This isn’t just a 2012 problem – in newspapers and tabloid television, “experts” can find it easy to dismiss a topic by misrepresenting it and then debunking it. This is unfortunate because most of the public learns about conspiracy-type topics from these experts. Let’s take a little look at how 2012 is misrepresented in popular media:

Nomenclature

In interviews I almost always get introduced in the same manner – Robert Bast, who believes the world will end in 2012. And every time I correct their sensationalism – I think the end of the world, as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) could occur in 2012.

It really is a double-edged sword. Most 2012ers are preparing to survive or become light-beings or ascend. None of these are the end of the world (EOTW), in which everything ends. Yet the media uses EOTW. And the experts drolly state “the Maya only believe in cycles, not an end“. Misrepresentation has 2012ers looking like idiots, and the message is lost.

For example, this letter and response yesterday at the Memphis Flyer:

Reader: Maybe an economic meltdown, maybe global warming or a new ice age, maybe the supervolcano in Yellowstone Park, or a comet, or something.

Columnist: As long as people have been people, they’ve been convinced the world was about to end. It hasn’t ended yet.

That is a common response – every end of the world prophecy so far has failed to come true, because we are still here. Which is why smart 2012ers don’t say EOTW or TEOTWAWKI – they say Shit Hits The Fan (SHTF). It’s an acknowledgement of the variety of tragedies that can occur, and that our preparations should be as all-encompassing as they can be. People can relate to SHTF, it can be anything from losing your job, to gang warfare in your neighborhood, to a hurricane, to a global cataclysm. It’s just a shame that Americans are so uncomfortable using the word shit.

Comets and Asteroids and Planet X / Nibiru

A comet striking Earth or flying close by in 2012 is a genuine possibility. While the scientific threat is a constant one, the return of a comet is pretty much the only catastrophe that an ancient culture could have predicted for a certain date. NASA cannot tell us with certainty that no comet is heading our way – a doomsday comet might only be spotted months before collision, and a dark comet might not be spotted at all.

Yet in popular media, the comet threat is ignored. You might hear great detail about how NASA has spotted every meaningful asteroid, and how Planet X isn’t real, but they conveniently do not discuss comets. Lately Comet Elenin has been discussed, but only that specific comet which is clearly not coming anywhere near our planet.

LHC – Large Hadron Collider

This is pretty much the only 2012 topic which warrants EOTW. According to some, the Large Hadron Collider experiments could create a black hole that rapidly grows and erases our planet from existence. End of the World.

SHTF vs EOTW vs TEOTWAWKI is a post from: 2012 Blog

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I was quite OK with the LHC when experts explained that cosmic rays cause the creation of harmless mini-black holes in our atmosphere all the time. Now I don’t know what to think!

Otto Rössler is the professor who sued and failed in his attempt to halt the Large Hadron Collidor. Over at Lifeboat.com he lists 10 solid reasons to be concerned about the LHC. The primary argument is that those mini-black holes in our atmosphere are moving very fast, and will zip through Earth without harming us. A black hole created by the LHC will move slowly, and will eat us up before it departs! He calculates the process will take a few years to reduce our planet to 2cm in diameter – that’s too cosy for my liking!

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Although it is still a pathetic amount, relative to the risk, NASA has seen its annual budget for near-Earth object observations quadruple to $20.4 million.

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Scientists believe they may have found a new planet in the far reaches of the solar system, up to four times the mass of Jupiter. Its orbit would be thousands of times further from the Sun than the Earth’s – which could explain why it has so far remained undiscovered.

Not proven yet, and not Planet X. Still, perhaps fans of Planet X will take this as further evidence that their beloved planet could still be visiting us in 2012!

10 LHC Consequences / NASA Budget / Planet (X) Tyche is a post from: 2012 Blog

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This CNN video lets us know that there are lots of Chinese folk living in old, underground shelters. The question – is this a sign that the Chinese Govt. deems shelters unnecessary, or is it true that they plan on evicting the residents?
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/02/07/yoon.china.mouse.tribe.cnn

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The Large Hadron Collider was due to shut down at the end of this year, so that scientists could prepare it to operate at full power. This has now been changed, and the LHC will continue operating in 2012, still only using half of its capabilities. For some people this will be a relief!

