timboucher

On the Simpons, Helen Lovejoy is always screaming in alarm: “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” And I’ve been thinking about this lately myself, especially in regard to the End of the World. Maybe I just read all the wrong websites and talk to all the wrong weirdos, but it seems like the Armageddon Fantasy is running absolutely wild through the back alleyways of our culture right now. And I’m not talking about people for who the Apocalypse is sort of a metaphysical/symbolic transition point; I’m talking about people who literally believe that the shit is about to hit the fan, and hit it hard.

So I guess my question for Literalist Apocalyptists is: what about the kids? Do you have kids? Do you want kids? How do you reconcile this with holding the notion that the world is imminently going to come to a bloody mess? Do you talk to your kids about this? Do you sit your kids down at the dinner table, and say things like: “Kids, the world’s about to end. It’s too bad you’ll never grow up. Here, let me teach you how to use this shotgun to fight off the neighbors, and eventually do yourself in after we all run out of food.”

It seems like “mainstream” conspiracy theorists have not addressed this issue at all. I’m not totally sure why. But the creepy part is that Christian eschatologists have actually been hammering this issue really heavily. A quick search on Google reveals at least six items (and there are tons more) by Christians addressing the topic of what happens to children during the so-called Tribulation and Rapture.

1. Question# 20: Will Children Go Through The Tribulation Period?
2. What happens to children during and after the rapture?
3. What about the Children?
4. Will all Chrildren go in the rapture?
5. Children in the Rapture
6. What about children in the Rapture?

And let’s not forget the enormously popular “Left Behind” Series by Tim LaHaye. Not only is there a series for kids, but there’s also a military one, a political one and more! It’s awesome because these books propagandize the extreme right wing Dominionist world view that a massive war in the Holy Land will bring about the End of the World, and that this is in fact a desirable thing. Much the same view is actively believed by many of our nation’s leaders today. Here’s a fun little article about it on Salon.

I guess my concern is twofold. First off, I think it’s crazy to be pumping children’s heads full of this kind of thing - even if it’s in the form of entertainment. Apocalypse fantasies are almost like pornography. They can be a lot of fun, but you shouldn’t get confused about how the world really is and how to treat people from them. And hey, if the public wants Apocalyptic porno, then we ought to get out there and start writing massively popular books from the opposite perspective. That is, one where the “Apocalypse” is not the end of life as we know it, but a massive spiritual paradigm shift which we all actively take part in forming in a positive direction. It doesn’t mean we have to leave behind all the fun End Times Prophecy games (which I do admittedly enjoy), but it does mean we quit focusing on war and destruction and despair, and start realizing that there’s an enormous positive psychological change that we can manifest through all this.

[Some further things you might want to check out:]

• Apocamon: The Final Judgement - a cutesy cartoon rendering of events from the Book of Revelations
• Archetype of the Apocalypse: A Jungian Study of the Book of Revelation - recently recommended to me by author Daniel Pinchbeck, who said it describes the Apocalypse “as the imminent ‘coming of the Self’.”

• Bring on the Apocalypse!
• Apocalypse of the American Empire
• Apocalyptic Idiots
• Archetype of the Apocalypse
• Apocalypse As Endless Barbecue