As our perception of news media continues to revise itself, we’re also changing how we look at the perceived drastic changes in the world itself. But just as the year 2012 has become a pop culture icon for skeptics as much as a spiritual icon for most believers, it would have to see quite a bit of disaster right away to be even close to meeting the records of 2011. So if a major disaster does not take place on December 21st, 2012 are we going to remember 2011 as the year the world came close to ending?
Looking back on the last ten years there have been several single events worldwide that have gone down in history as major disasters. But if we look at the first half of 2011, and add up all of the disasters in recent history they break even the seemingly unbreakable records of 2010. And 2010 was by no means a quiet year – only to be shattered in recent months by what appears to be a sort of quickening of world events. Is this the metaphorical Pandora’s box slowly unhinging its obsidian jaw or are we simply staring into the same void of unknown that the human race has always faced?
For one thing, 2011 saw the end of 2012 in at least one way (as strange as it may sound). The latest theory about 2012 suggests that we may not actually see the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, but it could be anywhere from this year to a year a century in the future. An associate professor at Santa Barbara said it could be anywhere from 60 days to several decades off. But with all the world’s energy focusing on December 21st and 22nd of 2012, some have suggested this date holds its own significance now even if the Mayan Prophecy indeed does turn out to be false.
But regardless of whether or not it is even related to the 2012 prophecy, there does seem to be some independent evidence suggesting we are heading toward a major change in the near future. But there is also hope. People who have been distressed about the 2012 issue, even some who have let the topic become an obsession for them, would be heartened to learn that most people who talk about the subject are not necessarily in agreement with the pop culture perception that 2012 will bring about the end of the world, the end of the human race, or even an end to everything we know about civilization.
One of the interesting things about this particular doomsday prophecy is how close it will be following Y2K. People are certainly thinking about the apocalypse more these days. Hollywood has been a major contributor to our perception of 2012 with its film of the same name from director Michael Bay. And so as a result all of our focus may be on 2012 while completely ignoring the disasters of 2011. If change is truly coming in 2012, perhaps it will see a sudden drop in disasters rather than an increase.