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Apocalypse Not So Much

Posted: May 21, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Media, religion, religious extremists | Tags: , , , , , , , |38 Comments

Well, it didn’t happen. Bummer. It will soon be 6PM in Oakland. According to predictions by Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, CA, a giant earthquake was supposed to hit at 6PM New Zealand time and then the apocalypse would continue around the globe, hitting each time zone at around 6PM. Here’s what Camping said would happen:

…when we get to May 21 on the calendar in any city or country in the world, and the clock says about — this is based on other verses in the Bible — when the clock says about 6 p.m., there’s going to be this tremendous earthquake that’s going to make the last earthquake in Japan seem like nothing in comparison. And the whole world will be alerted that Judgment Day has begun. And then it will follow the sun around for 24 hours. As each area of the world gets to that point of 6 p.m. on May 21, then it will happen there, and until it happens, the rest of the world will be standing far off and witnessing the horrible thing that is happening.

The only earth changes that I could find today was a volcano that erupted in Iceland (h/t Minkoff Minx) and set off a bunch of quakes. But that happens all the time in Iceland. So it looks like Camping has once again been proven to be a false prophet. The Guardian UK reports:

as the deadline for the Apocalypse passed in the Pacific islands, New Zealand and Australia, it became apparent that Camping’s prediction of the end of the world was to end not with a bang but with a whimper.

Only on Twitter did the supposed Armageddon sweep the world, with users expressing their mock disappointment at the lack of dead people rising from their graves.

New Zealander Daniel Boerman tweeted: “I’m from New Zealand, it is 6:06PM, the world has NOT ended. No earthquakes here, all waiting for the rapture can relax for now. ”

In Australia, Jon Gall of Melbourne was unimpressed by the lack of fire and brimstone. He tweeted: “#Rapture time here in Melbourne. A rather quiet sort of rapture if you ask me.

“Well we have had the going for 50 minutes now. So far it hasn’t interrupted my fish & chips and glass of stout.”

When will Harold Camping comment on the failure of his prediction that today would be Judgment Day? The media wants Camping’s reactions.

The world is expecting to hear something soon from Camping or he risks being branded as a false prophet. Especially Camping’s followers will be demanding an explanation as they had put all their faith in Camping’s prediction, quitting jobs, selling their possessions and donating all their money to support the Doomsday campaign.

[….]

The popular broadcaster, who has been widely heard across the world, is now maintaining a stoic silence. Meanwhile, the Family Radio headquarter in Oakland, CA display a cryptic message in large letters: “This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!” pasted on its front door.

According to a Reuters report, Camping’s house in Alameda, CA is covered with shades and no one was available. Camping has previously said that he would be watching TV and listening to the radio in his home at the appointed time.

One wonders what he is doing right now?

If you think about it, old Harold didn’t do too badly for himself. He got a huge amount of free media coverage, and today he’s at the top of Google News’ top stories. After all, even many of Camping’s employees at Family Radio didn’t believe the prophecies would materialize:

“I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney.

According to tax filings examined by CNNMoney, the group raises about $18 million in contributions a year and is worth $72 million in total. And while it might seem quixotic to examine the business logic of a messianic cult, the tax filings do raise one obvious question: If the world is ending on May 21, why did it request an extension of its Minnesota tax deadline from July 15 to November 15?

So was it all a publicity stunt? And how will the true believers react to not being raptured? It turns out there has been quite a bit of research on what happens to cult followers when their leaders’ doomsday predictions don’t materialize. According to Vaughn Bell at Slate, the first to study this question was psychologist Leon Festinger–the originator of the concept of “cognitive dissonance.” In order to investigate this notion, Festinger studied a doomsday cult called the “Seekers.” Their leader had predicted that a huge flood was coming and the Seekers would be rescued by a flying saucer.

The Seekers abandoned their jobs, possessions, and spouses to wait for the flying saucer, but neither the aliens nor the apocalypse arrived. After several uncomfortable hours on the appointed day, Martin received a “message” saying that the group “had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction.” The group responded by proselytizing with a renewed vigour. According to Festinger, they resolved the intense conflict between reality and prophecy by seeking safety in numbers. “If more people can be persuaded that the system of belief is correct, then clearly, it must, after all, be correct.”

Later research did not support Festinger’s hypothesis that failure of doomsday prophecies would lead to more proselytizing.

