Survival And Prosperity

Project Prepper: Mayan Apocalypse Detour?

The past couple of days, I’ve been watching quite a bit of “doomsday”-related TV on the National Geographic Channel and on H2.

Even though I don’t buy into the whole December 21, 2012, end-of-the-world thing, it was still depressing to watch. And this is coming from someone who (I think) is rather good-spirited in nature.

I have to be in order to blog about a lot of the material I do.

At one point in this “doomsday” TV show viewing marathon, I started questioning myself and wondered if perhaps I should go on a buying spree for supplies before the Mayan 13th b’ak’tun runs out.

It wasn’t an apocalyptic event I was worried about as much as the action(s) of some nut-job(s) making life for the rest of us more “difficult.”

But that’s a danger we face on a daily basis, so after weighing the evidence at hand regarding a Mayan Apocalypse occurring on December 21, I decided against taking a detour from Project Prepper by doing some “panic buying.”

Still, a lot of people are worried about this date. Remember that Reuters/Ipsos “end times” poll I blogged about back in May? One of the findings was that 12 percent of Americans surveyed agreed with the statement “the Mayan calendar, which some says ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world.”

“12 percent.” As percentage of the U.S. population in 2011, that’s approximately 37.4 million Americans who might agree with that statement about the world ending in a couple of weeks.

Well, that probably helps explain some of the shortages I’ve been seeing with prepper/survivalist-related gear and supplies.

“Preparing For Mayan Doomsday”
ABC San Diego Video

The fear of this date extends beyond our borders. Remember my post about Pic de Bugarach, a mountain in southern France, back in March, and how some believe aliens waiting in a spacecraft inside the mountain will save all nearby humans from the Apocalypse on December 21? Well, The Sun (UK) reported the following on November 16:

A FRENCH village has banned a Doomsday cult from heading to a “mystical mountain” that followers believe will save them from extinction…

Bugarach mayor Jean-Pierre Delord said his village of just 200 people had now become “overrun with esoteric weirdos” hoping to survive in six weeks time.

He said: “The mountainside is swarming with hippies, many of them naked, who drop litter and make a mess…

Regional prefect Eric Freysselinard has now issued an order barring anyone from climbing the mountain, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, on “Doomsday”.

He said: “It will be closed off for three days before and two days after the world is supposed to end.”

“Sorry about my litter. Save the Earth.”

Even the Russians are concerned. Ellen Barry wrote on The New York Times website this past weekend:

There are scattered reports of unusual behavior from across Russia’s nine time zones.

Inmates in a women’s prison near the Chinese border are said to have experienced a “collective mass psychosis” so intense that their wardens summoned a priest to calm them. In a factory town east of Moscow, panicked citizens stripped shelves of matches, kerosene, sugar and candles. A huge Mayan-style archway is being built — out of ice — on Karl Marx Street in Chelyabinsk in the south.

Despite such incidents, I still haven’t seen any definitive evidence pointing to the end of the world on December 21. In fact, as a result of all that TV, I’m now aware of other Mayan calendars suggesting life will go on after this date.

As such, there’ll be no mad rush for Apocalypse supplies on my end.

See you at the December 22 post-doomsday fire sales?

Sources:

“Officials ban doomsday followers from French village.” The Sun. 16 Nov. 2012. (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4648192/bugarach-bans-doomsday-followers-from-village.html). 4 Dec. 2012.

Barry, Ellen. “In Panicky Russia, It’s Official: End of World Is Not Near.” The New York Times. 1 Dec. 2012. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/world/europe/mayan-end-of-world-stirs-panic-in-russia-and-elsewhere.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0). 4 Dec. 2012.

Tags: 13th b'ak'tun, aliens, Bugarach, Chelyabinsk, December 21 2012, Eric Freysselinard, France, Jean-Pierre Delord, Mayan calendar, Mayan Long Count calendar, Mayan prophecy, Mayans, Pic de Bugarach, preppers, Russia, survivalists

Doomsday Sunday

While watching Doomsday Preppers on National Geographic Channel the other day, the following commercial ran:

Two night event
National Geographic Channel
The Real Doomsday
Starts Sunday 8 PM

Interesting. From their TV schedule webpage for Sunday night, starting at 8 PM ET:

Omens of the Apocalypse: The End is Near

The year 2011 gets off to a disturbing start. On New Year’s Eve, blackbirds die in Beebe, Arkansas by the thousands. Nearby, fish and more birds perish. Then a wave of unsettling animal deaths seems to sweep the globe. Are the deaths connected?

2012: Countdown to Armageddon: The End is Near

Are we three years from the end of the world? It’s the premise of this fall’s feature film “2012,” starring John Cusack. Based on the end of a cycle of an actual ancient Maya calendar that will end on December 21, 2012, NGC asks, “What truths lie behind the fears?”

And on Monday evening, beginning at 8 PM ET:

Doomsday: Book of Revelation: The End Is Near

The most controversial book of the Bible: prophecy or ancient history? The answer lies in the book’s cryptic words. Are they a code waiting to be cracked? To some Christians, Revelation describes a doomsday scenario known as ‘the end times,’ and they believe it’s unfolding right before our very eyes. Most scholars argue that Revelation is a product of its time with a powerful message. Two thousand years after its appearance, the battle over what it means continues to rage.

The Mayan Apocalypse 2012

The countdown to the predicted Mayan apocalypse began several thousand years ago, and time is running out. In this one-hour special, historian and filmmaker Paul Murton travels to America to explore how the phenomenon now better known as 2012 has swept across the Internet, with hundreds of websites featuring frightening predictions.

Enjoy the shows, for what they’re worth.

Tags: 13th b'ak'tun, 2012 movie, 2012: Countdown to Armageddon: The End is Near, animal deaths, Arkansas, Beebe, Bible, Book of Revelation, Christianity, December 21 2012, Doomsday: Book of Revelation: The End Is Near, John Cusack, Mayan calendar, Mayan Long County calendar, Mayan prophecy, Omens of the Apocalypse: The End is Near, Paul Murton, The Mayan Apocalypse 2012

Poll: 2 In 10 American Adults Believe End Of World Coming In Their Lifetime

Do you believe the world will end during your lifetime?

Findings from a recent poll show you wouldn’t be alone. From a press release on the Ipsos website last Tuesday:

One in seven (14%) global citizens agree ‘the world will come to an end during my lifetime,’ according to a new poll by global research company Ipsos on behalf of Reuters News. One in ten (10%) believe ‘the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world’ and another one in ten (8%) admit they ‘have been experiencing anxiety or fear because the world is going to end in 2012.’ The poll was conducted among 16,262 adults in 21 countries.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

The belief that the world will end soon appears to be more accepted among American adults. The Ipsos poll showed that 22 percent of adult respondents in the United States agreed with the statement “the world will come to an end during my lifetime.”

Personally, I would have found the survey even more interesting if Ipsos had asked not just about “the end of the world” but “the end of the world as we know it,” or TEOTWAWKI.

Yes, there is a difference.

You can read the entire press release on the Ipsos website here.

Tags: 2012, December 21 2012, Ipsos, Mayan calendar, Mayan prophecy, Mayans