2012: The Dark Truth Finally Unveiled
by Larry Klaes, space enthusiast and science journalist
A slightly different version of this article appeared on The Tompkins Weekly on May 10, 2010.
Not since 2000 has an impending year so intrigued and concerned the general public like 2012. Many people have a vague idea that the world is heading towards some kind of doom because of a calendar created by an ancient and mysterious race. They see every new natural and artificial disaster as one more bit of proof that everything will come to a crashing end – on December 21, 2012 to be exact.
What are the real facts behind all the stories, hype, and concern about 2012? Ithaca’s Science Cabaret devoted its last program of the spring to this very year and topic. Titled “2012: Truths and Fictions”, the subject was tackled from two key angles by Ann Martin, a Ph.D astronomy candidate at Cornell and Wendy Bacon, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bacon began with a very brief background on the Maya, the Mesoamerican culture which supposedly started all this fuss. Settled primarily in what is now southern Mexico and the bordering nations of Belize and Honduras, the Maya society (the letter n is added to the end of their name only when speaking about their language) existed from roughly 1500 BCE to 1500 CE when the Spanish conquistadors began settling their region. The Maya did not die out, however: Today between 4 and 9 million descendants of this once great society still live in the area, speaking twelve diverse languages and nestled among the rainforests and the remnants of the magnificent temples built by their ancestors.
Martin then took the stage to explain that a Cornell Web site titled “Ask an Astronomer” which started in 1997 and currently has over 800 answers to commonly asked questions about the heavens, began showing a noticeable increase in questions pertaining to 2012.
Martin examined some of the recent 2012 documentaries from The History Channel and the recent film with the year as its title. She noted that for the cable programs, sensationalism was prevalent. “Our days are numbered! Prepare for doomsday!” were some of the themes from the programs on The History Channel. As for what exactly is supposed to happen in December of 2012, Martin explained that we have been given three choices: A New Age style time of renewal, the actual end of the worlds, and a major astronomical event.
Bacon took the microphone from Martin to describe the Long Count calendar of the Maya which started our society’s focus on 2012. The Long Count began on August 11, 3114 BCE, a date chosen more out of numerical symmetry than anything else. The calendar’s choice of 2012 as its time to recycle is due to matching the number of days from its ancient origin. When Maya society began to collapse from the top down in our tenth century CE, the Long Count of measuring days went with it. “2012 is based on something that hasn’t been used in a very long time,” stated Bacon.
Responding to the question of why our modern society has focused on a calendar system that has not been used by the people who originated it in centuries, Martin suggested that one reason is that 2012 will come about sooner than, say, the calendar of the Maya’s neighbors – the Aztecs – which will not see the end of its current cycle until 2027.
The Cornell astronomer then addressed the various celestial fictions that have arisen regarding 2012. As one example, some claim that Earth will align with the center of the Milky Way galaxy on December 21 of two years hence and this will somehow bring about a terrible disaster. Using a simple diagram, Martin showed that our world aligns with the center of our galaxy twice a year as Earth orbits the Sun, and has done so for roughly the last five billion years.
Martin dismissed claims that our globe will be destroyed when it plunges into the galactic core, which is over 26,000 light years away. She also explained that Earth and humanity will not be affected by plunging through the plane of the Milky Way or if the planets in our Solar System line up (which they will not do on any day in 2012). She noted further that Earth will not be struck by the mythical planet Nibiru, or be fried by the Sun if Earth’s magnetic field should suddenly reverse itself.
“The public should be excited about the Maya and astronomy,” said Martin. “But instead, people are freaking out about 2012 for false reasons. This is a real shame.” Martin and Bacon both expressed concern about how uncertain and frightened many people (in North America at least) are about the year 2012 due to these unsubstantiated rumors. The scientists foresee a backlash against science from these events, which Martin calls a “loss of cosmophiles” or people who might otherwise love learning about the Cosmos.
Images: Chichén Itzá temple/Maya glyph composite, Aaron Logan; glyphs from La Mojarra Stela 1, Veracruz, Mexico — the left column gives a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.7, or June 23, 156 CE; Maya calendar cartoon, Dan Piraro.
We had a similar scare of doom in year 1996 (If I remember correctly) about year 2000, and in our state (a sourthern state in India), people were particularly scared by an article published in a popular magazine. The irony is, the same author was on a TV show recently, scaring us again, about 2012.
As a matter of fact, I believe world may end anytime. We have built up so many weapons. And there always people with a finger on the button. Even if we consider “natural events”, we humans have very small “survival space”. By survival space I mean, the range of physical and other parameters within which we survive. (for example maximum force we can tolerate, the temperature range, intensity of radiation etc). Somehow we have managed to survive up to now. No one knows how tomorrow might be.
But what makes me wonder is the frequency and ease with which people can come with such phony stories. One thing is sure, though.
Usually, the usual things happen.
Neo
I agree, Neo. These end-of-days scenarios only enrich charlatans while distracting people from real problems.
I want to thank Athena once again for posting my work on her blog. I look forward to the intelligent commentary that her site generates on these topics, and 2012 needs all the intelligent commentary it can get.
Plus I love the one-panel comic you put in at the end! Note how these Maya are using the Aztec sun god calendar for their own, plus they somehow know about the Christian dating system well before the events in that manger in Bethlehem! The Maya were prophets after all.
Athena also linked to a 19-minute excerpt of the actual lecture that I wrote about embedded above in my article, which will give you a taste of the event itself and more detail about the Maya, the Long Count, and the astronomical nonsense regarding 2012 than I could fit in my original 1,000-word limit.
The enthusiasm of both speakers was infectious. I know that Wendy Bacon could have gone on for the whole lecture just about that Mesoamerican culture without having to mention once otherwise that dreaded year, but that is not why most of the people were there in the first place, nor is much of the public who fear 2012.
Wendy mentioned that some of the Maya descendants living today have been interviewed on their thoughts about 2012. The vast majority of replies have ranged from What? to Those gringos are crazy. I am surprised some of them haven’t tried to cash in on the phenomenon. Or am I thinking too Western again?
Only one glyph has been found that mentions the Long Count equivalent of 2012 and a big deal was not made aboiut it. And no, it didn’t look anything like the Aztec sun god calendar. :^)
My worry is that some fanatic or a group of them will try to bring about some kind of disaster in keeping with some warped version of cosmic harmony or destiny. In 2000 a group of Amercian Christian fundamentalists actually flew to Israel to stir up trouble and bring about Armageddon, I kid you not. Thankfully they were dealt with swiftly by Israeli security forces.
And hey, if 2012 is a miss, we’ve got 2027 to look forward to when the Aztec calendar reaches the end of its latest cycle. Then we have 2039 when the space rock Apophis zips really near to Earth. And then we have Sir Isaac Newton’s prediction that the world will end in 2060 based on his interpretation of what is written in the Bible. So we have plenty of other world-shattering events to look forward to if the one for 2012 fails.
Always a pleasure, Larry! Yes, just about every site on the Internet that talks of the Maya calendar shows the Aztec Sun Wheel instead. Unnerving, to think that an incorrect fact has become “truth” by its omnipresence. I’m not surprised that the local descendants are amused or annoyed by this wingnuttery and I wouldn’t blame them if they tried to pull legs or wallets.