What Festinger failed to understand is that prophecies, per se, almost never fail. They are instead component parts of a complex and interwoven belief system which tends to be very resilient to challenge from outsiders. While the rest of us might focus on the accuracy of an isolated claim as a test of a group’s legitimacy, those who are part of that group—and already accept its whole theology—may not be troubled by what seems to them like a minor mismatch. A few people might abandon the group, typically the newest or least-committed adherents, but the vast majority experience little cognitive dissonance and so make only minor adjustments to their beliefs. They carry on, often feeling more spiritually enriched as a result.

So will the true believers continue to follow Camping and believe his prophecies? Stay tuned. I’m sure the media will let us know.

38 Comments on “Apocalypse Not So Much”

  1. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
    May 21, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    LA Times: In the end, rapture believers weren’t going anywhere

    Keith Bauer, a 38-year-old tractor-trailer driver from Westminster, Md., took last week off from work, packed his wife, young son and a relative in their SUV and crossed the country.

    If it was his last week on Earth, he wanted to see parts of it he’d always heard about but missed, such as the Grand Canyon and the Painted Forest. With maxed-out credit cards and a growing mountain of bills, he said, the rapture would have been a relief.

    On Saturday morning, Bauer was parked in front of the Oakland headquarters of Camping’s Family Radio empire, half expecting to see an angry mob of disenchanted believers howling for the preacher’s head. The office was closed, and the street was mostly deserted save for journalists.

    Bauer said he was not bitter. “Worst-case scenario for me, I got to see the country,” he said. “If I should be angry at anybody, it should be me.”

    • bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
      May 21, 2011 at 8:45 pm

      By late afternoon, a small crowd had gathered in front of Camping’s Oakland headquarters. There were atheists blowing up balloons in human form, which were released into the sky just after 6 p.m. in a mockery of the rapture. Someone played a CD of “The End” by the Doors, amid much laughter.

      There were also Christians, like James Bynum, a 45-year-old deacon at Calvary Baptist Church in Milpitas, holding signs that declared Harold Camping a false prophet. He said he was there to comfort disillusioned believers.

      “Harold Camping will never hand out poisoned Kool-Aid,” Bynum said. “It’s not that kind of a cult. But he has set up a system that will destroy some people’s lives.”

  2. thebigotbasher's avatar thebigotbasher says:
    May 21, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    Those who believed in the rapture were the same people that thought the GOP was concerned about jobs. They are also the same people that think Government should be small enough to insert in to a uterus.

    • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
      May 21, 2011 at 8:58 pm

      Yeah, well, you have special insight into the mentality of deluded Messiah seekers.

      • thebigotbasher's avatar thebigotbasher says:
        May 21, 2011 at 9:13 pm

        Indeed, I helped run a blog dedicated to defeating them, that particular PAC is now legally dead.

      • bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
        May 21, 2011 at 9:24 pm

        bla bla bla…

      • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
        May 21, 2011 at 9:32 pm

        Hadn’t heard of the schism, or maybe you were a mole in serial-killer land, but either way, good job, superhero! You’re due for a promotion, would you prefer Honeytrap Patrol or trying to catch women who look nothing like Cinie not breaking into the Fed?

      • okasha's avatar okasha says:
        May 21, 2011 at 9:50 pm

        This little bigot thinks he’s already been raptured.

      • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
        May 21, 2011 at 10:11 pm

        Dancing very close
        Barely breathing
        Almost comatose
        Wall to wall
        People hypnotised
        And they’re stepping lightly
        Hang each night in Rapture

        Back to back
        Sacrailiac
        Spineless movement
        And a wild attack

        Face to face
        Sadly solitude
        And it’s finger popping
        Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture

        Fab Five Freddie told me everybody’s high
        DJ’s spinnin’ are savin’ my mind
        Flash is fast, Flash is cool….Rapture, be pure Take a tour, through the sewer
        Don’t strain your brain, paint a train
        You’ll be singin’ in the rain
        I said don’t stop, do punk rock
        Well now you see what you wanna be
        Just have your party on TV
        ‘Cause the man from Mars won’t eat up bars when the TV’s on

  3. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
    May 21, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    Reuters talked to Robert Fitzpatrick, the retired NY MTA employee who spent his life savings on signs in New York.

    In New York, retired transportation agency worker Robert Fitzpatrick was inspired by Camping’s message to spend over $140,000 of his savings on subway posters and outdoor advertisements warning of the May 21 Judgment Day.

