Apocalypse Not Quite Yet
I'm really glad the world didn't end because I have plans with Sergeant Heather on Sunday night.
What do all those people who didn't...I dunno...get sucked up into heaven, do or say now?
Vaughn Bell writes on Slate about psychologist Leon Festinger's notions about an earlier group of prophecy adherents and about how nitwitthink works:
Festinger was fascinated by how we deal with information that fails to match up to our beliefs, and suspected that we are strongly motivated to resolve the conflict--a state of mind he called "cognitive dissonance."...What Festinger failed to understand is that prophecies, per se, almost never fail. They are instead component parts of a complex and interwoven belief system which tends to be very resilient to challenge from outsiders. While the rest of us might focus on the accuracy of an isolated claim as a test of a group's legitimacy, those who are part of that group--and already accept its whole theology--may not be troubled by what seems to them like a minor mismatch. A few people might abandon the group, typically the newest or least-committed adherents, but the vast majority experience little cognitive dissonance and so make only minor adjustments to their beliefs. They carry on, often feeling more spiritually enriched as a result.
Oh, but wait -- there we all are:
For those not waiting for the world to end in a storm of fire and light it is easy to write off the believers as deluded, but Festinger was not so wide of the mark when he suggested that we adapt to even the most unlikely of contradictions using nothing more than our methods of everyday rationalization. The faithful could just as easily be those who stubbornly stand by disgraced politicians, failed ideologies, dishonest friends, or cheating spouses, even when reality highlights the clearest of inconsistencies. Armageddon is unlikely to arrive this weekend, but most of us have lived through it many times before.
A terrific book about human cognitive failings -- and a good tool for helping yourself avoid common irrationalities: Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
It's supposed to happen at 6:00 PM EST today. And its the first time I can mow my yard this year.
Could that be the cause? :-p
Jim P. at May 21, 2011 6:25 AM
I'm holding off on the omnipresent mountain of laundry. Also not gonna shave my legs.
Juliana at May 21, 2011 9:25 AM
I haven't heard of any churches canceling services for tomorrow.
Steamer at May 21, 2011 10:07 AM
The best Simpsons take on this subject.
http://en.simpsons-live.net//?episode=19&l=en&season=16
chang at May 21, 2011 10:40 AM
I haven't heard of any churches canceling services for tomorrow.
Well, that's to be expected. Most, if not all, Christian churches explicitly reject this nonsense.
Here's a link where you can see how the end-of-the-worlders reached the conclusion that today is Judgment Day. I wonder if that link will still be up tomorrow.
Rex Little at May 21, 2011 11:21 AM
As I understand it, after the true believers ascend today, "Mr. Camping had prophesied........that the rest of us would be wiped out by October in earthquakes, floods, and war."
So the End is still a ways off.
But what will those religious medical students - and other supposedly smart people mentioned in yesterday's NY Times story - say tomorrow?
lenona at May 21, 2011 11:21 AM
Also not gonna shave my legs.
I'm not going to either. My lady might look at me weird. ;-)
Jim P. at May 21, 2011 11:39 AM
I was curious, so I kept an eye on Twitter last night. #rapturefail started trending as soon as it turned 6 pm in New Zealand. I think everyone should have pretended the rapture was actually happening just to mess with Camping's followers.
...or orchestrated something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LXuNpF6NVg
sofar at May 21, 2011 2:09 PM
Hey, Amy. I thought you might enjoy this article, in Mother Jones. It's the explanation of why we don't believe science, or the obvious facts when laid before us. It seems we have preconceived ideas, that are geared to our emotions. The instant we receive any information that we "know" is not true, we instantly start rationalizing it away.
Birthers are a good example. Obama can produce all the documentation he likes, but the birthers, who have already made up their minds that he is not constitutionally eligible, immediately begin rationalizing.
Anyway, here's the article. Enjoy: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/denial-science-chris-mooney?page=1
Patrick at May 21, 2011 2:35 PM
You know, I kind of wish there really was such a thing. I think those who expect to be going will be in the for shock of their lives when they find out they're not going, not to mention whom they see that are going. It would be a much-needed wake up call to the self-righteous prigs.
Patrick at May 21, 2011 2:49 PM
Anyone still out there?
Eric at May 21, 2011 3:06 PM
East Coast reporting..
The earth quakes are subsiding, Pauly Shore films are the only thing on TV. I don't even want to guess what's next...
Queefer at May 21, 2011 3:23 PM
Birthers are a good example. Obama can produce all the documentation he likes, but the birthers, who have already made up their minds that he is not constitutionally eligible, immediately begin rationalizing.
Really, Patrick? Why don't you rationalize away the observation that the BC image released is composed of several different layers when opened by anyone in Photoshop, indicating that it was incompetently assembled in an image editor? Could Adobe be a birther company for putting out software that would expose such discrepancies?
Joseph at May 21, 2011 3:55 PM
I have suddenly noticed that the Frogstar Fighters are now blue rather than green...
Cousin Dave at May 21, 2011 5:07 PM
Joseph layers are a common artifact of document scanning and also image format conversions. Take a look at some scanned docs in google's image search. If I wanted to create a counterfeit image of a doc, I'd deliberately add layers.
The funny thing is that the birthers may have missed the real conspiracy here, which is that Obama was deliberately withholding the BC with the intent of releasing it at an opportune moment in the upcoming election to embarrass his opponent and distract the press. He could feign exasperation, attribute this to his opponents and then release it to kick off a cycle of sympathetic coverage and implications that his opponents are racists. Because it was strange that he wouldn't just release the doc. McCain's reps were compelled to show reporters his when the left tried to argue that he was ineligible because he'd been born in the Panama Canal zone at a military hospital. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/john_mccains_birthplace.html
Don't forget that the original birthers were Democrats.
nola at May 21, 2011 5:14 PM
Well its 8P EST -- they aren't breaking in on tv about missing people. I guess it didn't happen.
Jim P. at May 21, 2011 5:52 PM
Patrick, it could be we just don't like Obama much and figure any chance to give him grief is a lagniappe. Payback for that Tea Party racist accusation, as it were. Because nobody could possibly care about racking up unaffordable debt for fiscal reasons.
Now, crank up the War Powers act and give him another shot.
MarkD at May 21, 2011 8:28 PM
Has anyone considered the possibility that the rapture did occur last evening, but no one got called up to heaven? So we're all going to the other place, and so no one noticed. Coulda happened.
cpabroker at May 21, 2011 10:57 PM
"lagniappe"
Thanks for the word, MarkD, I had fun looking that up.
whistleDick at May 22, 2011 2:06 AM
Sofar,
That youtube link was hilarious! Thanks!
whistleDick at May 22, 2011 2:09 AM
Well, it's May 22 and that link I mentioned above is still up. I wonder how they're rationalizing the fact that no one was raptured and no graves emptied. I suppose they can come up with something, but if the world is still here on Oct. 22 they're really gonna have some 'splainin' to do.
Rex Little at May 22, 2011 4:20 PM
Well since we are all still here that means were all heathens right? Crap. That means all those years of church and prayer meant nothing.
Oh well. Can someone tell me what kind of wine goes with hellfire? I want to be prepared in October.
Sabrina at May 23, 2011 6:35 AM
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