Reflecting Upon All The Doomsday Reports Since the 50's

[Michigan Badger]

I just checked out a more recent "documentary" that basically says the end is very near. The "end" being the elderly and others starving to death due to loss of Social Security benefits, etc., etc.

I grew up in the early days of the so-called "Cold War." In the late 40's to about the late 50's many U.S. kids didn't sleep very well because we were all told repeatedly that the great evil Russia would soon nuke us. I recall waking horrified from a dream of standing under a sky filled with Russian bombers and one crashing right on me! lol One self exalted prophet of doom said Russia would take over the U.S. by 1976. Many thousands believed him and he received a lot money from them until it was obvious he was mistaken.

One of the more novel doomsday propaganda deals was when a group of scientists in the late 50's determined the center of the earth was growing so hot the earth would burn up within a short time. This one was rather short lived and was so stupid it's difficult to even document it today.

Failure of our Social Security programs has always been a top threat. I recall discussing this in the 60's. The opinion amongst scholars was that the entire system would fail long before we "Baby Boomers" ever reached retirement age. "You will starve to death" but most of us are on diets.

Mega inflation is always a big worry with many. The dollar will be worthless and only precious metals will matter. Oh really? Ever try to eat gold?

Getting back to the "Cold War" era, remember how everyone wanted a fallout shelter? The idea was to survive a nuclear attack. People built these and filled them with food that was supposed to keep them from starving along with everyone else in their neighborhood who didn't hoard. I guess they were thinking people would just politely starve to death while they sat in the fallout shelters wolfing down the chow.

Doomsday probably will come some day but for millions (billions) of people worldwide it's an every day event in their minds. Oh, happy thought indeed!

Oh well, at least the people spreading these things are making lots of money.

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[jeff of pa]

good post. I remember in the early 60's going to school, and one of my
female Classmates crying because she heard somewhere the world would end that day.

Yes the world ended for some yesterday & will end for some today.
there will me a tornado this year that may end the lives of many at one time.
but for the majority life will go on.
I don't see any country going so far backwards we look like sci-fi movie although at times it is fun to joke about it.
just like if England had a devastating turn, the U.S. would & the world would find a way to prevent their complete failure,
the same would happen if the u.s. collapsed.

Yes being a Rock floating (Hurtling) through space we are subject to many unknowns, but what was the last planet
you know of to be struck by something that changed it's environment ? and when ?
and how many planets beyond our 9 (yes I'm calling Pluto a planet) are out there ?
on odds alone everyone on this planet has better odds of hitting the lottery then
getting hit by destruction from space, and the odds are probably even bigger against an advanced country
on this planet going backwards and starving.

As for war, yes there are still those who wish to control the world, and have everyone live by their rules.
but nuclear destruction of the planet to do it ? is anyone that uneducated ?

I personally prefer to
wake up and see what happens,
rather then worry about something happening that the odds are against.

[Frankn]

Being 74, I remember all of the above. But those who would take over the world are getting smarter. They realise it must be a gradual process. The UN is a good example where the little countries can get together and tell a big country what restrictions will apply to them. They are in the process of making rules to restrict guns and register them. Gun owners know what this means. Jest a step to banning them. Hillery, a gun hater, is working with them. The enemy within?

[Chadeaux]

MB . . . you made me think of that commercial on TV this morning about how the Chinese are going to take over THIS YEAR. That would have to mean they aren't already running things . . .

Then there's Nostradamus . . .

The Mayan Calendar . . . (could they have just decided "that's longer than any of us or our grandkids are gonna live" and just stopped?)

Then again, if they Mayan Calendar never stopped, that would mean there were still Mayans, and the Colonials would be very unhappy just like they are every time that pretty little Lakota girl advertises the loans on TV.

[Michigan Badger]

Excellent posts and thought provoking.

Many things have changed for the better but some things will never change.

We'll continue to advance, problems will be solved, and life will gradually get better and better for most people in the world. Fifty years from now THers will be bragging about their finds and some will be predicting the end of the hobby

But what will never change is there will always be those who can't find work, grumble about everything, live off others, and demand that the world give them everything free. We had these in the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc., and we'll always have them.

For those who want a bright future it's there for the taking.

[truckinbutch]

Prudence and preparedness ................

>Serves no purpose to cower in a bunker every day awaiting 'THE END'. Live your life prepared to deal with adversity . Don't let the prospect of adversity dominate your life .
Hoka Hay !

[rockhound]

Fear is the one thing those in power use to control people. Always has been and always will be. When people are afraid they do not think rationally, and are eager to do whatever they are told will help their situation. Believe little of what you hear and only a fraction more of what you see. Calm, cautious and deliberate wins the battle over fear. Good Luck. rockhound

[Michigan Badger]

Again, great posts.

Once someone asked what the number one reason is for why so many people never succeed.

I spelled it out in LARGE print..........FEAR

The vast majority live all their lives in impending doom mode. This is a recipe for failure.

I never made much progress in life until I suddenly realized that other people are really mirrors of our souls. That is, we see what we really are in others. Losers are always trying to change mirrors. Winners humbly work hard to improve the reflected image.

[spartacus53]

Well, I don't know about the rest you, but I still have my old desk from grammar school.

So I'm safe

[Frankn]

FEAR creates different reactions in different people. Yes some submit and follow, but there are some that when confronted by fear, like the dog, will growl and if pushed attack the generator of fear. I like to think I fall in the latter group.

[Immy]

Around 1983-84 or so there was a planetary alignment that was supposed to end life as we know it. I remember many kids in my high school class discussing it and using it as an excuse to avoid homework. There was almost as much disappointment as relief when it didn't happen.

Then there's Y2K, perhaps the most widely promoted EOWS (End of the World scenario) in my lifetime, before the all the Mayan hoopla. One so-called expert on the topic made a career out of radio and TV show appearances, then haplessly retreated into seclusion. I recall him asking for mercy during one of his last interviews.

I really wonder what the weeks and days leading up to 12/21/12 will be like. Will the EOWS believers start outweighing those who think it's hogwash? And if so, how disruptive will it be?

[Michigan Badger]

12/21/12is supposed to be the date when George Bush senior's "New World Order" comes out of the closet.

Personally I don't believer in any of these major future event prophet things. There may be educated guesses that purely by chance end up being right, but on the whole there's nothing to it.

[Frankn]

Look at it this way. If the world doesn't end 12/21/12 there is nothing to worry about, and if it does end 12/21/12, there is no one left to worry.