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But Landes is disturbed by the lack of reflection on lessons learned from Y2K. “Nobody spent a cent, as far as I know, on figuring out what we did right and what we did wrong,” he says.
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| Dec. 29 — This is the real thing: When the calendar flips to 2001, we’ll indisputably be in the new millennium. There’s turmoil in the Holy Land and a troublesome transition in Washington. So what do modern-day prophets have to say about this portentous changeover? Surprisingly little, it turns out. “I call it the Y2K hangover,” says one discouraged millennium-watcher. |
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BECAUSE THE CALENDAR we use today starts with the year 1
instead of zero, persnickety chronologists insist that the third thousand-year
period in our reckoning actually begins on Jan. 1, 2001. The only reasons we
made a bigger deal out of the changeover to the year 2000 were: The “odometer effect” — that is, the fact that
four digits were changing over from 1999 to 2000, which requires a bigger
mind-set shift. The Y2K effect — the big question over whether
computerized systems would fumble over the four-digit rollover.As we know now, the rollover turned out just fine, although Y2K remedies cost governments, industries and individuals an estimated $200 billion. That works out to about $32 for every person on Earth, and doomsayers are still rumbling about the possibility of post-Y2K date glitches. The Y2K switch also held the specter of millennial terrorism and apocalyptic breakdowns that had survivalists cowering in their bunkers.
In contrast, the current changeover has drawn little of the hype and self-examination that we saw a year ago. Professor Richard Landes, director of Boston University’s Center for Millennial Studies, calls the transition to 2001 the “thinking man’s millennium” — but he bemoans the fact that there hasn’t been much thinking in evidence, due to the “Y2K hangover.” |
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“I can’t tell you how many people have come up
to me and said, ‘Now that Y2K is over, is there anything else for millennial
studies to do?’ And I say, yeah, there’s plenty.” The mere fact that Western culture has survived to begin a third thousand-year round is “a cause for self-congratulation,” he says, “but sober self-congratulation, because global culture is a new terrain.” Landes and other millennium-watchers stress that millennialism isn’t merely a matter of the calendar. They say it also refers to the view that humanity is entering a period of deep change — a philosophy that is reflected in Nazism and Communism as well as end-time Christianity. Seen in this light, the Y2K changeover wasn’t a dud at all, says Ted Daniels, founder of the Millennium Watch Institute. “It was clearly the most successful apocalyptic prophecy in history, because in these things, success is measured by who listens,” he told MSNBC.com. But Landes is disturbed by the lack of reflection on lessons learned from Y2K. “Nobody spent a cent, as far as I know, on figuring out what we did right and what we did wrong,” he says. |
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The lessons could be applied to future
challenges, such as global climate change. Just as in the buildup to Y2K,
different factions are debating over just how serious global warming might be,
how much governments should do about it, how much should be spent and who should
pay. “If we don’t know how to think about this intelligently, if we don’t learn how to do this from Y2K, then we’re real stupid,” Landes says. The Middle East presents another challenge, sparked by the conflict over Jerusalem’s future. The battle for control of the Temple Mount, a site that is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, pressed apocalyptic hot buttons and gave rise to a “millennial intifada,” Landes said. Many end-time Christians see the rebuilding of the Third Temple as a precursor to Armageddon, and Landes says Muslims have picked up on that symbolism as well. “What we see in the Middle East is unfortunately an illustration of the kinds of dynamics ... we were trying to draw people’s attention to,” he says. Even this year’s presidential campaign and battles over trade globalization, he says, can be seen as manifestations of the overarching debate that may mark the third millennium: modernity vs. traditional values. MILLENNIAL PROPHECY |
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John Hogue comes at the issue from an angle far different
from Landes’ — a perspective that puts more credence in astrology and the
predictions of the 16th-century monk Nostradamus. But even Hogue agrees that
prophecies have to go deeper than calendar dates. “Be critical of any doomsday date,” he says. “We have this condition in modern times (where we expect) that events are supposed to come down like a Broadway musical right in front of us.” He says new-age prophecies tend to parallel what environmental groups such as the Worldwatch Institute have been saying for years.
Hogue even puts an eco-spin on one of Nostradamus’ most date-specific predictions, declaring that a “great king of terror” would come from the sky in 1999. Hogue says this could refer the increasing awareness of a long-term event rather than the Antichrist. “I believe the event could be global warming,” he says. “Certainly in the next 20 or 30 years, if that continues, you don’t need a third Antichrist. You’ve got it — the Antichrist I’ve always felt was the real one: human stupidity.” |
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Speaking of the Antichrist, end-time Christian commentators
traditionally stay away from specifying a precise date for the Tribulation —
while insisting that every day brings further signs that the end is
near. "Many trends are moving toward a great climax,” says Tim
LaHaye, a Baptist minister who is turning the Apocalypse into the best-selling
“Left Behind” book series. The eighth book has just come out, with the 12th and
final installment due in 2004. (Click here for more from a 1999
interview with LaHaye.)Other millennial prophets, meanwhile, are turning to fresh pursuits, or returning to old ones: Hogue is planning a trip to India, while Daniels is thinking about writing a book and switching to a career in photography. Y2K doomsayers Peter de Jager and Ed Yourdon, meanwhile, are trying to rebuild their careers as technology consultants. And Landes, a tenured professor, is trying to keep the center going while planning new college courses. “I was trying to ride the wave of 2000 with the surfboard of this organization and launch millennial studies in the process,” he said. “I can say we have planted the seed, but this is not the moment when millennial studies have come into their own.” Nevertheless, he remains optimistic about the field’s long-term future. “There’s a paradigm shift at work,” he says, “and it’s taking longer than I thought it would.” |
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34%
The History of
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-- Anonymous, December 31, 2000