    As he stood in Times Square in New York surrounded by onlookers, Fitzpatrick, 60, carried a Bible and handed out leaflets as he waited for Judgment Day to begin.

    By his own reading of Bible, which was slightly different than Camping’s, Fitzgerald expected the great worldwide event to begin at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

    When the hour came and went, he said: “I do not understand why …,” as his speech broke off and he looked at his watch.

    “I do not understand why nothing has happened.”

    • thebigotbasher's avatar thebigotbasher says:
      May 21, 2011 at 8:54 pm

      $140k and how many homeless are there in New York? In so many ways that is sad, at least some people remain employed as a result of his advertising.

    • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
      May 21, 2011 at 9:04 pm

      Fitzgerald stayed an hour or so in Times Sq. and then made the long slog back to Staten Island – with the media in tow.

      “I’m very tired. I’ll be alright once I get home and have something to eat,” he told reporters on the southbound R train.

      Asked if he had left anything in the fridge to eat, he smiled. “I did, I’ve got something.”

      The 60-year-old spent the subway journey staring out the window at the darkness of the tunnel – perhaps wondering how he got it so wrong.

  4. madaha's avatar madaha says:
    May 21, 2011 at 9:11 pm
  5. Branjor's avatar Branjor says:
    May 21, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    So, no apocalypse, big surprise. Anyway I was sitting here reading about it when at 6:06 PM something suddenly went BANG! right next to my head. It was from an expired crescent roll container on the counter next to me, the type packed under pressure, which I partially opened yesterday and then threw aside when I saw it was no good anymore. The contents apparently expanded until it exploded the container. (No mess as it was already in a plastic bag set to go out to the garbage.) So I had my own little mini apocalypse right here tonight, 😉

  6. dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
    May 21, 2011 at 10:16 pm
  7. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
    May 21, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHFK1yKfiGo

  8. paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
    May 21, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    You mean I still gotta do the laundry??

    dang it

    • Rikke's avatar Sima says:
      May 22, 2011 at 5:01 am

      I thought much the same thing, but more along the lines of, ‘Darn I guess I should get those bills paid then.’

  9. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
    May 22, 2011 at 1:22 am

    Hey, another bullet dodged:

    Mitch Daniels won’t run in 2012 – Maggie Haberman and Jennifer Epstein – POLITICO.com

  10. Rikke's avatar Sima says:
    May 22, 2011 at 5:00 am

    Rapture came and went here and I didn’t even get a chance to feel it!

    Spent the whole day fighting to keep our little runt doeling alive. We failed late in the night. Farming can be a real b*tch at times. I guess I can close all the browser tabs I have open on keeping baby goats alive.

    As an antidote, check out this story/video. A little fawn falls through the rocks in a wall, and gets rescued by fire men. Way to go!

    http://www.komonews.com/news/local/122397829.html

    • minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
      May 22, 2011 at 6:43 am

      So sorry Sima, is the other baby you are bottle feeding doing alright?

      • Rikke's avatar Sima says:
        May 23, 2011 at 5:28 am

        Yes Minx, she is. In fact I’ll have to go give her a bottle in another half hour or so (she gets her last bottle from me at 4 am, and then partner starts up around 8 am). And she sure is a sweetie. Needless to say, she’s not being sold, but will stay here on the farm. I’ll post a picture soon 🙂

    • bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
      May 22, 2011 at 9:19 am

      Sima,

      I’m so sorry. You did your best. The antidote was wonderful though. I sent it to my mom too.

      • Rikke's avatar Sima says:
        May 23, 2011 at 5:30 am

        I have to admit, I cried a bit when the little fawn ran to its mom. And it was so cool seeing those guys work so hard to get it free. Raises up my faith in the basic decency of humans, it does!

    • Branjor's avatar Branjor says:
      May 22, 2011 at 12:12 pm

      Aww, RIP little Sundae.

    • paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
      May 22, 2011 at 12:13 pm

      Sorry about the little one 😦

  11. Delphyne's avatar Delphyne says:
    May 22, 2011 at 9:11 am

    Sorry to hear about the doeling, Sima – hoping the other one is doing better.

    The fawn rescue was wonderful to watch and I posted the link on FB. Thank you!

  12. foxyladi14's avatar foxyladi14 says:
    May 22, 2011 at 10:36 am

    sorry Sima..as hard as we try.we just can’t win em all.

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