Posted on 06/17/2011 7:55:44 AM PDT by Bed_Zeppelin
SO many people in France believe that the world is about to end that a government agency today alerted the country to the risk of mass suicides by converts to prophesies of imminent Armageddon.
Natural disasters, the internet and French fears of economic doom are lending credence to predictions that the planet will self-destruct on December 21, 2012, said Miviludes, the government body that monitors cults and suspicious spiritual activities.
There have been 183 false predictions of the end of the world since the Roman Empire collapsed and these are multiplying with new technology and a global climate of fear, it added.
In the US, doomsday radio preacher Harold Camping received global publicity by predicting that the Rapture would occur May 21. When the day passed uneventfully, Camping offered a new date, October 21, for the end of the world.
The 2012 prediction, based on the end of the 5000-year Mayan calendar, has taken root around the world but nowhere does it seem to have been as widely embraced as France, The (London) Times reported.
The government is worried about a rush of converts to Bugarach, a hilltop village in the southwest that is destined to survive judgment day, according to internet rumours.
Miviludes chairman Georges Fenech visited the area between Perpignan and Carcassonne last week to be briefed by the police intelligence service and local officials on the gurus, disciples, magicians, healers and others who have arrived to await next year's expected Apocalypse. The village, which is said to be a haven for UFOs, was besieged by Armageddon tourists on Monday, the Pentecost holiday.
Mr Fenech, a judge and former lawmaker, dismissed the prophesies as a "hodgepodge of bad astrophysics" but added that Apocalypse fever is no laughing matter.
He recalled "the horror of the dramas which cults have caused in recent years with their doctrines that provoke extreme anxiety."
The most recent involving France was a series of 74 suicides in the late 1990s in France, Switzerland and Canada by devotees of the Order of the Solar Temple.
The fascination for Apocalypse theories fits with the mood of gloom that has engulfed France over the past decade. Opinion polls regularly highlight the country as one of the most pessimistic in the world.
And as the punchline to many lawyer jokes goes -- " ... it's a start."
Does this mean the French have surrendered, again? This is a coded message of some sort?
You know, if really you did believe the world was going to end Dec 21, 2012 why kill yourself now? Wouldn’t it be fun just to stick around to watch it? Party like it’s 1999 until then and then sit back and enjoy the show on the final day.
Killing yourself now would be like the the villians in James Bond movies who after setting an elaborate death trap instead of watching just walk away.
Hero: "We can't let you do that."
Villain: "Do that? Do you think I am a comic book villain who would explain my master stroke to you if there was any possibility that you could stop me? It was all accomplished 30 minutes ago."
The only thing that would cause mass french suicides would be the elimanation of August vacations.
Mass suicides in France.....the ultimate surrender.
183? Really? That’s pretty exact for predictions
supposedly spanning millennia.
not to mention a global fear of climate.
The one thing the French are proactive over. Why bother if you’re going to be dead anyway? Besides the possibility of an express ticket to hell if you believe in that sort of thing. Is it worth it?
How could we possibly SURVIVE the loss of millions of French??!!!
Exactly. If the world is going to end, I want to stick around and watch it happen. I mean if your going to die anyway, why not watch the show?
Think of all the business opportunities! I wouldn’t mind buying some cheap real estate from a Frenchman who does not plan being around after 2012.
No joke.
They've looted Social Security, they looted the treasury, they've turned half the country into a flophouse for foreigners....The government now sees what is left of U.S. citizens as a burden, heavy luggage, an empty money pit that they've nearly squeezed into total bankruptcy.
Hurry up libs, nows your chance to show solidarty with the French. Don’t pass this up. Act now. You especially Chris.
Absolutely. That's why I am ordering a 2012 Shelby GT500 now. Might as well, and if we're all still here after 12-21-12, all the better!
The French really are surrender monkeys. That’s the big difference between France and the US. The French surrender. Americans say, “Bring it on!”
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