"The End is Near" mass unconsciousness

[Spectrum]

Video: Believers - World to End May 21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DfggHLLjDU

On May 21st we’ll get a first hand example of the ‘cognitive dissonance’ theory put forth in the book When Prophecy Fails.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainmen...story.html

"Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart," Festinger and colleagues Henry Riecken and Stanley Schachter wrote more than half a century ago.

"Suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong; what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before."

If I ever become president, the first law I would instate, is that anyone is welcome to make doomsday predictions, but when those predictions don’t come true, they either have to pay a very large fine or go to jail. That would stop most of these doomerologists in their tracks. The more followers they had, the longer the jail sentence...