The End of the World

There’s something very selfish about doomsday prophecies.

It’s the year 2012 and a lot of people are predicting the end of the world. In fact, it’s the biggest year for doomsday scenarios since 2000. I’m sure there will be other doomsdays as well. So why are people so quick to predict the end of the world? I think that this comes from a narcissistic view of death.

First off, the world’s got to end someday, even if it’s five billion years from now. People preaching the end of the world always seem to have the subtext of “Then God created me, and there was nothing left to do but end this whole experiment called the universe”. Then, when it comes to your personal death, there’s another issue. Obviously there’s fear of the unknown, though faith in the afterlife abates that fear somewhat. But it doesn’t abate the fear of missing out. People don’t like to think that the world’s going to go on without them, so they’d rather believe that everyone’s going to die and go immediately to heaven/hell. That way, they don’t have to miss out, and they don’t have to accept that the world will be just fine when they’re gone.