# Will the world end on May 21, 2011? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485 "2011-05-11T05:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/121 "2011-05-16T19:08:56Z")
If it does end, I won’t have to grad research papers or finals… Or even go haul crap to the hazardous waste disposal round-up. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/122 "2011-05-21T14:57:58Z")
Anybody take attendance today? ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/123 "2011-05-21T15:35:39Z")
I think its on. At midnight I heard my neighborer screaming “Oh God, I’m coming”. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/124 "2011-05-21T15:44:21Z")
Isn’t the end of the world supposed to occur in May 2012? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/125 "2011-05-21T15:55:03Z")
I don’t think **graceful1** was asking a legitimate question-I think she was here to spread the word and move on. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/126 "2011-05-21T15:58:10Z")
You gotta feel sorry for the ones who sold all their stuff and quit their jobs cause they were so sure the world would end today. Now they’re sitting in cramped apartments and wondering how you search for a job without a computer, thinking, “Very funny, God! I guess the joke’s on me!” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/127 "2011-05-21T16:02:36Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > You gotta feel sorry for the ones who sold all their stuff and quit their jobs cause they were so sure the world would end today. Now they’re sitting in cramped apartments and wondering how you search for a job without a computer, thinking, “Very funny, God! I guess the joke’s on me!” Is anybody watching Camping to make sure he doesn’t do a disappearing act at the appointed time? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/128 "2011-05-21T16:15:39Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > You gotta feel sorry for the ones who sold all their stuff and quit their jobs cause they were so sure the world would end today. Now they’re sitting in cramped apartments and wondering how you search for a job without a computer, thinking, “Very funny, God! I guess the joke’s on me!” I don’t feel sorry for them. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/129 "2011-05-21T18:13:36Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Isn’t the end of the world supposed to occur in May 2012? The “mainstream” date is December 21, 2012, which everybody knows is when the Mayans predicted Jesus would come back. That’s kind of the popular poser Judgment Day. Everybody knows that one. This May 21 thing is sort of the indie/cutting edge/PBR-drinking equivalent. But now that it’s gotten all popular, you’ll see the cool kids start to abandon ship and say it’s sold out and you should have seen it a couple of years ago. I’m not sure why they’re all the 21st. Maybe they all think God is a blackjack fiend. ---
**Author:** ![abbeytxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@abbeytxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abbeytxs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/130 "2011-05-21T18:31:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Maybe they all think God is a blackjack fiend. Well, God was a Skeeball fanatic and that didn’t work out so well for him. Maybe he has taken up blackjack instead. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/131 "2011-05-21T18:59:14Z")
So around Dec. 21st , 2012 we have to start this crap all over again? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/132 "2011-05-21T19:16:44Z")
Actually, the Rapture happened three hours ago. Nobody made the cut but Agnes Cornpone of Wichita, Kansas (93); and that was only because she felt too poorly to go out and sin today. Indeed we are a damned race. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/133 "2011-05-21T19:40:26Z")
Did Zsa Zsa make the cut? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/134 "2011-05-21T21:49:32Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > So around Dec. 21st , 2012 we have to start this crap all over again? If by “this crap” you mean all the laughing and pointing … yes, yes we will! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/135 "2011-05-21T22:28:59Z")
If the world ended today, then the _aprés vie_ doesn’t seem to be much different from what we just left behind. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/136 "2011-05-21T22:29:03Z")
Last week, while driving through rural southeastern North Carolina, I spotted a Pentacostal Holiness Church that was holding a revival tomorrow. I guessed it was for all us poor sinners who didn’t make the cut - either to say _You got five months to get right with the Big Guy, kids_ or _Who’s laughing now, heathens?_ - but Mrs. SMV pointed out that the revival leader would also be one of the doomed, so who’d listen to him? I actually have used all this J-Day stuff as an opportunity to examine my own c,onduct, and think about the ways and times I fail to live up to my own ethical and moral standards. A lapsed Catholic’s Judgment Day, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/137 "2011-05-21T23:09:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is anybody watching Camping to make sure he doesn’t do a disappearing act at the appointed time? I gather that this will be his _second_ failed prediction of the end of the world. He probably doesn’t feel the need to run anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/138 "2011-05-21T23:53:41Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > […] > > You may think I’m a fool for even asking this, but the whole business is getting quite disturbing, and I would like to hear some intelligent discussion, not simply dismissing Camping as an imbecile or Christians as deluded in general. > > 😕 -g. Definitely, YES! ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/139 "2011-05-22T00:17:55Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Oh yes, I know about his earlier prediction. So do all the people who are riding around in caravans spreading the news about the Apocalypse. So what it is about THIS prediction that has enthralled so many people? Many were enthralled by past predictions. In 1815 William Miller worked out that the big event would occur in 1844. Thousands sold their belongings and gathered on October 22nd of that year, henceforth known as [the Great Disappointment](http://www.answers.com/topic/great-disappointment). Miller’s followers were left wondering why. Some drifted away from his flock. Others discovered new dates in 1845. Still others came to believe that something really did occur on Oct 22, 1844, but that it happened in heaven. Scholars study these records with interest, as they form useful source material for the concept of cognitive dissonance. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/140 "2011-05-22T01:14:11Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Oh yes, I know about his earlier prediction. So do all the people who are riding around in caravans spreading the news about the Apocalypse. So what it is about THIS prediction that has enthralled so many people? According to [this news source](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/rapture-harold-camping-end-world), Camping’s organization spent more than $100 million on billboard advertising, financed through the sale and swap of radio stations. So I’m not surprised that a few were taken in. > [@FriarTed](#): > > Doomsday did come within that period- Doomsday upon Jerusalem, Judea & Galilee, the Herodian dynasty, the Priesthood-Temple Establishment, the Mosaic Covenantal system, the Julio-Claudian Caesar line. And Jesus’ Kingdom slowly but surely started expanding & will continue to do so. I trust it felt like Doomsday to the people involved. I’d go further and say that a Kingdom of God was established by Constantine in the early 300s, though not in all its glory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485.md?page=8)