Okay Tipsters,
Based on the excellent response to my request for recommendations for
solid research on the Millennium Phenomena, my lecture - a work in
progress - might be something like this:
Thank you for inviting me to explain how psychology addresses the
Millennium Phenomena.
Basically, it's all in your head. The people who are making a big deal
over this don't realize their own folly. Besides, it is unlikely that
Christ was actually born 2000 years ago (see Stephen Jay Gould's recent
"Questioning the Millennium"). This so-called "event" that everyone is
talking about, and seems so important, isn't really being talked about
so much and isn't so important. You just think so because of the little,
culturally bound world you happened to have been born into. Had you been
Hindu, Islamic, Chinese or Hebrew, you wouldn't be worrying about this,
unless you were also an IBM computer geek (Apple/Mac geeks are smarter).
The religious and cultural groups who have longer histories have more
experience with so-called millenniums and can tell you its no big deal.
Far more important is the date of your next exam and that will occur in
this millennium. And, if you don't do well, there may be a profound
shift in your world - just ask your parents.
Your assignment for next week is to read everything from the year 0 to
1959. After that and for the remainder of the semester, we will cover
the most important decade in the history of the world, the sixties.
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Do have I it right?
Paul
Paul Greene, Ph.D.
Psychology Department
Iona College
New Rochelle, NY
