It has been called the '2012 phenomenon' online. On December 21, 2012 the Mayan Calendar will end marking the passing of 5,125 years pursuant to the ancient Mayans. On this day, it has been assumed that Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god of war and creation will descend upon the earth and...some shit will happen.
Many experts have denounced this interpretation about the world coming to an end and how the myth has been a beast growing on its own riding the tides of human imagination. According to the National Institute of Anthropological History in Mexico: "The West's messianic thinking has distorted the world view of ancient civilizations like the Mayans"Apparently NASA has been getting harassed about the "end of the world" as well; fanatical people demanding an explanation with full-fledged attitudes of entitlement.
But despite many experts, there are many who capitalize on the hysteria and fear, engaging in hypotheticals, building bunkers for people or charging others for a spot: if it does happen, which side of the wall do you want to be on? Making an investment in life, they say. Others have flocked to a small french village, Bugarach, with a population of 189 where extraterrestrials are supposed to come down in December of 2012 - apparently it's an "alien garage" and one of the few places that will survive the event. The mayor of the small village didn't seem too happy.
What I find interesting is the parallels between all these "end of the world" prophecies. If you have ever taken a PSY 101 class, you've probably come across the theory of Cognitive Dissonance first proposed by Leon Festinger. His book, 'When Prophecy Fails,' talks about just this kind of thing and the awkward looks exchanged when the time comes and goes. Festinger and his associates talk about a similar phenomena with Marian Keech. Her authority was not based on the Mayan calendar but on these "automatic writings." Messages from another planet, which were transmitted through to her and she wrote "automatically" without any will of her own. But she, or the extraterrestrials, stated that the world would end on December 21, 1955. I don't know what it is about December 21 but it seems to be a popular date. Although last year Harold Camping, an American radio preacher, predicted that the rapture and the second coming of Christ would happen on May 21 of 2011.
Festinger's proposal was pretty simple, what will happen when the world doesn't end? How will the followers react? Many assume that the group will just dissipate and the movement will go away. Well, they were able to gain access to the Marian Keech's group. Many left their jobs, gave away their homes, their savings, and waited for the spaceship. When the aliens didn't come, they were told that the world had been spared because of the faith of their group. This motivated the movement and their proselytizing efforts grew. Those who were not so committed eventually left. But those were very much committed to the truth of the prophecy would rationalize further and seek other means of justification and validation of their movement. Their efforts to convert others would grow - i.e. more missionaries. It was not until several failed predictions did Keech's group dissipate. And this will probably happen with the 2012 phenomena group. Those who were not so committed will probably give a shrug of the shoulder and go on with their lives, others will scream bloody murder about how they were scammed, there might even be a case of mass suicide - as it has happened before with other cult followings, and those who are convinced of its truth and committed to the movement will find some rationalization or justification for their actions, hell, the movement might even grow bigger as predicted by the theory.
The theory itself is about what happens when a person holds two conflicting beliefs, or is aware of two conflicting beliefs that they have. For example, to put it bluntly, if you believe you are smart but did something stupid. Or if you believe you are a good person but then went on to hurt somebody. The ensuing justification is that that person deserved it - not that you're not as good as you think, but that the other person deserved what was coming to them. If you scammed somebody, you might try and make up for it by giving them something and justify the actions.
One of the experiments that Festinger did in his lab was to bring students into the lab and make them do a very boring task - turn 100 blocks to the left. After the task, the student was asked whether they would tell the next few participants that the task was really fun. Some students received 20 dollars to do the task while others were only given 1 dollar to do the task. After the students promoted that the task was fun to the other participants they were asked about their experience. Those who received 20 dollars could justify lying to the other participants that the task was fun. When they were asked later what they thought about the task, they said that it was boring. There was no dissonance, with 20 dollars, they justified the advertisement to other students. Those who received 1 dollar, on the other hand, convinced themselves that the task was indeed fun. They could not justify telling other participants that the task was fun with only a dollar. So they told themselves that it really was a fun task, and when they were asked if they would do the task again, they said that they would.
So for those who think the end of the world is coming, and those who become committed to the event will eventually justify their actions in the event that the world does not see some global catastrophe or when they do not see aliens come down to earth.
In another vein, this is the power of emotions being attached to propositions of truth and beliefs about one's self.
for more on cognitive dissonance:
No comments:
Post a Comment