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United States1719 Posts
I wasn't sure whether it was better to create a new OP on this, or resurrect an old thread about the 2012 dooms day. Both sounded like a bad option, so I opted to write a blog instead.
http://www.2012hoax.org/
There is real concern that children, who have not yet had a chance to develop their critical thinking minds, may be falling victim to (what I believe is) an unfounded rumor. There are people who use these kinds of opportunities - the advent of the Large Hadron Collider and the May 21st dooms day prediction, which claimed innocent, young teenagers victim, are some recent examples - to make a quick buck/gain fame. I couldn't care less about adults who choose to end their lives for related reasons, but children are naive and rumors like this can traumatize them, or push them to inflict harm on themselves. After doing a bit of research myself, I'm convinced that, regardless of what actually happens on December 21st, this has been blown way out of proportion with no evidence whatsoever, with the primary motive behind the inflation being materialistic gain.
Things like this get me really upset, because we should ALWAYS be protecting our next generation, yet these so-called "experts" on the matter are showing blatant disregard for the potentially devastating effects that this rumor mill will have on the younger generation. Regardless of what your belief is on the matter, I think there should be some effort to raise awareness among young adults like us of what is at stake. Parents don't really get to keep up with these internet rumors due to the age/technology barrier, and when there is a critical mass of peers advocating this unfounded rumor, kids will cave regardless of what their parents say. I think this is a really, really serious issue and wanted to see TL's take on it. Am I overreacting? Thoughts?
PS: I don't work for that website, and I am not a parent. I happen to have a younger sister whom I would kill for, and I would hate to see her become scared or depressed because of these rumors.
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Instead of trying to stop these hoaxes I would rather parents and the education system prevent these reactions in the first place by teaching and reinforcing critical thinking at a younger age. I didn't go much into the website, but the quotes remind me of a child asking why the sky is blue. The lazy parent replies "because that is the way it is."
I think the problem could easily be solved with a calendar from any arbitrary year in the past. "This is a calendar from 2005! Did the world end on the last day of this calendar? Then why should it arbitrarily end on the last day of any other calendar?" I think a child could understand that.
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you're overreacting. two cases don't mean anything, especially since there probably were hundreds of thousands of kids who saw/knew the same and didn't kill themselves.. bet these two girls had some other issues, be it depression or plain idiocy.
when it comes to protecting kids, it's their parents responsibility, noone elses. this "we should always protect our next generation" is populistic bullshit. if your kid kills himself because of an internet rumor, it's not society's fault, it means that you failed as a parent.
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When compared to the solar year, the Julian calendar had an error rate of 1 day every 128 years. The modern Gregorian calendar is substantially more accurate, with an error rate of 1 day every 3,300 years.7 In contrast, the Mayan calendar, which did not use any system of leap days, had an error rate of 1 day every 4 years when compared to the solar year.
If I am to believe this without doing any research on my own... LOL. If the Mayan calendar was made at 0 A.D.(I think it was sometime BC, but that doesn't matter) the calendar would lose 503 days from inaccuracy. Doesn't this mean the world should have already ended?
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Although this is bad that some kids kill themselves, odds are these kids were unusually stupid/naive. Killing yourself to avoid a doomsday which would actually kill you instantly and painlessly has no logic whatsoever. Besides, there are plently of crazies out there of all ages who perform negative actions from random scraps of news. (Manson and the Beetles, anyone?)
I think people learning about this outweighs the risk of some kid killing himself for no rational reason. People have the right to learn about stuff.
Also, why do you feel that the advertising of doomsday stuff is profit motivated? I don't see how scaring the crap out of people by hyping apocalypse earns you money.
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United States1719 Posts
On November 01 2011 08:15 AnachronisticAnarchy wrote:
Although this is bad that some kids kill themselves, odds are these kids were unusually stupid/naive. Killing yourself to avoid a doomsday which would actually kill you instantly and painlessly has no logic whatsoever. Besides, there are plently of crazies out there of all ages who perform negative actions from random scraps of news. (Manson and the Beetles, anyone?)
I think people learning about this outweighs the risk of some kid killing himself for no rational reason. People have the right to learn about stuff.
Also, why do you feel that the advertising of doomsday stuff is profit motivated? I don't see how scaring the crap out of people by hyping apocalypse earns you money.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/may-21st-2011-doomsday-profiting-/story?id=13612172
http://2012supplies.com/d/
http://www.survival-goods.com/2012_Survival_Kit_Essentials_s/218.htm
These are some examples of what I was talking about, but I do admit I was a little strong on my wording. What would have been a better way to put it would be: I want these people who blubber about dooms day 2012 without any evidence to think about the side effects that the mere act of saying such things could cause.
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Give the public some credit. Besides, I consider myself educated and personally I'm hyped for December 21st, whatever may happen
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Damn, I wish I was one of those journalists and writers that made millions of dollars out of creating this hoax. Sometimes I forget just how naive most people are :S.
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EPT
