(Not) the end of the world

Anyone who has watched more than 30 seconds of television in the past year, especially the so-called “History” channel, will know that the end of the world is fast approaching.

In fact, we apparently won’t even be able to make it to the end of this year. This is all thanks to the popular notion that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world to fall on Dec. 21, 2012.

Actually, it didn’t. People have just consistently misunderstood how the Mayan calendar works.

Without explaining the intricacies of the Mayan calendar, such as what a “b’ak’tun” is, the “end” of their calendar is a little like the “end” of our own.

Unless the Y2K virus threatens to unravel society, we usually don’t freak out every time New Year’s Eve rolls around, and neither would the Maya.

If they were still around, the Maya would probably mark the occasion by getting seriously hammered and just generally make bad decisions.

Like many human civilizations, the Maya took every opportunity to party hard. But all of this brings about the question of why people are so obsessed with the  end of days.

Why, when awesome stuff such as “Doctor Who” and fried chicken exist in the world, is everyone so obsessed with the end of it all? Why can’t we just be happy without preparing bomb shelters and buying enough Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to sink a small air-craft carrier?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I know it needs to stop.

Just look at the track record of all the apocalyptic predictions that never happened.

Most of us remember at least some of the hype around Y2K, and of course the doomsday radio personality Harold Camping and his craziness are still pretty fresh in our collective mind.

And there have been plenty more predictions in the past that obviously never came to fruition. In fact, the Jehovah’s Witnesses alone have had more than 10 apocalyptic predictions under their belt.

Anyway, there is literally zero evidence that something will happen on or around that fateful day of Dec. 21. There isn’t an asteroid rocketing toward Earth, a nearby star isn’t going to go supernova and there probably won’t be some sort of zombie apocalypse (sorry “Walking Dead” fans).

Even if the Maya did predict the end of the world, which they didn’t, who cares?

There have literally been countless predictions between Dec. 21 and the creation of their calendar. What makes the Maya special? They never progressed past using  stone tools.

We’ve been to the moon. We know what we’re talking about.

So don’t worry about the world ending later this year. In fact, you should probably do what I do and flat-out deny the fact that you’re ever going to die. It makes day-to-day life much easier.

­— kevsjack@indiana.edu