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It turns out the end of the world looks very much the same as the world the day before. It would be nice to think that proponents of this particular apocalypse meant this as some form of artistic or philosophical statement. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The 2012 apocalypse, known by many as the Mayan apocalypse, started off strong. There was enough of a buzz to get people talking, but not enough to really make it an over-hyped event. It also had a great story behind it. Mesoamerican cultures are inherently fascinating because a regular Joe doesn’t really know a whole lot about them.

At best, a regular person watched “Apocalypto” and called it a day. It’s easy for the Mayan apocalypse tale of prophecy, astronomy and ancient calendars to grab hold of that kind of person’s imagination.

For better or worse, it certainly caught the imagination of a lot of people. So much so that entire websites were created to debunk it. Even NASA chimed in with a video, among other things. Even if you didn’t believe the end was coming, the ride was pretty entertaining and even informative at times.

It’s now long past the deadline for the end of the world. Dec. 21 has come and gone for a good amount of people in the world. There was no Nibiru/Planet X, no black hole and no cataclysmic shift in the Earth’s crust. My plan to survive the apocalypse by hanging around John Cusack turned out to be foolish, at best.

Thanks for not involving the lawyers John.

Not unlike a disappointing movie, the Mayan apocalypse failed to deliver on the promises it had built up early on. The early part of the saga had it all. Ancient civilizations and their ancient prophecies, modern day mystics bringing that knowledge to the people and even gruff scientists fighting against the tide.

By the end however, the Mayan apocalypse had lost most of its steam. Actual Mayan people rejected notions of any sort of apocalyptic prophecy and more and more people treated the upcoming end of the world as an excuse to party.

To make matters even worse, the History Channel stopped showing Mayan apocalypse specials. If there’s anything that marks the death of a good apocalypse it’s the History Channel replacing coverage of it with “Pawn Stars” reruns.

Because of its lack of conviction, clear loss of intention and just plain anticlimactic ending, the 2012 apocalypse was decidedly not worth it.

I’ll see you at the next apocalypse.