There are a lot of crazy people out there. An Ipsos Global Public Affairs survey conducted for the Reuters news agency finds that one in 7 (14%) of the global population believes that the world will end in their lifetime. About 10% associate this with the so-called Mayan calendar prophecy that supposedly signals the end of the world on December 21, 2012, totally ruining the Christmas holidays.
About 10% had fear or anxiety about this happening, which means that about 5% are pretty cool with the idea of being eyewitnesses to the Armageddon.
Of the 21 countries surveyed, Turkey and the US led the pack with 22% while the French are the most grounded in reality with only 6% thinking this way. The high numbers for the US did not surprise me. I actually expected it to be closer to the crazification factor of 27% that has been established as the benchmark for the acceptance levels of crazy ideas in the US.
The full survey report can be seen here.
Heh, I think it’s not a coincidence that we share top honors with Turkey once again, the only reasonable developed nation that tops us in Creationism. Perhaps it is easier to imagine the world ending when one thinks it has only been around for a few thousand years…
Unless it gets sucked into a black hole or gets pulverised by an enormous rogue planetoid the Earth will be around for a long time yet. What may well not be around is the human race. The end of humans and the end of the planet are not the same thing; just google ‘extinct species’…..
But then, no-one has ever demonstrated that the human race is the ultimate product of evolution intended by doG anyway. Why would doG end the whole enormous show on account of humans? Makes no sense.
I wonder what portion of that 14% are just solipsists. When they die, the world does end — for them.
I am glad I’m not in any of the groups that believe that the world is going to end this year. But the survey report is interesting enough to make people give this a thought and wish to know more about it.
Cheers, Rema.
Maybe Christians need to be reminded that their Jesus predicted that the world would end within the lifetime of the people that he was addressing. Many of his teachings only make sense in the light of the imminent fulfilment of end-time prophesies. It would appear that Jesus was no better informed than Harold Camping.
Forget Xmas it will ruin Festivus. What are we going to do if we can’t perform feats of strength or air our grievances.
“totally ruining the Christmas holidays.”
Naw. Three whole days less of that damn music everywhere you go will be a titanic relief!
Does that “1 in 7” include atheists? Myself, I worry that religious nutbags might start nuclear war, or they will continue preaching for more kids and more natural resources to be wasted.
My concern isn’t an “apocalypse”, it’s religious nutbags destroying the environment and life on Earth in the process. They want an apocalypse, so they’re trying to make one happen. I don’t want one.
To be fair, the end of the world would be a pretty cool thing to watch. Being there for such a pivotal moment in history it’d be something to tell the grandkids about…