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One in seven thinks end of world is coming, with Dec 21, 2012, likely date - poll

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It's newsworthy only because Ipsos didn't question people in India otherwise average would have been 1 in 20 thinks end of world.....!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Please refresh my memory, how many time does this make that the world has ended?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I wonder will there be an increase in suicides in Japan because of this. WIll mothers kill off their kids and try to blame it on the coming "end of the world." Memo to those who will kill off their children and try to use this as an excuse: It's no excuse. If the world was going to end, why take them out earlier, just wait for it and it will all be over.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I doubt that 1 in 7 people even know about the Mayan Calendar, let alone believe in the end of the world.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Oh! Is the end of the world coming this year too?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So in other words, at the barest minimum, one in seven people on the planet are complete and utter morons? How depressing. Maybe a global reboot is in order.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Religion, superstition and rumour have infected 1 in 7 people in the world with an almost mythical capacity for stupidity. For as long as there have been people gullible enough to buy into such nonsense, there has been someone out there ready to sell a crazy idea about the end of the world.

It is beyond egocentric thinking for humanity, a species that has been here for less than a minute on the geological clock, would have anything to do with the world other than temporarily infesting it. The world was here before us and will be here long after us. If there is a "rapture" or "2012" or "doomsday" it will be in books written by hacks to rob the foolish of their money.

What was is Barnum said about a certain type of person being born every minute?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

p.s. Please buy my new book. "Why the world didn't end in 2012 and why it Will in fact end May 1st 2014 at 3pm Japan time."

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Sure it is the END OF THE WORLD so you do not need that $$$$, my bank account is...

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people with lower education or household income levels, as well as those under 35 years old, were more likely to believe in an apocalypse

and

22% in Turkey and the United States

This might explain the existence of a lot of US political candidates.

In reality, according to my calendar (purchased at Kinokuniya) the world is going to end December 31, 2012. Proof? No January 1, 2013 on my calendar.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Goody goody! We'll all be deaded together!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So what if the Mayan calendar long count ends in 2012. It's a cyclical calendar. The end just starts the cycle again. As for P.T. Barnum, the answer is "sucker". but it wasn't Barnum it was McDonald.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It just goes to show that 15% of the people polled are idiots. 34% of people have IQ's below 85 points so that seems like a reasonable figure.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

These are just some kind of speculations and interpretations. Nobody knows the reality, nobody at all.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It seems very silly to ponder such matters. While you are alive, you should be living life to the fullest and enjoying it as much as it as possible. If the world were to end tomorrow, I wouldn't really want to think about it today...it would be too stressful! Best to live as if every day is your last :)

2 ( +3 / -1 )

It is beyond egocentric thinking for humanity, a species that has been here for less than a minute on the geological clock, would have anything to do with the world other than temporarily infesting it.

I think the same thing every time somebody mentions man made global warming. As far as the world ending in 2012, I don't suppose any of those people who believe it's coming are happily running up their credit cards or spending their retirement accounts. Might just be enough to stimulate the world economy, and put off the end for another decade.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The word ARMAGEDDON actually means: The end of the world, AS WE KNOW IT!! and I KNOW that that is coming and most people will agree that, THAT IS A GOOD THING!!!! So fear not, a Brave New World is coming and soon we will have a different society that makes healthy choices without politics or religions to muddle the pond. You may call me a dreamer, but I am not the only one! PEACE

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The end of the Mayan calendar, which spans about 5,125 years, on Dec 21, 2012 has sparked interpretations and suggestions that it marks the end of the world.

Well then, party at my house on the 20th! May as well feel like death if we are all going to die anyway. If it does not happen, then it's like any other weekend.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

According to this article, 22% of Americans believe the world will end in their lifetime.

With a couple of quick phone calls I got responses from 11 Americans. Amazingly, none of them believe it.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The world is full of people with delusional thoughts and beliefs...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

get ready to PAR TAY !!!!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

December 21? So we shouldn't bother buying presents, then?

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It's a shame there are so many idiots in this world.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I'm no Mayan rocket scientist...but it would be impossible for the world to end on a specific day. I wounder how the Mayans predict the the world ending in halves?

