I'm glad someone is setting the record straight as to the Mayan Apocalypse. I remember traveling through Arizona in 1987 and taking part in the Harmonic Convergence at Chaco Canyon. That's the great kiva pictured above. It was fun, but I don't think very many persons took McKenna's doomsday prophecy seriously at the time. He was largely interested in ecological awareness and had created a cult of sorts around the idea that if we didn't clean up our act in 25 years this Mayan prophecy from the 12th century would hold true. He inspired Jose Arguelles to pen a book called The Mayan Factor. The "convergence" referred to more than one ancient calendar that supposedly lined up on the seemingly far-off date of December 21, 2012.
It is amazing how something like this can gather steam and become such a big part of the collective consciousness that NASA and the White House are spending time counseling parents on how to relieve the stress many children are having over this impending "apocalypse." Of course, it doesn't help when so many media outlets are hyping this event through so-called documentaries and "truthy" articles.
All I know about this pseudo-event is what some nitwit "wrote" about it in one of my freshman comp classes last year. The word wrote is in quotation marks because his essay was 100% plagiarized from the Internet. So not only was he "writing" about a hoax, his essay was a hoax as well. The only thing that wasn't a hoax was the F he earned in the course. Perhaps he was massively enlightened by the experience, although I doubt it. He struck me as the kind of "student" who would only gain enlightenment in a correctional institution.
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT!
DeleteDefinitely the post of the year in this site!
I had fun writing that as well. If I didn't maintain a sense of humor it would be impossible for me to teach.
DeleteIt's 12/12/12
ReplyDeleteor,
6 + 6
6 + 6
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The world ain't come to an end just yet. Dooms Day criers, notwithstanding.
:)
I would certainly give National Geographic an "F" for its recent programming, which has capitalized on this madness. Here are a couple examples:
ReplyDeleteCountdown to Armageddon,
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/2012-countdown-to-armageddon-the-end-is-near/
and Doomsday Preppers,
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/
and there are quite a few other programs on Nat Geo in a similar vein.
Was 12/12/12 the date? Does that mean we have survived?
ReplyDeleteNope, 12/21 is the date. Still 8 days away.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, we watched 2012 last night on television. It came out in 2009. What an abomination! It was hard to feel any anxiety over this as it was one overblown CGI effect after another. But, what I loved about it was the idea of the three arks awaiting the chosen few high up in the Himalaya Mts. Even elephants and giraffes were being airlifted in. This was the height of Roland Emmerich's imagination until a huge wave came rolling in through the mountain pass.
ReplyDeleteI loved how everything comes undone on a single day, 12/21/2012, right down to the second in fact, as the waves swamp Tibet. This symbolic country is well over 3000 meters above sea level at any one point, yet these 1500 meter high waves had no problem reaching this mountain stronghold. A real head slapper there.
I just wondered how so many good actors, ranging from Danny Glover as the President, to Chiwetel Ejiofor as a geologist and John Cusack as a science fiction writer, both of whom become the heroes in this movie, while the President goes down with the sinking White House back in Washington, leaving his daughter, Thandie Newton, to fall in love with the geolgist.
These days the big waves flooding the White House might not be that far off.
ReplyDeletethe world is not coming to an end:
ReplyDeletehttp://noticias.univision.com/primer-impacto/videos/video/2012-12-17/llego-la-hora-del-fin-del-mundo
this is in Spanish - while most of the commentators speak in a generic style that can readily be understood by most who know the language, the Mayan priest at the end speaks with a deep regional accent. He affirms the world is not ending but a new era begins - one that affords us many opportunities to grow from our past difficulties.
That's good to know ; )
ReplyDeleteAnybody watch the Bak'tun festivities on Spanish language networks or online? A fun time was had by all.
ReplyDeleteWhile so many myth makers said this was supposed to be Doom's Day, in fact, this is only the ending of a time period and the beginning of a new cycle. One that can bring about peace & unity if only we would all pursue it.
HAPPY NEW OLAJUJ BAK'TUN TO EVERYONE!
http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/slacktivist/files/2012/12/baktun-1024x458.jpg
by the way, Bak'tun roughly means a binding together of people or unity among humankind - we have only another 400 years (at least) to do just that :)
It is kind of sad that within all this "doomsday" bullshit, few networks saw fit to actually explore the Mayan culture. I think Nat'l Geo had an episode or two, but that was about it.
ReplyDelete