... And I feel fine.
Right. Surely you all know the story by now. It's 2012; everyone knows. It's not 1999 any more, when everyone was too scared of Y2K to pay attention to the next major doomsday prediction in line. A million goddamn sources say the world/universe/multiverse/omniverse/who-even-fucking-knows will just explode in a mess of doomy dooms of doom on the winter solstice this year.
What will definitely happen: on December 21st, 2012, I don't even remember how many cosmic events of vanity-related interest will coincide. This will align with that, that will align with this, this and that cycle will start over, etc. People have been able to look at the stars and pre-calculate when this would happen for much farther back than their modern descendants seem to realize.
However, prior to the modern age in which humans understand the world in which we live, (Some humans, at least; scientists. Your average Joe likely won't care, and your average Chris will hiss like one of those demons he hates if he so much as gets near a beaker.) reality was perceived as whimsical on the grandest of scales. Such an event back then wasn't "huh, interesting." It was something massive, and such a massive cosmic coincidence happens so rarely that it happened last long, long before human civilization was standing on its first legs. So it was something massive, and something that they had yet to see.
Now, this will happen on the winter solstice. Winter is, and throughout human civiliation was, cold. In many places people could barely manage to farm in winter. People dropped like flies in winter back then. They starved, they froze to death, they caught some "magical" illness that thrives in the cold, or whatever. Winter has been associated with very bad times since before people could figure out the yearly calendar and predict when such a hellish existence would be upon them. Monuments of truly massive scale were built back in antiquity only to the end of allowing glorified rituals to be acted out to beg the gods to take mercy upon people during the winter.
So, you have some massive cosmic event ... that happens to fall on the first day of winter. The first day of what everyone in those times agrees is hell to endure. The connection is implicit and instant, in their minds. They have very little idea how the universe works, save for a few things like "winter is cold," and completely wrong theories like "those tiny little dots in the sky are gods! That man in the church said so himself! Would he lie to me!?" They saw this event falling on the winter solstice as a very ominous sign, and decided, "this date, long after we're all dead, will be the winter to end all winters."
Will the world end? I for one seriously doubt it, barring yet another coincidence by complete accident in the random cruelty of the universe. (And if anyone survives they'll insist correlation equals causation.) Irregardless, the latest and greatest end of the world prediction: discuss it. Preach about how some exty-years-dead civilization somehow got it right, laugh and human stupidity, whatever.
I do know that I'll be playing end of the world-related songs from December 19th to Christmas, that's for sure. And I'm glad it falls near Christmas, 'cause this will be a treat for me, and it's rare that I get any gifts on Christmas proper. I've been looking forward to this like the modern spoiled brat of a kid looks forward to Christmas. I just wanna walk around and see what peoople do when they're expecting the end of the world to happen any moment.
Right. Surely you all know the story by now. It's 2012; everyone knows. It's not 1999 any more, when everyone was too scared of Y2K to pay attention to the next major doomsday prediction in line. A million goddamn sources say the world/universe/multiverse/omniverse/who-even-fucking-knows will just explode in a mess of doomy dooms of doom on the winter solstice this year.
What will definitely happen: on December 21st, 2012, I don't even remember how many cosmic events of vanity-related interest will coincide. This will align with that, that will align with this, this and that cycle will start over, etc. People have been able to look at the stars and pre-calculate when this would happen for much farther back than their modern descendants seem to realize.
However, prior to the modern age in which humans understand the world in which we live, (Some humans, at least; scientists. Your average Joe likely won't care, and your average Chris will hiss like one of those demons he hates if he so much as gets near a beaker.) reality was perceived as whimsical on the grandest of scales. Such an event back then wasn't "huh, interesting." It was something massive, and such a massive cosmic coincidence happens so rarely that it happened last long, long before human civilization was standing on its first legs. So it was something massive, and something that they had yet to see.
Now, this will happen on the winter solstice. Winter is, and throughout human civiliation was, cold. In many places people could barely manage to farm in winter. People dropped like flies in winter back then. They starved, they froze to death, they caught some "magical" illness that thrives in the cold, or whatever. Winter has been associated with very bad times since before people could figure out the yearly calendar and predict when such a hellish existence would be upon them. Monuments of truly massive scale were built back in antiquity only to the end of allowing glorified rituals to be acted out to beg the gods to take mercy upon people during the winter.
So, you have some massive cosmic event ... that happens to fall on the first day of winter. The first day of what everyone in those times agrees is hell to endure. The connection is implicit and instant, in their minds. They have very little idea how the universe works, save for a few things like "winter is cold," and completely wrong theories like "those tiny little dots in the sky are gods! That man in the church said so himself! Would he lie to me!?" They saw this event falling on the winter solstice as a very ominous sign, and decided, "this date, long after we're all dead, will be the winter to end all winters."
Will the world end? I for one seriously doubt it, barring yet another coincidence by complete accident in the random cruelty of the universe. (And if anyone survives they'll insist correlation equals causation.) Irregardless, the latest and greatest end of the world prediction: discuss it. Preach about how some exty-years-dead civilization somehow got it right, laugh and human stupidity, whatever.
I do know that I'll be playing end of the world-related songs from December 19th to Christmas, that's for sure. And I'm glad it falls near Christmas, 'cause this will be a treat for me, and it's rare that I get any gifts on Christmas proper. I've been looking forward to this like the modern spoiled brat of a kid looks forward to Christmas. I just wanna walk around and see what peoople do when they're expecting the end of the world to happen any moment.