If it's the 21st in Central America, what happens to the side of the earth that are a day ahead?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Gurukun: Easy... sun emits a burst of heat and as the earth rotates along the date line it roasts everything neatly.

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yeh my mother believes this, but i think the world ended for her quite some time ago, given the way she lives now

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

" and 10% think the Mayan calendar could signify it will happen in 2012"

Pretty interesting statistic. That's a pretty big market for those who want to make some money this year.

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I wonder how many of those people in the US who believe in the Mayan calendar are also Christians? And what would their pastors say if they found out some of their churchgoers believed in the Mayan prophecy?

Does it say in the Book of Revelations a specific day when the world will end? I don't remember and don't have a Bible handy so just asking....

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So the Mayan's could predict our demise but not theirs which had happened long before?

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I think the end of the world is coming, but I don't think it's a fixed date, and I don't think it'll be this year or based on any kind of prophecy or anything. I think we're just doomed to slowly repeat the errors of the past and reap and destroy this planet until it's unsustainable. Perhaps not overly optimistic, but certainly realistic if we keep on this path.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The Mayans sure didn't see those Spaniards comin'.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I thought it already ended in August 2011: Something to do with leap years, calendar revisions and the like. Maybe the world did end and we're all like Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense!

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Yes, believers in he Mayan calendar myth is odd and delusional. Not as odd or delusional as this though: 75% of the people on the planet think the world is only around 5000 years old... Based on what? Handed down stories and some old very scripts written by illiterates from the deserts of the middle east ha, ha, ha, ha......

0 ( +0 / -0 )

caffeine: "Maybe the world did end and we're all like Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense"

Or like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, ha ha!

tokyokawasaki @ 2:22PM - LOL! But actually nowhere near 75% of people really believe the world is only 5000 years old. I hope!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Isnt one of those high-believing countries also the one where more than 1 in 100 people believe that at some point they have been abducted by aliens?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Is the artist named Prince going to do a remake of the song "1999" and call it "2012"?

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Come on then world. I dare you.

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I treat everyday as if it might be my last.

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Almost to a person people who believe in the Mayan "prophecies" are conspiracy nutters or trend foollowers on the cultural and more often than not political left.

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After additional careful thought, I am now convinced that the world has already ended and humanity, self absorbed as we are, has failed to notice.

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Not again? If it's not some lunatic preacher in America it's a Mayan calendar... ooh, also in (South) America. Where do most of the doomsday cults come from? Yep, America. No surprise then that 22% of Americans believe the end is nigh.

How can people be so deluded? What will it be this time? Last time it was meant to be the Rapture or something... so what this time? A fleet of Vogon ships destroying the Earth for an intergalactic bypass? The sun going nova? The Earth's core no longer spinning? An Ice Age? A thermonuclear war with North Korea?

Sheer lunacy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So instead of a laugh with my AM coffee, today it is an afternoon beer! Once again some manga artist needs to take this story and run with it! Probably sell a few thousand copies amongst the "lower" educmacated type folks.

Maybe next year they'll make a movie about it too! How about "How the world didnt end AGAIN in 2012"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well, if you subtract the small number of atheists and agnostics, then most of the world´s population believes in some irrational fairy tale.

I do not really see the surprise here.... is a belief in the end of the world on December 21st really different from a belief in any of the so-called major religions?

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some14some:

" It's newsworthy only because Ipsos didn't question people in India otherwise average would have been 1 in 20 thinks end of world.....! "

I am not following your logic here. So in India there are fewer believers in the Mayan calendar than in the rest of the world. OK, I buy that, since most Indians are strongly Hindu. But how does that impact the news item?

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I was abducted by aliens and they told me that the Mayans were right.

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worry not, Asia is one day ahead, we'll get ample warning when the time comes.

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Doesn't New Zealand get everything first?

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why is this surprising? In my country alone over 60% of people actually believe in a divine power or theistic explanation of the universe. What is so different than believing in Dec 2012? or Walking on water? or flying pigs and other irrational delusions?

