Now that we are T-minus twenty days until the end of the world (get excited!), there are a million shows on TV about prepping for the supposed big day. Some are about what we know will happen (solar flares), others are about various predictions made about the end of the world. History Channel had a mini-series last month about the various types of predictions that have been made throughout history. Each hour focused on a different person or group of people and their end of days predictions; the Mayans, Nostradamus, the Hopi and the Book of Revelation. The Mayan prediction is very well known and what many people think of when they hear our supposed expiration date of December 21, 2012. The other predictions I'd heard before but the special shed more light on some of them. The Hopi believe we're nearing the end of the "fourth world" and that the beginning of the end will be signaled by a blue star. What that star is, or if it's even actually a star, is not written. It may have already happened or it may be forthcoming. Nostradamus (whose predictions I'm very familiar with) believed the world would end with a great shaking, which could be an earthquake or could be a number of other things. The Book of Revelation is essentially the crazies guide to the end of the world but it also makes some good points. According to Revelation, the end of the world will consist of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It begins with the arrival of the Anti-Christ (white horse), followed by war (red horse), famine (black horse) and finally the fourth horse which is pale and brings with it death. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? So we have earthquakes, nuclear war, bio-terrorism, meteors, comets (more deadly than meteors, apparently), solar flares, volcanoes, tsunamis, and Jesus all in the running for the title of world ender. Any one of those things would be terrible and some of them seem like plots out of bad sci-fi movies but according to these science dudes, all are actually plausible and very possible. If you saw 'Contagion' (btw, don't see that if you're a germaphobe. I'm not one but that movie turned me into one for about a month), then you know how easy it would be to spread a disease that takes us all out in record time. If you're a space nerd then you know we wouldn't be able to see a comet in time to do anything to stop it from destroying us, and you know that even a small solar flare could devastate our technology for years (flares have hit in South Africa and Canada in the past and they've still yet to fully recover). No matter what the predictions, most refer to this event as 'the end of the world as we know it', which can mean many things. Maybe we all die at once, maybe we're just plunged back into the caveman days with no technology.
I'm a bit of a junkie when it comes to shows about the end of the world. I don't know why it fascinates me so much, it's not exactly the happiest topic to read up on, but I'll watch pretty much anything on the History Channel that talks about it. All of these shows have something in common besides the apocalypse - they all show people preparing for the end of the world. They call themselves "preppers", and no two are planning for the same disaster. Some strike me as buckets full of crazy, others as religious nuts but some just seem like regular people. At least until you see the shelter they've built in their basement and the stash of guns they have in their closet. They all have these backpacks they call "bug out bags", which they say they can grab and go should it all come down tomorrow. They have weapons and medical supplies and enough food for a varying number of days, the assumption being that they'll be to a safe destination in a few days or a few weeks. Some have built shelters underground in the wilderness or the desert (and none of them will disclose the location, less all of us unprepared folk try to find them) with air chambers and enough food and water for months. Some are teaching their kids how to shoot guns (and we're talking kids as young as 9 in some cases) and kill and gut animals and live off the land. Others are growing gardens in their backyards so they will have access to food. Most say that they will not help their neighbors or anyone else who isn't a member of their household when the end comes. These people have spent thousands of dollars on being prepared. What they're preparing for, none of them is exactly sure. But most have a single doomsday scenario in mind; a volcano or a nuclear war or a super bug. They all seem obsessive about preparing for their chosen disaster, to the point where their kids are outcasts at school because of how their parents are choosing to prep. But I can't help but wonder how some are missing common sense errors in their planning. So you have a garden in the backyard and can grow all your own food and raise fish and chickens. What happens if you have to go underground because something happens to make the air toxic? Dead. You have a car all gassed up and a map of where you and your family will drive to as soon as it's time to leave. What if you can't get in that car or can't get to your destination at all? Your backpacks aren't going to keep you alive very long if that's the case. You built yourself the best little bomb shelter known to man in the desert in Vegas and it'll comfortably accommodate you, your son and your wife. That's great but even if you survive and are able to come up above ground in a few months (or years), you won't be able to repopulate the earth by yourselves and there's no guarantee anyone else who survived will be near your location. There's even less of a chance that you'll have any mode of transportation available to take you to any other survivors. God forbid (literally, in this case) that you prepped for the wrong disaster and you die anyway without even having a chance to "bug out". Making it through the end of days is great and all but there will be some major cons to the one pro of survival.