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Few have heard of the Mzora stone circle, so the article about it at Heritage Action is worth sharing around. Found in remote Morocco, it has many similarities to Celtic circles, including the use of the “megalithic yard”. It could end up being an important clue in discovering the origins of megaliths, especially when combined with this quote from Geoffrey of Monmouth:

“They are mystical stones, and of medicinal virtue. The giants of old brought them from the farthest coasts of Africa, and placed them in Ireland, while they inhabited that country.”

Chinese Air Raid Shelters / LHC in 2012 / Mzora Stone Circle is a post from: 2012 Blog

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Large Hadron Collider: Scientists at the world’s biggest atom smasher have recreated Big Bang conditions by switching the particles they use for collisions from protons to much heavier lead ions – leading to what one scientist called a “a very, very, very small bang”, and obviously we are still here.

Beginning of the end? Scientists have begun genetically modifying insects! The cause is worthy (ridding the world of dengue fever), but mosquitoes are evil enough without having a Frankenstein variety on the loose…

Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, and remained distinctly different, for a very long time, in both Asia and Europe. And, “It argues for very little adaptive advantage on the part of these modern humans.” This is getting so confusing that a total rethink may be required. Perhaps the interbreeding and separation was by design, not by nature? (I’m thinking some kind of Planet of the Apes scenario…)  Perhaps the Neanderthals did not become extinct, but just evolved a little? When someone cracks this, potentially we will have a new take on what race means, or even accept that our lineage is chaotic rather than linear…

Science Updates is a post from: 2012 Blog

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For all I know it is just spin, but the news this week is that the LHC couldn’t possibly cause a doomsday in 2012 – it will be shut down for repairs.

In September 2008, just 9 days after physicists first circulated protons through the 27-kilometer-long subterranean accelerator, the LHC suffered a catastrophic failure when one of those connections melted. After 14 months of repairs, CERN officials decided to limit the accelerator to half-energy to protect the connections and to shut down to repair them as soon as the LHC had produced a sizable data set, which should be by the end of next year.

Looks like 2013 will be the earliest that we will see the LHC operating at 100% capacity. Fingers crossed for that!

Not a 2012 Disaster: Large Hadron Collider is a post from: 2012 Blog

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The underlying fear of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is that it is too experimental for any scientist to truly understand the risks.

Originally we were told that it was impossible for black holes (that could gobble up the entire planet) to be created, because they “would decay before they got the chance to do any damage”.

This has been updated to:

“the growth of black holes to catastrophic size does not seem possible.”

“the expected decay times are much longer (and possibly ≫ 1 sec) than is typically predicted by other models”

By “other models” this scientist is referring to his own previous study which announced that a black hole could not last longer than one second. I find it disturbing that the language used to describe the safety has changed slightly, has become less iron-clad.

LHC is still safe – probably is a post from: 2012 Blog

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Preparations for starting up the world’s largest atom-smasher on Sept. 10 are proceeding smoothly, but the legal tussle over whether it should be stopped is facing new twists. Look for Nobel laureates and diplomats to weigh in as a key federal court hearing nears.

It’s kinda like global warming. Hundreds of experts say the LHC is harmless, and a handful of experts say it could cause the end of us and our planet.

Meanwhile the European Court of Human Rights has rejected an emergency injunction to block the Large Hadron Collider from being turned on.

My opinion: I reckon they’ve already turned it on in a trial run, and we are still here.

Courts Asked to Halt Doomsday is a post from: 2012 Blog

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It’s a great headline, based on two facts:

1) The Large Hadron Collider that will be switched on this year (fingers crossed it doesn’t wipe us all out – but if it does, you probably wouldn’t see it coming), could open up miniature wormholes, of the type that some believe makes time travel possible

2) Because of causality, one cannot travel back in time beyond when time travel was invented, otherwise your device would cease to exist

Unfortunately, the only time travellers that could visit would be sub-atomic in size, so we’ll never know. We need to wait until something like the TARDIS is built. When that is first used, we could expect millions of time-travellers arriving in our present, all at once!

Time Travel Begins in 2008 is a post from: 2012 Blog

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