Baby, it’s all over in 2012

Published on February 28, 2011 by The Editor · No Comments

Alister Blyth says the end is not nigh – he discounts the 2012 myth -some Mayan just felt some time off was due

A baby conceived tonight will be born into the world just in time to see the end of it. How about that for a depressing thought? Bit of a passion killer for the potential parents.

Sorry to offer so little hope for the tot’s future, but in nine months time we’ll be on the verge of the 2012 myth or fact, which the merchants of doom and gloom predict will be the earth’s terminal year.

Eschatology (the study of last things) is big business right now. American radio Bible preacher Harold Camping has been warning for some time that the rapture (when Jesus takes all Christians living and dead to heaven) is scheduled for May 21, 2011. Not that many inside or outside of the churches are taking him seriously.

2011 and 2012 websites clutter the internet. But most eyes seem to be set on 2012. There was even an end-times movie of that name last year. You can also play end-times 2012 computer games.

The websites, film and games took inspiration from the calendar of the ancient Mayan people.

My understanding is that these clever folks in South America, many centuries ago, predicted with astonishing accuracy the movements of stars and planets over the years, looking far beyond the time the genocidal conquistadors ended their status as a regional superpower. For some reason the calendar runs out at a time which corresponds with this year in our calendar.

What did they know that we don’t? One doomsday scenario has it that the calendar runs out in 2012 because the world then runs out of time. The Mayans saw nothing to put in their very detailed calculations beyond 2011, therefore nothing at all happens from 2012 on.

But does the fact the calendar runs out have to be so ominous? Why do people have to come up with this worst-case scenario?

Take hope from the following explanations: The priest/astronomer responsible for drawing up all these calendars got bored and didn’t want to do it anymore. After all, he wasn’t going to be around to see how it all worked out and figured he should take up painting or golf instead.

Maybe he – or she – got a new job. After years of stargazing, you do need a change.

Or had he been promising his wife for years that he would spend more time with the children, and figured that someone else could look at 2012 onwards, while he went on a long family holiday?

Anyone of these scenarios is just as likely to be true as the 2012 myth. So no need for anyone to be put off romance tonight. That baby has a future.

Is the prospect of an immediate global catastrophe a passion killer? Or will there be time for a kiss before the world ends with a bang, if not a whimper? You have four minutes to decide

Alister Blyth is wowdewow editor and being an optimist, is making plans for 2013