Discourse 30: World: idle?

[Trollax]

Discourse 30: World: Idle?
OR
The end of the word is nigh!

"The end of the word is nigh! The time of dumb is at hand!"
~Nine Buddhas McGee~

Are we so lazy in the pit of our souls that we would prefer that change would eventuate through massive cataclysm? The Shoggoths (fluffy bunnies) would have you believe that we are living in a time of great change, that the planets and stars are about to align in such a way as to force a great change down our throats whether we desire it or not. The righteous shall walk the land, battling the unrighteous, those who hesitate may get lost in the crossfire. We are asked to prepare for signs in the heavens and the dirt, counselled to look to ancient wisdoms and new interpretations; pushed toward both poles of every dichotomy at blinding speed, told by lilting voices and vacuous minds that "balance" lies in being a wishy-washy synthesist with a bad tie (apologies to gary larson).

"I told her I know when I'm going to die because my birth certificate has an expiration date on it."
~Steven Wright~

However, is the reverse not what is happening? that in every age the sayers of doom have failed to produce results of their fabled apocalypse? while this is certainly no reason to assume nothing is coming it does lend us pause to doubt the idea that specific dates and times are of any major significance. Why 2012? Well, because the mayan calendar ends then. However, I must object. Given that we can decipher very little of the mayan pictographic language and that they are no longer around can we not assume that they were a people intelligent enough to realise that nothing is permanent and that they realised they were going to die out one day, thus putting an end-date on their calendar? Did any of the furry-toothed crystal-rutters ever consider that possibility before bypasing sanity for the thing with the red leather dress and 800 tentacles and saying: "they know when the world is going to end!"

Recently, focus has turned away from Y2K prophecies (mainly because not enough people died when the new millenium rolled around, and focussed on the fabled 2012. The year when the mayan calendar (and by some crazy extension of shoggoth logic the world) ends. We've heard about rogue planets, black dwarf stars, comet,s alien space-ships. And the latest craze is galactic superwaves. What's that then? I'll tell you. It's the latest in uncredible theories from the semi-scientific branch of thud (who are on the same side of the tree as christian scientists [should tell you something]). No rubbing posters between bibles, but the result is the same. Apparently, many galaxies (our own included as far as we can tell) may have supermassive black holes at their center. These black holes are supposed to emit periodic bursts of radiation which spread throughout the galaxy.
Now, apparently there has been evidence found (or not, you don't have to trust the sources) of periodic deposits of iridium, a metal most-commonly found in space-dust, in ice cores from the north pole. The theory is, that every 26,000 years earth is hit by a blast of cosmic radiation which has the effect of killing of lots and lots of life...

Now the theory becomes full of holes at this point, because of the weight it appears to place on the strength of these explosions. Apparently the burst is so severe that it irradiates the surface of the planet and only creatures living in caves with lots of supplies will survive. So tell me. if 98% of all life on earth got wiped out 13,000 years ago, how come there is so much damn diversity around? how come there are myths and certain pre-social legends which predate this "cataclysm?" How did plants survive? How did evolution fill in 4 billion years in the blink of the cosmic eye? was the surface of the earth totally covered in animal and plant life at a time when the sumerians hadn't long started farming? Does the credibility of this shit look thinner than a milan runway model to you too?


So what is it that attracts us to the idea of the end of the world? apocalypse and rapture? Doubtless there will come a date when we'll have to say: "well, the human race is fucked." but will it be chiselled in stone, written in blood, or posted by Tyler? Every tale of the end of the world usually involves human ideas about human gods who more than likely have no designs on stopping their dinner show even when they do exist. I for one, doubt highly the idea that anyone has accurately forseen the end of the world. Apocalypse is just another way of avoiding responsibility for what we've managed to do to this planet in the last 300,000 years. Mass extinctions, deforestation, pollution, and genocide (and that's pre 10,000 BC). While it's certain that the human race will eventually cease to be even as something we don't know. I believe Fallout to be more in keeping with the reality than revelations

We live in the age of dumb! A time when the prophets of stupidity stalk the streets with fine suits and bad haircuts, trying to convince people that just because they own a used car lot that you should follow them toi a promised land of eternal samness and ultimately mental suicide, your cortexes ceasing to work because there's nothing further to think on.
Repent Stupids! The end of the word is nigh! the time of Dumb is at hand! The bitchslap of Eris is coming to make your ecstatic fantasies your worst nightmares! There is no escape! You will be illuminised, forced to watch the comedy of errors you call a life crumble to dust before your eyes. There is no saviour, there is no paradise, and there shall be no seventh angel! The dogma of the FNORD eats out of the bowls of the apocalypse; repent your stupidity and embrace the laughter of happiness!

PWNZ

[Horab Fibslager]

stupid is zen.


personally i'm quite alright with the end of the world or the lack thereof.

[sakredchao]

the mayan calendar does not say anything about the end of the world, but the end of a cycle.

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

the mayan calendar does not say anything about the end of the world, but the end of a cycle.

actually the mayan calander says nothing of the end of a cycle... the mayan calander merely has an end.

[Horab Fibslager]

maybe they ran out of paper?

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

maybe they ran out of paper?

who ?!?!?


what are you talking about.

[Horab Fibslager]

maybe they ran out of paper?

who ?!?!?


what are you talking about.

the mayans dumbass. what are you talking about? :P

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

maybe they ran out of paper?

who ?!?!?


what are you talking about.

the mayans dumbass. what are you talking about? :P

why would running out of paper stop them from working on the calander?!?!?


DUMBASS.

[Horab Fibslager]

maybe they ran out of paper?

who ?!?!?


what are you talking about.

the mayans dumbass. what are you talking about? :P

why would running out of paper stop them from working on the calander?!?!?


DUMBASS.

i dunno bout where you come from, btu where i come from, calendars are printed on paper. dumbass.        

[sakredchao]

to say the mayan calendar has an "end" is like saying that a wheel has an end or the tarot has an end..  (is that redundant?)

wheels in wheels in wheels in wheels in wheels

kim, reading ezekiel

[Horab Fibslager]

my piece of string has an end.

[sakredchao]

my piece of string has an end.

afraid not

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

maybe they ran out of paper?

who ?!?!?


what are you talking about.

the mayans dumbass. what are you talking about? :P

why would running out of paper stop them from working on the calander?!?!?


DUMBASS.

i dunno bout where you come from, btu where i come from, calendars are printed on paper. dumbass.        

yes I agree that this maybe indeed the case in you time and culture... but we are not talking about your time and culture... dumbass.

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

to say the mayan calendar has an "end" is like saying that a wheel has an end or the tarot has an end..  (is that redundant?)

wheels in wheels in wheels in wheels in wheels

kim, reading ezekiel

actualy it is not like that. but good effort.

[Lister]

I know nothing about the Mayans or their calendar, but might it not be possible that one day they just said "Haven't we got enough already?" and went off to play soccer with the head of a spanish conquistadore...?