optimistic utopian prophets."
These people believe in the Technological Singularity theory: The possibility
that technologically augmented intelligence will change human life as we know
it or possibly wipe it out completely. There's even a think tank of sorts
formed around this logic.
The Singularity Institute is comprised of scientists, philosophers and
philanthropists from places such as the Research Triangle and Silicon Valley,
and universities such as Harvard and Stanford, said Michael Anissimov, media
director at The Singularity Institute.
Their goal? Constructing a smarter-than-human intelligence that has the values
of humanity. Instead of avoiding the growth of artificial intelligence, the
Singularity Institute is trying to manage the risk.
If peak oil theorists believe we're rapidly running out of a major resource,
the institute postulates that technology itself is advancing so rapidly that
society will have an overabundance of it -- and an artificial intelligence is
set to emerge that will not necessarily pursue mankind's best interests.
"We do think it's possible, if not probable, that it could actually lead to
either the marginalization or end of humanity," said Anissimov.
Doomsday dining: Your last meal
Whereas religious and scientific apocalyptic subcultures converge and diverge
on various points, there is one end-of-world scenario that manages to reflect
all their anxieties: the zombie apocalypse.
The zombocalypse of popular culture has become something of a Rorschach test of
apocalyptic fears. Depending on the point of view, zombies may result from an
act of God, the irresponsible use of science, an environmental disaster, a
cosmic event and so forth.
Scott Kenemore, author of "The Zen of Zombie" and a member of the advisory
board of the Zombie Research Society, said the zombie apocalypse can represent
a validation of sorts for people awaiting their particular extinction event.
Hall agreed that the pop-culture connection of zombies to apocalyptic groups is
"a shared motif of a dystopian world emerging." He added that zombies are a
stand-in for "The Other," an alien group, process or force that is "almost
always" the basis for apocalyptic developments.
Zombies can be a substitute for a corrupt government, an oil-based economy,
foreigners or even a Sodom and Gomorrah society itself.
"[H]ow you deal with the threat is an open question," he said.
Whatever route to the end (or new beginning), Hall thinks the very diversity of
subcultures underscores the fact that we have reached an apocalyptic apex.
"In this moment, people are seeing the old ways of life recede," he said.
"That's the occasion when all kinds of different people from all kinds of
different directions come forward with one or another apocalyptic scenario."
Do you have a prediction for how the world will end? Share it in the comments
section below.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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