Mis-heard news story of the weekend

19/11/2012

Driving up to Bath from Cornwall, Friday evening. Radio news: there's a mountain in south-west France that is expected to survive the end of the world - which is due on 21st December this year. Okay, fine so far, Mayan long-count calendar, and so on. Main point of the story: people are flocking to this mountain because they believe they'll be rescued by aliens just before the e-o-t-w. Form an orderly queue on 20th Dec.?
    And the punchline of the story: "the authorities" have closed off access to this mountain. Eh? Surely this is a tourist opportunity: if I was expecting to embark on a long journey, I'd want a packed lunch. Although I suppose the postcard-sending opportunity would be limited, if all my friends and relatives were about to be ended along with the world. Maybe a cuddly toy for the children, and a last coffee at a pavement cafe.
    This is "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" all over again, isn't it? Further research: the mountain is Pic de Bugarach, and the closure is a public-safety issue - large numbers of believers are expected to attend. That mountain does have an interesting profile ... maybe I should sculpt it in butter on the kitchen table. And find an app to play some simple notes, plus colours. [Key detail missed: the aliens emerge from the mountain in this version.]
    But I was thinking about ... not being allowed to indulge your beliefs. Before I got the details, and the public-safety angle, I thought: yes, there is a mindset whereby "the authorities", in whatever form, shut down beliefs that don't fit. I think Francois Truffaut was right: Richard Dreyfuss and the rest of them shouldn't have been shut out; they were invited. If rock concerts, rock festivals and presidential rallies can be managed in a way that minimises the public-safety issue, shouldn't these people be allowed to visit their mountain?
    After all, what exactly is the threat to our world view?

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