The End Times are Upon Us!

Uh-oh:

If there had been time, Marie Exley would have liked to start a family. Instead, the 32-year-old Army veteran has less than six months left, which she'll spend spreading a stark warning: Judgment Day is almost here.

Exley is part of a movement of Christians loosely organized by radio broadcasts and websites, independent of churches and convinced by their reading of the Bible that the end of the world will begin May 21, 2011. (source).

I thought that the End Times were coming on December 21, 2012?

Before this, I thought that the End Times were coming at Y2K?[1]

Oh, wait. The End Times were supposed to come even earlier than Y2K: some time between 1500 and 1800,[2] or even earlier[3].

Silly me. Of course, this time the End Timers are correct.

p.s., let's revisit this on May 22, 2011, and we'll have a good chuckle. If I'm wrong, I'll by you a beer.

The vast conspiracy to undermine Christmas

Here's another example of people getting spun-up about some vast conspiracy they've imagined in their own heads and then taking this mixed-up nonsense and projecting it into the world the rest of us inhabit. This kind of dynamic is merely laughable until these kinds of people begin to organize to change laws that impact the rest of us.

This argument from these alarmists illustrates a classic pattern: the majority group boasts of its majority status, then characterizes itself as a minority in need of special treatment because it's being besieged, and concludes with a solution that ignores complexity and multiculturalism in its efforts to make the other groups conform to its view -- and, of course, this is all couched in alarmist, end-of-the-world conflict-centered language.

First, Peter Sprigg, "a senior fellow for policy studies with the Family Research Council, which promotes Christian values," asserts that his view of the universe is, of course, the proper majority view: "it's important to defend the right of people to celebrate the holiday . . . December 25 is a federal holiday the government recognizes as Christmas." Then he asserts that this correct, majority view of the universe is under siege: "In some circles, he said, 'Political correctness is preventing people from even sayings Merry Christmas.'"

Then, Sprigg discounts the views of groups with differing viewpoints in an off-hand way by feigning appreciation for these differing views: "'If we want to be concerned about the fact that we are a multicultural nation, then the solution is to allow everyone the freedom to celebrate what they want rather than stifling the celebration of the majority because it might be offensive to the minority.'"

The solution, according to an ally of Sprigg, is to stifle the celebration of other groups by codifying the desires of the repressed majority in law: "Tea Party activist Merry Hyatt is trying to get support for a ballot initiative that would require that public schools give their students an opportunity to hear Christmas songs."

Of course, these advocates then conclude with the obligatory warfare terminology: "I think we are winning a lot of the battles in the war on Christmas, but I don't think the war is done, and I don't think it ever will be."

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