# How bad is 2012 going to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 27, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291 "2009-01-27T21:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/1 "2009-01-27T21:53:30Z")
Was reading [this](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/27/2012.maya.calendar.theories/index.html) article and hurting myself with the almost constant eye rolling. The thing is…how bad are the crazies and nutcases going to be? I remember hearing that folks were going to come out of the wood work for Y2K, and there was certainly a lot of hysteria concerning the doomsday due to computer error…but I don’t really remember it being all that bad (of course, I was working through that period and on standby in the NOC in case of emergency. Easiest overtime I ever made). Maybe it was worse than I remember. How many people really take this 2012 doomsday thingy seriously? How hyped up are they going to be by 2012? Is all this just going to become super saturated and then die down or is the fever pitch just going to keep on keeping on? -XT ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/2 "2009-01-27T21:58:23Z")
It will be the same as every other doomsday, end of the world, or rapture type prediction: a group of believers will think it’s real and prepare for it, and then nothing will happen and the rest of us will go on with our lives. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/3 "2009-01-27T22:01:30Z")
But how much pain and discomfort are they likely to put all of us through in the mean time? I actually don’t know anyone who takes this seriously…and I know some folks who take some fairly wild shit seriously. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/4 "2009-01-27T22:02:20Z")
I think it will be another Y2K-style nonevent. We’ll probably get some weird cults hanging out on mountaintops, maybe even a cult suicide or two, and some heaping helpings of hellfire and brimstone preaching from the usual suspects. Fred Phelps will prolly be all over it. For most people, it will just be a few more crazies to deal with than normal…and way overhyped by the media. On the plus side, lots of books, videos, and other merchandise will be sold. The next “Doomsday” may actually stimulate the economy a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/5 "2009-01-27T22:03:14Z")
I for one plan to be partying down in some Mayan nation on December 21st. I think it’ll be pretty awesome in Guatemala. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/6 "2009-01-27T22:05:07Z")
I’m going to party like it’s 2011… -XT ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/7 "2009-01-27T22:06:41Z")
If you look at the kind of furore created by some of the more well known ufo ‘flaps’, it would seem that humans are very malleable for this sort of psychological manipulation. How likely do you think it would be for people to react the way they are supposed to have done during the “War Of The Worlds” radio broadcast, again? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/8 "2009-01-27T22:07:25Z")
Most of the people who will flip out about 2012, or are in the process of flipping out about 2012, also wigged out over 2000. There’s a cadre of people, otherwise incredibly diverse, who believe doom is perpetually around the corner. Maybe there won’t be quite as many extreme Christians involved this time because the Maya weren’t Christian, but I’m sure there will be plenty of them. Dirty hippies will probably make up for any reduction in their numbers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/9 "2009-01-27T22:07:43Z")
I doubt it will be as big a deal as Y2K. There was **some** rational reason to be worried about that and the whole world knew it, plus there was the whole calendrical flipping-over-the-odometer factor. 2012 is of interest only to New Agers, various kinds of crackpots, and some of the Christians who think we’re living in the End Times already. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/10 "2009-01-27T22:10:33Z")
Well, someone has to be watching all these special’s on the History Channel (and Discovery and TLC, and…) about this. I realize that sensationalistic programing is the way of the cable networks these days, so maybe that’s the answer. A lot of people like watching this kind of crap (hell, I like watching it…I need a good laugh these days with the way things are), but only a few really take it seriously. That’s my hope anyway. -XT ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/11 "2009-01-27T22:20:38Z")
I think it’ll be nighmarish. All the politicians going after one another the entire frikking year over the presidential campaign, unrelenting stupid news reports about it… Oh, you meant the mayan calendar thing? Nonevent. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/12 "2009-01-27T22:22:25Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I think it will be another Y2K-style nonevent. We’ll probably get some weird cults hanging out on mountaintops, maybe even a cult suicide or two, and some heaping helpings of hellfire and brimstone preaching from the usual suspects. /whinges but they never manage to kill enough of themselves off to make life pleasant … not that I actively wish they were actually dead but DAMN they are annoying as hell when alive…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/13 "2009-01-27T22:35:50Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I think it’ll be nighmarish. All the politicians going after one another the entire frikking year over the presidential campaign, unrelenting stupid news reports about it… > > Oh, you meant the mayan calendar thing? Nonevent. Maybe the two are connected. The mudslinging could reach critical mass, spawning a black hole over the Fox News building, warping reality and causing time to stop ! Dooooooom ! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/14 "2009-01-27T22:41:00Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Maybe the two are connected. The mudslinging could reach critical mass, spawning a black hole over the Fox News building, warping reality and causing time to stop ! Dooooooom ! Hey, if it takes out Fox News that’s a net benefit! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/15 "2009-01-27T22:44:59Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I think it’ll be nighmarish. All the politicians going after one another the entire frikking year over the presidential campaign, unrelenting stupid news reports about it… > > Oh, you meant the mayan calendar thing? Nonevent. My reaction entirely, before and after reading the OP. I do think it’ll be very amusing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/16 "2009-01-27T22:56:41Z")
I think it’s gonna be great. I might finally be able to set aside my conscience and take some of these loons for a profitable ride. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/17 "2009-01-27T23:01:00Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I think it’s gonna be great. I might finally be able to set aside my conscience and take some of these loons for a profitable ride. There should be a nice increase in yard sales in the bible belt! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/18 "2009-01-27T23:05:00Z")
Many of the nutcases now going on about 2012 may by then have latched on to some other date (sourced from some other culture or something) further in the future and may be prognosticating about that instead - nothing takes the fun out of a doomsday prophecy quite like the threat of objectively testing it. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/19 "2009-01-27T23:08:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Many of the nutcases now going on about 2012 may by then have latched on to some other date (sourced from some other culture or something) further in the future and may be prognosticating about that instead - nothing takes the fun out of a doomsday prophecy quite like the threat of objectively testing it. No, they’ll put that off until the first day of 2013 - nothing takes the fun out of a doomsday prophecy like ignoring it as it approaches. They’d miss out on the fun of crying “Doom, DOOM!” and running around like chickens with their heads cut off! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291/20 "2009-01-27T23:23:46Z")
2012 is gonna be rockin’! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-2012-going-to-be/483291.md?page=2)