It's the end of the world as we know it! (Or is it?)

I totally love conspiracy theories.  And doomsday theories.  And, especially, doomsday conspiracy theories.  From the right.  From the left.  Religious or secular.  I just love 'em.

There's something strangely fascinating about the whole worldview.  On the one hand, there's the train wreck aspect, where you sit back and go "I cannot believe someone just said that they actually believe that."  On the other, I cannot help but marvel at people who can only deal with the tragedies, uncertainties, and unknowns of life by constructing grandiose theories.

I mean, yes, 9/11 was the absolute most senselessly tragic thing to happen to this country in my lifetime.  Yes, the idea that an organized group of terrorists can inflict such horror on society armed with nothing more than a little knowledge and some box cutters still boggles the mind.  It is scary to think that so many of the safeguards then in place failed us so miserably and so many died because of it.  It's horrifying.  It's incomprehensible.

But for some folks, the only way to make any sense out of it at all is to claim that the government was behind it all.  And, somehow, this not only makes sense to them, but also makes them feel just a little bit better because they've been able to simply explain something that is large and complex and scary.  The train of thought that can take all these little bits of unrelated info and odd coincidences and string them together into a grandiose untenable theory that cannot be toppled no matter how many holes get poked inside it simply fascinates me.  Over and over.

And scale of tragedy doesn't seem to matter, either.  Whitney Houston was a tragic figure who lived a tragic life filled with bad choices in the public eye.  When she died, it was a great loss of talent, and an even greater loss of potential, in terms of what she could have been, if she had done things differently.  That's reality.

Now, go on YouTube and search for vids about Houston's demise.  In amongst all the tributes, you'll find the theories.  She was killed by the secret powers behind the scenes who apparently needed the sacrifice of an aging pop diva way past her prime to release the energies necessary to properly celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth.  I am not making this up!  You cannot make shit like this up!  Well, except for the fact that, you know, somebody did make it all up, but you know what I mean.  And that is what I find so fascinating.  Oh, and it was all set in motion by Madonna's Super Bowl performance, which was actually a Satanic ritual.

It is somehow more comforting to believe all that, rather than just accept that an 80's pop star drowned in her bathtub?  I'd really hate to see what story some of those folks would concoct to deal with a more personal loss, like the death of a family member.

And, when you go all apocalyptic on top of everything else, you get the religious angle thrown into the mix as another factor that serves to confuse and confound, while at the same time comforting and confirming.  For some people, everything has to be a sign of impending doom because of their faith belief that they're going to eminently be rescued from it all.  This relieves them both of the responsibility to make rational sense of everything, but also the duty to actually try and do anything to improve the situation.  Other than give dire warnings of doom.  Or rant.  Whichever feels better.

So, that brings us to the end of the world.  The whole 2012 thing has really gotten some folks going, since the end of life as we know it is supposed to be one of the great goals of all the conspiracies.  And we're getting people poring over every news story looking for clues and signs.  And we're getting all the predictions of doom.  And it all fits together.  At least in some minds.

Except that no one mentions all the "end of the world" predictions for 2011 that obviously didn't come to pass.  And I'm not just talking about Harold Camping, either.  He's a drop in the bucket.  Take a look.



See what I mean?  And the best part of it all is that so many of these folks have moved right on to 2012, as if nothing had happened.  (Which is, of course, what happened.)  Little to no explanation.  Just on to the next set of theories.  Like I said, the whole mindset is fascinating.  And don't get me started on the Lizard/Reptilian people.  Those are my favorites!  (To bring up the Queen again, she's a reptile, you know!)

For the weekends, I usually go into video, low-content mode.  It's easier to get posts up that way, because the weekend is a very busy time for me, with yard sales and such.  I usually do try, however, to put some kind of commentary up so you get a dash of my dubious humor or a glimpse into my mind or at least know why I picked the clip I did.  This weekend is a theme weekend:  "My Favorite YouTube Doomsday/Conspiracy Wackos."  I've got a couple of gems for you, so I hope you'll tune in.

In them meantime, here's some more reading on the subject.  And a set of fun commentary.  By the way, this guy won't be among my picks for the weekend.  He's too much of an attention whore for my taste.  (But that is a classic rant!)