WSJ – 2012 Will Be Televised
April 19, 2010
Humorist Joe Queenan has written a piece for the Wall Street Journal, mocking the 2012 meme and the History Channel:
It was a 2008 History Channel documentary about the Mayan Calendar that first drew the public’s attention to the fact that Dec. 21, 2012 will probably be the last day in human history—meaning that 2011 will be the last year any of us will need to do any Christmas shopping. Watching that program again this week, I noted, nervously, that Dec. 21, 2012 is the date arrived at independently by both the ancient Mayans and the I Ching, and that the Welsh sorcerer Merlin is also on board with the belief that human civilization will end late in 2012. The Mayans and the I Ching guys could have had their numbers wrong, but Merlin’s verdict kind of sealed it for me.
Happily, some Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse buffs believe that the magnetic disturbances erupting at both poles on that date do not mean that all civilization will disappear, but rather that we will move into a new and better phase of the great human drama. That’s why I can’t wait to see the documentaries that air on A&E, The History Channel, the Military Channel and the Discovery Channel in 2013. Things like “I Never Knew I Was Pregnant and Living Through Armageddon,” “When Extraordinarily Large Numbers of Rats Attack,” and “Secrets of the Post-Apocalyptic Hoarders.”
Given the numerous apocalyptic documentaries that have appeared on cable TV in recent times, Joe’s tongue-in-cheek titles might not seem so far-fetched two years from now. After they have covered every doomsday scenario, they’ll need to delve into more “human interest” angles.
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