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Sunday 22 June 2008

Never did trust them crystal skulls


My mom told me that the world is going to end in 2012. Something about crystal skulls (Mom, have you been watching Indiana Jones? No, but it is based on truth, there is this book... because we know movies are just made up, but if it is in a book, well, must be true!).



Apparently some people believe the world will actually end, while others claim a spiritual event of great significance shall occur. I got no further clarification from my mom on what this event will entail. She tells me that the ancient Aztecs/Incas/Mayans (my mom is a bit sketchy on the details) made or found these crystal skulls, which somehow or other will facilitate this event in 2012. How she did not tell me. My mom never seems to care about logistics, she just looks forward to the big day.



Well, seeing as the end of the world is quite a "big day", I feel I should mark it down for future reference. Only, I don't have a calendar or a year planner for 2012. Gee, I can't even plan my life one hour in advance, never mind 4 years in advance! So to avoid this momentous time biting me on the bum I am recording it here, on this blog.Of course, in 2012 I will not remember that I wrote this post, and so will not read it, and will be asleep while the skulls take over the world. But don't say I didn't warn you, whoever you are (who am I kidding, not even my gran would read the drivel I write).



I hope that I will remember, so I can stand at my window, singing "it's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine". I have been waiting for an opportune moment to do this ever since Y2K. I learned all the words, and there are many, and they make no sense, and then, nothing happened! I read this book where this guy had a theory that after Y2K Gorbachev would take over the world and become the "world Tzar"...but that is another story.

2 comments:

Boz said...

I wrote an article way back in 1998 called "The Nonqase Effect". In this article I suggested that Y2K doomsayers were a lot like the Xhosa maiden of the late 19th century who predicted that the Xhosa nation would rise triumphant if they destroyed all their cattle and burned their houses. Sure enough, these immensely sophisticated software consultants proceeded to slaughter all their assets (currently working software) and burn all their houses (currently adequate hardware), in the expectation that something magical would happen on a certain date, and make it all worthwhile. Didn't happen!

On the subject of the end of the world - here's my favourite headline from that time:
"World ends! Poor hardest hit!"

po said...

Boz, I recently read the novel "The Heart of Redness" by Zakes Mda, which is a beautifully written fictional account of the the Xhosa prophetess.

It was amazing the faith some people put in her statements, and amazing how much faith we put in the failure of our technology!

Right now our prophets are the people who create technology, and we believe them. I find it interesting that people are not buying the global warming scenario as easily. People do not seem to trust scientists much at all!

People seem more prepared to believe the world will end from crystal skulls than from our own selfishness.