Just because you weren't scared and I wasn't scared doesn't mean that there weren't a bunch of people scared that it would herald the end of history, or civilization or some such rot. There seems to be a number of people who are truly concerned about 2012 being what Y2K was supposed to be.
Tara, are you seriously comparing the 2012 thing (which I had most definitely never heard of until you mentioned it in your post) with the warnings about climate change? I googled 2012 to find out what on earth it was all about, and as far as I can figure out, it has something to do with some cryptic utterance made by Nostradamus some four hundred and fifty years ago. So tell me, Tara, are you seriously comparing a prophecy by Nostramus with the warnings about climate change made by a majority of today's scientific community? Do you think these two warning bells deserve the same attention?
I'm going to return to the question about smoking. Like I said, the dangers of smoking were denied with the help of arguments much like yours. Why pick on smoking, when so many other things are dangerous? Even if you never smoke you may slip in the tub and fall and break your neck. Or you can choke on a chicken bone. A friend of mine visited a stand-up comedy club in London in the summer of 2002, and she told me afterwards that the main joke had been that America should not worry about another terror attack, because more Americans die because they step on rakes. (Well, you know, when you step on a rake the handle flies up and hits you on the head, and you die.)
This is my point. It's ridiculous to say that we shouldn't worry about smoking because people may slip in the tub anyway. It is ridiculous to say that we shouldn't worry about terror attacks because people may step on rakes and get hit on the head and die anyway. And it is ridiculous to say that we shouldn't worry about climate change, because the world might end in 2012 anyway, because Nostradamus said so - well, maybe he said so - back in the sixteenth century.
I don't have much to add, except that the opinons of today's scientific community mean more to me than a prophecy by Nostradamus.
Ann
