One of the things I never adjusted to in retirement was sleeping in. I’m not sure if it’s the military in me or just my instinct but I’m up every day at 5am. This isn’t really a problem for me as I usually take my walk and it’s peaceful at this time of day and I enjoy seeing the sunrise. I also prefer an early tee time for golf so I can beat all the slow golfers out of the gate. I also like to read the news in the morning, so I keep up on the daily chaos going on around the globe, which brings me to my topic for the day.
As I read through the different news and social media sites, I always can find at least nine or ten stories which I like to call “panic porn”! If you don’t know what panic porn is, it’s basically every conspiracy in the world tied to the Book of Revelation. It’s quite entertaining to read and watch all these wing nuts spread all these scenarios of our demise but what is more amazing is how many people get wrapped around the axle with this stuff.
Now, this isn’t a new thing, people have been spreading this nonsense for years, but it has really taken off with the birth of the internet. It really is a circus act to watch all these folks twist themselves into a pretzel to proof all their theories, now I know you seen this clown car but let me give you a peek in the sideshow.
In 2000, we had the Y2K issue where all the world’s computers were going to go haywire because they would be able to understand the calendar change, yeah, that didn’t pan out. 2012 was another issue because the Mayan race didn’t create a calendar that went past 2012, I was never quite sure why we were so obsessed with the Mayans, but it was at there every day to chew on. Haley’s comet, Harold Camping, the True Way cult are just a few more of these groups who have predicted the end of the world, all of course were wrong.
Fast forward to present day, we have Alex Jones out there talking about secret cabals, Glenn Beck, Robert Kiyosaki and Peter Schiff all predicting economic collapse of the US economy, this one always baffles me, if the US economy collapse, the whole world economy is going to collapse, not sure if we should be buying into this theory.
The two most popular ones around today are as follows. The nation’s entire power grid is going to go down and we will be without power forever. This one always fascinates me because if this happens, all these doom and gloom folks will not be able to gloat out loud because, well, there’s no power. The one that has really taken over the web is the impending solar eclipse on Apr 8. There are folks all over the internet whipping out their bibles and finding whatever line of scripture fits their narrative and running with it. It’s almost like they use the Book of Revelation as a “how to” guide for mankind’s end. Funny thing, the earth averages 5 eclipses a year, some we see, others are seen elsewhere on the planet, but this one is the end for us all! These people really do make my head hurt!
The funny thing about these conspiracy folks is that with their ranting, there’s usually a sales pitch, buy this radio, buy this emergency food kit, stock up on this special water we have, blah, blah, blah. I often wonder if these folks really understand what there are wishing and hoping for. I understand free speech comes with this side effect, but I just wish folks would give this nonsense a rest, I still have a lot of golf to play and I’m not sure they will let me play through the rapture!