Y2k 4 Essay, Research Paper

2000 Approaches

It is not hard to see parallels between Glaber’s account of the events preceding the year 1000 and our own times. For example, the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996 was taken as a sign of impending apocalypse by groups such as Heaven’s Gate, whose leader taught that the comet concealed a spaceship that would carry the group’s followers to a higher realm. In March 1997, 39 members of the cult committed suicide in the belief that this would allow them to meet up with the spaceship. Some people believe that the rise of religious cults such as Heaven’s Gate is itself an indication that the end of the world is near.

In recent years, many people have interpreted the Y2K computer problem as evidence that modern civilization is on the verge of breakdown or collapse. This belief has arisen because of warnings by computer scientists that the inability of some software to adjust to the date change in the year 2000 could cause breakdowns in utilities, transportation, government, medical care, and other essential services. Meanwhile, organizations such as the Red Cross have advised people to stock up on critical goods such as food, water, and medicine. The combination of these warnings has contributed to concerns about the year 2000.

Yet another factor is the prominence of millennial and apocalyptic themes in motion pictures, television shows, and popular songs. Examples include the song “1999″ by the artist formerly known as Prince, the hit film Armageddon (1998), and the recently canceled television show Millennium.

Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of the approach of the millennium are incidents of violence associated with millennial and apocalyptic thinking. In 1993 a team of U.S. Department of Defense intelligence analysts and terrorism experts produced a secret report predicting that extremist violence would increase in the years before and after the year 2000. There have been several such cases in the 1990s. For example:

* In February 1993 the Branch Davidians, a religious movement led by a man known as David Koresh, became involved in a 51-day siege with U.S. government agents. The Branch Davidians traced their origins to a splinter group of Seventh-day Adventists and believed they had seen signs of the coming apocalypse. When government agents raided the Davidians’ compound in Waco, Texas, to search for illegal weapons, the Davidians viewed the raid as another apocalyptic sign and resisted fiercely. In the resulting firefight, several agents and Davidians were killed. The standoff ended in April after the Davidian compound erupted in flames during a second government raid. Dozens of Koresh’s followers died.

* In October 1994 authorities in Switzerland and Canada discovered the bodies of 53 people who had committed suicide. All of the people were members of a cult known as the Order of the Solar Temple, and the suicides were part of their belief that the end of the world was imminent. The following year 16 more cult members committed suicide in France.

* In March 1995 a secretive religious cult known as Aum Shinrikyo released sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into the subways of Tokyo, Japan. The gas killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000 others. Aum’s leader, known within the group as Shoko Asahara, had combined several belief systems-including Buddhism and Christianity-to arrive at the conclusion that apocalyptic disasters would soon occur in Japan.

Some people see these events as a faddish form of insanity, easily dismissed as the delusions of a few cult leaders and their followers. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that the historical legacy of millennialism has real implications for society.

Many experts believe it is likely that as the new millennium nears, other movements like these may emerge and engage in violence. Authorities in potentially sensitive areas, such as Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and a city with deep religious and symbolic significance, have already taken steps to prevent outbreaks of violence and mass suicides.