A lot of people predicted that the beginning of the new Millennium, the year 2000 would be the date of the end of the world. However, fortunately, they were very wide of the mark.

What is it that makes people to attempt to predict disasters? Is it because they are attempting to warn people or because they wish to scare people? Frighten people, I think and thereby gain advantage over the naive.

These apocalyptic prophesies go back thousands of years and even happen in the Bible. Their only raison d’etre is to terrify people and so gain money, power and influence over them.

Even the millennium bug turned out not to be a problem with computers working perfectly well after midnight despite claims by ‘computer experts’ that there would be a worldwide crash of astounding importance. The computer industry made a fortune out of frightening businesses and individuals with their lies. That was the swindle of the Nineties to end all swindles!

So why all the hype? Was it just the dawn of a new millennium, which caused so many to make prophesies on this date rather than stick to their normal common sense? Yes, I think. People saw the opportunity of a lifetime to rip others off and they jumped at it.

Needless to say there were thousands of prophesies made ranging from the arrival of aliens and the Second Coming of Christ to plane crashes. None of which came true. Here are a couple of those less than accurate prophesies:

May 5th was the day upon which all the planets lined up. The prediction was that the gravitational force of all these heavenly bodies in alignment would bring about massive earthquakes, huge tides and volcanic eruptions.

A lot of people also prophesied that the shifting of the poles would occur during 2000 and that this would cause disastrous events such as high tides, widespread electrical failure and computer failures, which would mean economic disaster for the larger countries and insurance firms.

I do not know what you think, but perhaps instead of worrying about the demise of the world (most doom-mongers have decided on the year 2012 for the destruction of the world) we should work together to make the best of the time we have left on this planet, as well as ensuring that we pass the planet on to the next generation in the same condition as we received it.

If we behave in this way, we may hold off the apocalypse for a long while yet. We are far more likely to undergo apocalypse through nuclear war, global warming and events which are avoidable and within our control, than cosmic events which we have little control over such as asteroids or the Sun’s turning into a red dwarf and eventually exploding.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with custom wall calendars If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

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