Why So Convincing?

You know, I would have thought that trying to get people to believe that the end of the world was coming would have been a more difficult task than it apparently was. I mean, I would have thought that it would take someone with Oprah-esque charisma to convince people of such a fairlky whack-a-doo idea. Apparently not. Apparently, all you need is some really, really old guy who is vaguely aware of his own consciousness to spew out his theories and you've got yourself the makings of a doomsday prediction that is actually taken seriously by a lot of people.

The oldster to which I refer is a one Harold Camping. He's been telling folks since 1994 that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011. He came to that particular date by using some made up mathematical formula to decipher things that he made up in the Bible. And his formula made no sense. It was something ridiculous like "Every 'thou sayeth' means fifteen" and "Always double down when talking about sin" or something equally hokey. But regardless of the unlikelihood that this guy was right, he convinced many, many people to send him money and to spread the word of the end (that never came). I figured that he must be pretty charismatic to accomplish something like that. Yeah, not so much.

Naturally, since the end of the world didn't come, he had some 'splainin' to do. His explanation to the non-Rapture and to the questions that were asked of him by reporters were less than stellar. I don't understand. He claims now that "...he was not incorrect his in math, just his interpretation about how May 21 would play out. He calls the day "an invisible Judgment." No, no! It wasn't invisible! It was non-existent! There's a different, you old coot! A HUGE difference! Why do people listen to this guy?! That makes NO sense!

Here's some more of his nonsense. One of the reporters asked him "...if he is saying that "we as humans are not capable of understanding the Bible?" Camping said yes. Then he went on to tell a Bible story about Saul. Which, I assume, that we as humans are not capable of understanding. And I'll be honest and admit that I'm not totally sure who Saul is. So that could make him kind of right on that point, but he shouldn't have told the story if that's factually the case.

Now, some of his followers gave away all of their worldly possessions in anticipation of this guy's Rapture. One guy spent his entire 401k on billboards that proclaimed the end of the world. So many other people donated a ton of money to this guy. Oh, but he doesn't plan on giving it back. No, because according to him, he didn't tell those people to do that. That was their decision. Uh-huh. And now that he's moved his date of doomsday to October 21, 2011, he was asked if he is going to give away everything that he owns on October 20. Let's see if you're surprised by this answer: "What would be the value of that?...If it's Judgment Day, it's the end of the world." Oh, for cryin' out loud!

Nothing that comes out of this guy's mouth makes any sense! And yet he has followers all over the place just throwing money at him and his Family Radio radio station. I don't get it. He appears to have the intellect of a turnip. What makes him so appealing to people? I don't get it. But I sure do wish that I could come up with some sort of a ruse like he did and not feel bad about it so that I could help all of those fools part with their money.

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