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Concering the rapture brouhaha...
May. 19th, 2011 07:50 am(Heh, I got to use, "Brouhaha" in a sentence. Go, Me!)
When it comes to the recent rash of billboards and large vehicles advertising the latest attempt at making an apocalypse happen through sheer force of will...my thoughts are kind of complicated. I'm sure at it's core it's primarily a rip-off scheme--scare people into giving up their goods because "They won't need them if they're saved! Saved, I tellya!" Then when the day comes and goes, the leaders can skedaddle with the loot. I used to see this sort of thing in action in Montana, where the town I lived in was ringed with various scary, gun-toting Armageddon-embracing cults. A date would be chosen, people would max out their credit cards and buy trucks, guns and beans...and the leader would mysteriously disappear with all the money, leaving their confused followers to pay off all the debt...
So mostly I feel terribly sorry for the people being financially and emotionally abused by the people running the show. It's massively irresponsible. It could easily lead to people getting hurt if some wingnut goes berserk about this business. It also raises a little bit of personal ire--I get so tired of the self-righteous telling everyone that they're bad--so bad, so very bad that they're going to suffer and die and these people are going to get to watch and gloat. And right now there's enough of that anger and arrogance and xenophobia that an end-of-days scenario is going to get a lot of takers--not least because it's easier than having to think all the way through your problems...
But there's a bright side to this sorry business. I've been laughing myself sick over various plans for post-Rapture looting, parties, etcetera. Many of my friends wish fervently that the mean-spirited people who embrace this Rapture *do* get picked up, so they can leave the rest of us alone for a while. Laughter is a powerful thing...and this Saturday, I intend to have a good laugh, probably bake cupcakes, and hope that the IRS is ready to catch the sinning miscreants that kicked off this crazy thing in the first place...
So there you are...
When it comes to the recent rash of billboards and large vehicles advertising the latest attempt at making an apocalypse happen through sheer force of will...my thoughts are kind of complicated. I'm sure at it's core it's primarily a rip-off scheme--scare people into giving up their goods because "They won't need them if they're saved! Saved, I tellya!" Then when the day comes and goes, the leaders can skedaddle with the loot. I used to see this sort of thing in action in Montana, where the town I lived in was ringed with various scary, gun-toting Armageddon-embracing cults. A date would be chosen, people would max out their credit cards and buy trucks, guns and beans...and the leader would mysteriously disappear with all the money, leaving their confused followers to pay off all the debt...
So mostly I feel terribly sorry for the people being financially and emotionally abused by the people running the show. It's massively irresponsible. It could easily lead to people getting hurt if some wingnut goes berserk about this business. It also raises a little bit of personal ire--I get so tired of the self-righteous telling everyone that they're bad--so bad, so very bad that they're going to suffer and die and these people are going to get to watch and gloat. And right now there's enough of that anger and arrogance and xenophobia that an end-of-days scenario is going to get a lot of takers--not least because it's easier than having to think all the way through your problems...
But there's a bright side to this sorry business. I've been laughing myself sick over various plans for post-Rapture looting, parties, etcetera. Many of my friends wish fervently that the mean-spirited people who embrace this Rapture *do* get picked up, so they can leave the rest of us alone for a while. Laughter is a powerful thing...and this Saturday, I intend to have a good laugh, probably bake cupcakes, and hope that the IRS is ready to catch the sinning miscreants that kicked off this crazy thing in the first place...
So there you are...
