NASA releases Mayan apocalypse video '10 days early'

Rob Williams
The Independent
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00 UTC

Nasa appears so confident about their prediction that he world will not come to an end that they have released the video early

Nasa has released a video ahead of schedule tackling the 'myths' surrounding the belief the world will end on December 21st.

The video, which was clearly intended for release the day after the 21st, begins: "December 22, 2012. If you're watching this video, it means one thing. The world didn't end yesterday."

It goes on to attempt to debunk the ideas surrounding the so-called 'Mayan prophecies', saying the date is based on a misconception.

Making the argument point by point the video sets to put to rest the catastrophic prophecies, including debunking the notion that the sun will irradiate the atmosphere or that another planet will smash into Earth.

Indeed Nasa appears so confident about their prediction that the world will not come to an end that they have released the video early.

The attempt to refute the end of days theories isn't the first from Nasa.

They have posted several messages on their blog, explaining why they believe the world won't end, writing: "The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."

And in answer to the question 'Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?' they reply: "Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar."

According to some interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar the 21st of December will signal the end of a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count - and will bring about the apocalypse.

There have been scattered reports of panic buying of candles and essentials in China and Russia. There has also been a reported hike in the sales of survival shelters in America.

Comment: It probably isn't an accident that this video was released 'early'. What we find most interesting about the video is the conflation of the Mayan-calendar-end-of-days 'prophecy' with catastrophes brought on by cometary bombardment. The Western New Age promoters of the Mayan schtik largely avoid the issue of cyclic catatophism, preferring instead to promote John Major Jenkins' theories about the planet's alignment with galactic center on that date and a subsequent sudden mass enlightenment/spiritual ascension, along the same lines as the Christian fundie 'Rapture'.

So they aren't using the Mayan schtik to pooh-pooh the dominant New Age meme; instead, they're using it to ridicule the very real historical threat of cyclic catastrophes brought on by close encounters with large cometary bodies and their progenitors. Given the incredible increase in the rate of reported fireball sightings in 2011 and again in 2012, it seems that they 'doth protesteth too much' by using the New Age '12.21.2012' phenomenon as a strawman to downplay the fact that Something Wicked This Way Comes.