2012 Mayan Apocalypse
Let’s start with the most famous modern prediction and subsequent interpretation of the end of the world, the Mayan calendar predicting 2012 as the last year of humanity and one that would make ‘doomsday prepping’ practically a cottage industry.
Many television programs, especially those on the (so-called) ‘History’ channel dedicated countless broadcast hours extolling the virtues of the ancient Mayan’s ability to see the end coming. Then graphically detailing just how it will all end, from asteroid strikes to magnetic poles shifts to the Earth colliding with an imaginary planet called Nibiru.
The Maya Long Count calendars “Great Cycle” came to an end on December 21, 2012. Undoubtedly the Mayans understanding of time is unquestionably impressive, as they have been tracking time continuously from a date 5,125 years earlier.
However, the predictions of doom and gloom were quickly dismissed by scholars who were at pains to point out no classic Mayan accounts forecast impending doom and the end of this cycle has always been prevalent in Mayan culture and it’s literature’s strong tradition of “world ages”.
As for the mythical planet Nibiru somehow colliding with Earth or passing close enough to cause the annihilation of all life on our planet, astronomers stated that even with the most elementary astronomical observations, someone would have noticed a planet hurtling towards us prior to 2012. Which of course they didn’t.