The one thing I was struck by in these specials was what one of the experts said about fear. He talked about how even if the majority of people on earth are spared from an initial event, it wouldn't be long before things spiraled out of control because no one is rational when they're living in fear. When people don't know what's happening next, and especially when they don't know where their next meal is coming from, their actions are all guided by fear and fear is not rational. People will do awful things to others in order to ensure their own survival. There are a couple episodes of "The Twilight Zone" that are actually as relevant today as they were when they originally aired in the early 60's. The first is called, "The Shelter" and begins with a group of suburbanites having a dinner party thrown for their friend, a doctor. A few jokes are made about the doctor having spent many late nights building a fallout shelter in his basement, this being a time when nuclear war was thought to be imminent. The son of the shelter-building doc hears an announcement on the radio about unidentified objects being headed for the U.S. and panic ensues in the neighborhood. The doctor hustles his wife and son into the shelter and is preparing to close the door when his ill-prepared neighbors and party guests come back begging to be let into the tiny shelter. He only has provisions for his own family, so the doc offers up his basement for his friends but refuses them entry into the shelter. Things get ugly when everyone starts trying to barter their way into safety, throwing each other under the bus and throwing out reasons why they are the best candidate to live while the others face certain death. The angry neighbors end up literally knocking down the door of the shelter as the radio broadcasts that the objects were nothing more than satellites and there is no danger or reason to take shelter. One crisis was averted but another is just beginning as these people are now forced to reevaluate their relationships and their behavior. The second relevant episode is one of my favorites and is called, "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street". It is also set in suburbia and begins with an object passing over the neighborhood, followed by a flash of light and then a massive loss of all power. Soon, everyone begins panicking about what the object was and why they lost power, a panic made even worse when a neighborhood boy tells of his comic books having had a similar incident that took place before an alien invasion, and how the aliens were disguised as humans. Stranger things begin to happen; lights go on and off in one house, another neighbors' car starts up by itself, and it becomes a full-on witch-hunt as they try to figure out just who among them is the alien. Things reach a fever pitch when more houses have lights go on and off, lawnmowers start by themselves and every other device seems to go crazy without reason. As the panic continues, the camera pans up to a hill overlooking the neighborhood where there are, in fact, aliens taking in the entire scene. They have been manipulating the power as part of an experiment to find out what the easiest way to conquer Earth would be. They conclude that all they need to do is let Earth's inhabitants destroy themselves. And the reason everyone flies off the handle? Fear.
There are many more episodes of "The Twilight Zone" that deal with end of the world themes but those two are the most relevant to what's going on today. People assume that humanity will take care of itself if anything terrible were to happen, but there really is no reason to believe that. Yes, there have been stories of people helping each other and sacrificing for total strangers in the event of an emergency. And no doubt there will be people who sacrifice themselves for others in the event of the biggest catastrophe of all. But the vast majority of people will be out for themselves and their families and will try to survive by any means necessary. Of course, all this is assuming that there really is some sort of major even later this month. I'm no expert, nor a prepper but my gut tells me that all of this is probably much ado about nothing. Will the world end at some point? Of course it will, it's inevitable. Everything that has a beginning has an ending. But I don't know that our time is up just yet. According to Revelation, the Anti-Christ has to first coax the world (yes, the entire world) into accepting a universal government and universal religion. It is only after that happens and he or she has complete power that they will be able to reveal themselves as the Anti-Christ, prompting the other three Horsemen to come on down and do their thing. We're not there yet and we won't get there in the next twenty-one days, so there's some good news I guess. Solar flares are supposed to happen and may affect things but just how bad the effects remains to be seen. I wouldn't be surprised if we are actually living our our final act right now but I don't think we're days or weeks away from the world being over. Then again, a comet could enter our atmosphere tomorrow and hit the bullseye on the 21st. And it is kinda scary that that is actually possible. But what good is it to live in fear and waste what may be your last days worrying about survival? If it is the end of days then no one, no matter how prepared, will be left out of the carnage. The preppers will continue to prep and the rest of us will continue to on about our lives, rarely thinking about the end of the world. Ignorance is bliss, they say. But consider this: I've already paid off all my bills for the year AND almost finished my Christmas shopping, both things that I typically do not get done until like December 24th at 11:00PM, if that. So it may really be the end after all, kids.