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how does a poll from 16,000 people in 20 countries justify 15% of the world. which is a billion people from what over 150 countries? its a BS analysis.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

yasukuni:

" I was abducted by aliens and they told me that the Mayans were right. "

Well, that is not much different from believing that god e,g, spoke to some middle Eastern guy through a burning bush, or an Arabic caravan robber in a cave, or got some virgin pregnent, just to pick some random example. So, join the majority of the world population who believe these tales.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"I treat everyday as if it might be my last"

I did that for awhile and then suddenly I had no money.

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And heres me still getting over Y2K

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Yawn. I remember being in college in the 70s and having a professor say "the ice caps will completely melt in 1995 and kill all of us because of global warming." I remember asking how and the professor told me "because it's proven by science."

It's 2012. I guess science was wrong

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other irrational delusions

I find the biggest irrational delusion is the term "justice" or "evil."

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This is really going to cut into sales of 2013 calendars...

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AKS shared a link.

Wherever you go wherever you see, the people are discussing it whether sitting in open or in closed circle that this world is going to end in this year. They have fixed a dead line i.e. 21/12/2012 for this. The Hollywood movies based on end...See More*

<arunaksarun.blogspot.com>

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Obvious it is time for end of the world parties.[Grin] When you wake up the next day, you will have wished it had end. Oh that hang over!

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Man, that is just pathetic.....hoped it would be at least one in twenty-five

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Doesn't New Zealand get everything first?

Cleo- LOL! And if I remember correctly, the Samoans will be last. (^_^)

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Suppose it depends on how you define "end of the world". Really, it is as bad as some Christians saying the world is only 4 to 8 thousand years old. Some people will just believe anything!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Everyone else has commented so I guess I'd better say something. Erm...

THE (new) END IS NIGH

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No it's not. Just kidding!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Of course the world will end; just not in my lifetime. Well, if i live for another million years or so, then maybe.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

SerranoMay. 02, 2012 - 10:20AM JST According to this article, 22% of Americans believe the world will end in their lifetime. With a couple of quick phone calls I got responses from 11 Americans. Amazingly, none of them believe it.

I don't get how a "couple" (2) of phone calls could result in getting responses from 11 American who don't believe the world will end this year on Dec 21. Did you call a gang of non-believers who were just hanging out by the telephone?

To me, most American's, especially Republicans and the religious right all believe in that cr@p. They are just too much of a liar to admit it in public. Most American's are foolish, ignorant, superstitious people, who think they are smarter than a 5th grader.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

rickyj, "if i live for another million years or so"

Well they do say its likely the first person to live a thousand years has probably already been born. Maybe if you hang on long enough youll get to see the results of global warming. That could be a type of end of the world.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To me, most American's, especially Republicans and the religious right all believe in that cr@p. They are just too much of a liar to admit it in public. Most American's are foolish, ignorant, superstitious people, who think they are smarter than a 5th grader.

Here's hoping Peanut is the first to go. Slow roasted perhaps. I always love the 'dumb Americans' comments - tell me nut - what great nation do you hail from where everyone is a bloody genius then?

Have any of the other nuts just considered that perhaps the Mayan's were just too tired, or bored with the project, to continue said calendar?

Which one is worse - religion or supposed science? One is a carry-over from old-world superstitions when man believe in multiple gods and all sorts of nonsense. Religion is just a tool propagated by the rich and powerful to keep the poor from killing them. Science is too often bad theory expounded upon to make the presenter seem a bright spark in his field. The above poster is correct; according to the doomsday global warming scientists of old, the polar ice caps should have been gone a decade ago and we should have a catastrophically huge hole in the ozone layer that would have long ago sizzled our flesh off. And we would be inundated with killer bees.

Of course, I think it important that we put such weight behind the fact that a bunch of South American Indians who also beheaded some of their victims decided not to carry on their calendar forever.

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Actually the world ended on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11) at 11:11 am and 11 seconds, its just that most people didn't notice.

One in seven people belong in a mental ward.

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Why not? The US alleges that Iran/ N Korea is about to go nuclear war on the rest of the world. Might as well end it now

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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