ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARSHALL FISHWICK
FOUR MORE years, and we will find ourselves not only in a new century but also a new millennium. No living person has been at such a juncture before, nor will anyone live to see it again. This will be a mythical event whose reach - worldwide because we live in a global village - will leave a mark on history like a tiger's claws.
The millennial myth originated in ancient Hebrew and Christian apocalyptic writings. Key elements are Tribulation, Armageddon, the Messiah and Millennium. These ancient and powerful religious symbols have great flexibility, adapting easily to changing cultures and technologies. In 19th century America, groups like the Oneida community, the Shakers, the Millerites (later to become the Seventh Day Adventists) and the Jehovah Witnesses flourished. The most successful attempt to build an earthly millennial paradise was the Mormons, today one of the fastest growing churches in the world.
The ancient symbols have blossomed again, finding new life in a "pop apocalypticism" that has swept over today's America - New Age consciousness, messianic cults, extraterrestrial believers, "Constitutionalists," witchcraft, teen-age suicides, cyber-punk, satanic- and grunge-rock bands, and apocalyptic films (like "Apocalypse Now"). Supernatural beliefs and practices mushroom: astrology, out-of-body experiences, channeling, UFOlogy. The healing power of crystals, pyramids and channeled spirits is heralded.
There is a dark side. The punk look is the look of mass destruction. White supremacists meld with paramilitary anti-government extremists, and we get the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. George Bush used apocalyptic language to lead us into the Persian Gulf War - so we could preserve a "New World Order" which took on new life and form in the growth of militias and the "America First" platform of Pat Buchanan. Buchanan represents a burgeoning political and cultural force which is becoming a nationalist movement. "Praise the Lord, abolish affirmative action, and stop abortions: the barbarians are at the gate!"
Fundamentalism - the fiery voice of imminent fear - has rushed out of the churches into the streets, the media and popular culture. Terms like the Beast, the Dragon, Armageddon and the Antichrist find a place in our talk shows, tabloids, magazines and TV ministries. They build on a trail of blood worldwide through acts of terrorism - not only in New York, Paris and Jerusalem, but also in Oklahoma, Amtrak derailments and rural Scotland. Empires crumble, alliances weaken, holes puncture the ozone layer, bandits defy the U.N., AIDS spreads - the only epidemic on record without a single survivor. Can anyone doubt that things seem to be falling apart?
The survivalists don't doubt it for a minute. Like punk, theirs is a philosophy of mass destruction and death. Survivalist ethic and millennial belief merge. Survivalists believe a nuclear war (or another major social disaster) is inevitable. So stockpile food and weapons and learn to practice survival strategies. It's your only chance.
Messianic movements crop up, like the Moonies, the People's Temple, the Branch Davidians or the Shinnikyo in Japan. Tokyo subways are flooded with poison gas. What is most alarming is not these offshoots - they occur in every age - but the fact that millennial symbols and images have moved from radical movements and cults into mainstream American culture.
They are using effective ploys to make a buck. There is still time, for example, to join the Millennium Society, which promises a global extravaganza to welcome in the new millennium The society has booked the Queen Elizabeth II to transport members from New York to Alexandria, Egypt, then on to seek new light in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza. How much? $10,000.
What powers the millennium myth? Novelty, publicity, hype. It provides a worldwide picture - a frame of reference - about our place in the universe and the passing of time. It draws on the stories of apocalyptic myths and interprets current events through them. When survivalists, militias, "Patriots" or "Soldiers of Fortune" apply apocalyptic language and imagery to current events, they are transforming the secular into the sacred.
The flames are fanned by unprecedented social and cultural changes that are turning the world of many upside down. The love affair with high tech is languishing. No one knows where our dash down the Information superhighway will take us. We seem lost in a labyrinth of undigested facts and factoids. We drown in disinformation.
What is new is the changing scope of change itself. What is unprecedented in 1996 is that most things we see, buy, wear and use are more short-lived than we are. Time is out of joint.
Traditional jobs vanish and bureaucracies flourish. Bureaucrats armed with computers are the virtual legislators of our age, and a terrible burden to bear. Computers don't work - they direct work. They have little value without something to control.
As Neil Postman points out, to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail; to one with a pencil, everything looks like a list; to one with a camera, everything looks like picture; to one with a computer, everything looks like data. As a part of the millennial myth, there is a growing cyberspace backlash. Computer communities, we have come to recognize, are impoverished. They have no church, cafe, art gallery, theater or bar. No birds sing and no bees sting. Plenty of human contact, but no humanity.
Have we made a Faustian bargain? To get the mindboggling toys do we give up part of our humanity?
The millennium is coming: we can make of it what we will. So long as some Christians accept Bible text as the literal word of God, and so long as many others search for a better and more humane world, the millennial myth will evolve, adapt and endure. It is part of our culture cage.
Our job then will be to humanize that culture - to make it our servant, not our master. As we move forward we must look backward, identifying the wellsprings of energy, the heroic actions and the sense of community that made us a great and vibrant nation, the envy of the world. We have a goodly heritage. The time has come to study it, seize it, revitalize it, and move forward.
Many years ago, an hysterical doom-boomer rushed into Ralph Waldo Emerson's study, shouting: "How can you sit there and write your books? Don't you know the world is coming to an end on Thursday?"
Emerson looked up, smiled, and answered "I can get along without it."
On to the millennium!
Marshall Fishwick is a professor of humanities and communications studies at Virginia Tech.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Gary Viskupic/Newsdayby CNB