2012: FACT OR FICTION?

The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012!  That according to the US space agency, which spoke out last week in a rare move to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and the new blockbuster Hollywood movie 2012.

The highly anticipated Sony Pictures film landed in theaters last weekend, promoting a theory about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar.  The doomsday scenario revolves around claims that the end of time will come as the Planet Nibiru heads toward and collides with Earth.  According to the movie, the mysterious planet was discovered by the Sumerians prompting some internet websites to accuse NASA of concealing the truth on the planet’s existence.  But NASA has denounced such stories as an “Internet hoax.”

“There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said in a question-and-answer posting on its website.  If such a collision were real “astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye,” it added. “Obviously, it does not exist.  Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” it insisted.

But some die-hard believers were quick to remind us, not so fast!  They point out that ancient and sophisticated Mayans created the Long Count calander, a time measurement system that had spiritual significance to their culture. They organized their calendar into several cycles, the last of which ends in ­December 2012, which has caused many to think the Mayans had discovered the world would indeed end in 2012.  Dozens of theories exist on how this might happen. Some claim that 2012 is when the Earth will experience a polar shift. Others say that after 2012, the Earth will experience a period of terrible destruction followed by a new age of peace and enlightenment.  And a few claim that in 2012, a secret government will accomplish its goal of total world domination.

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