Atlantis and 2012

Atlantis and 2012. Some years ago there was a widespread rumour that an impending global disaster was about to befall us in December 2012, supposedly based on a particular reading of Mayan inscriptions. However, this interpretation was hotly disputed and of course, nothing happened, apart from the usual assortment of disasters which is the lot of the inhabitants of this cosmic speck that we live on.

A number of commentators attempted to link this ‘promised’ catastrophe with the story of Atlantis. One of the better known is Frank Joseph who has earned a comfortable living over recent years with his output of books on the subject of Atlantis. Not wishing that particular revenue stream dry up added Atlantis and 2012^[0694], in which he claimed that the Mayan calendar was developed by Atlanteans and Lemurians. He suggests that we may be nearing the beginning of a new Ice Age invoking Hopi, Inca and Norse mythologies in support of his claims. Joseph’s credibility should now be clear. When the world did not end, Joseph revised his book and republished it as Atlantis and the Coming Ice Age^[1074] in 2015!

We were then told to forget 2012, in fact, we had only days left. Harold Camping a then ninety-year-old American fundamentalist Christian decreed that May 21^st 2011 was the date of the ‘Rapture’ and the end of the world as we know it and when that passed uneventfully, he then declared October 21^st as the date.  He had previously suggested May 21^st 1988, then Sept. 6^th 1994 as the date of the Second Coming of Christ. Understandably, Camping’s biblical interpretation has been heavily criticised by scriptural authorities and lay people alike^(a). Camping died in December 2013.

Camping had spent large amounts of money publicising his daft ideas. As usual, there were fools prepared to believe all this 2011 or 2012 nonsense. For my part, I planned a special holiday in 2013 to celebrate my 70^th birthday. Which did occur.

Chris McCann

Nevertheless, the spirit of Camping lived on in the person of Chris McCann (left) who announced that October 7^th 2015 would be the Earth’s last day. It seems that this silliness is unending^(h).

In 2010 a British service entitled Post Rapture Pet Care, run by atheists, offered to look after the pets of fundamentalist Christians when they are taken up to Heaven in the Rapture, for a fee of £69.99. A similar service is on offer in the US named Eternal Earth-Bound Pets.

National Geographic offers a rational explanation^(d) of the reality behind this whole 2012 cynical scaremongering exercise. However, a somewhat less restrained view of the 2012 con job is provided by a ‘must read’ website^(e)that highlights the harm being done to young and vulnerable people by this nonsense.

A recent discovery in Guatemala, reported in June 2012^(f), has provided further evidence that the 2012 alarmist claims are unfounded and no more credible than the prognostications of Harold Camping. Let me spell it out, the latest find simply records that December 2012 will bring a Mayan time cycle (a baktun) to an end while another one will begin, in the same way, that we make a fuss at the end of a year, century or millennium.

However, for those that might be disappointed when 2013 arrives uneventfully, I can now reveal that in 2016 we shall, at last, have our catastrophe or so says Sylwester Kornowski^(g). In a 94-page stew of religion and ‘science’, we are assured that April 2^nd 2016 will bring on the cataclysm!

But don’t despair if 2016 fails to destroy us, because a newer prognostication is certain that 2027 will finally finish us off. Nevertheless, before getting too excited, it may be no harm to recall the words of Albert Einstein……“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”

^(a) https://www.cogwriter.com/harold-camping-may-21-2011.htm

^(b) See: Archive 2739

^(d) https://belize-travel-blog.chaacreek.com/2012/01/end-of-world-in-2012-maya-doomsday-calendar-explained/ *

^(e) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20140811054919/https://2012hoax.wikidot.com/oldstart

^(f) https://phys.org/news/2012-06-maya-archaeologists-unearth-monument.html

^(g) https://www.cosmology-particles.pl/files/GtoG.pdf (Mercifully now offline)

^(h) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/10/what-happens-when-your-end-of-the-world-prediction-is-wrong/?utm_source=Secular+Sunday&utm_campaign=cc9e003fa2-198_copy_01_10_16_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_09cfdc0dd4-cc9e003fa2-113411293