The Mayan "Doomsday" and Media Influence

There is a cultural fear – around the world - that December 21^st, 2012 will mark the end of the earth (as we know it).   As the day approaches, it seems there are a number of factions – including the media – trying to “debunk” this fear.  There’s good reason for this, as acting as though the world will “end tomorrow” has led to destructive behavior in a number of places.

What has influenced so many people to believe this may happen?  The Mayan calendar cycles in “baktuns” of 394 years.  A recent meeting of experts in Mexico, where this was discussed, pointed to the fact that there may have been 13 baktuns completed by Dec. 21st 2012, and 13 was a significant number for the Mayans.  Therefore, the end of that cycle would be some sort of milestone, "but not an end.”

Anthropologist and scholar Alexander Voss, notes that the “end of the world” phenomenon is more of our own creation than the Mayans.  "This is thinking that, in truth, has nothing to do with Mayan culture…This thing about looking for end-times is not something that comes from Mayan culture."  Or, as another scholar put it - the end of the 13^th cycle could be a milestone, such as a prophecy of something else, such as a drought, disease, or other event.  “The Mayas did make prophecies, but not in a fatalistic sense, but rather about events that, in their cyclical conception of history, could be repeated in the future,” said Alfredo Barrera, of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History.

What does this mean as December creeps forward?  It means, as noted in the U.K’s journal, The Register, you better pay your taxes.   And yet the panic is worldwide: from the “believers” website to Hollywood's thriller movies, so the “end of days” has played a large part in the public’s imagination.   According to Reuter’s, 10% of the population (in the 20 countries they polled) believes it will happen on December 21^st.  There’s the “collective mass psychosis” of women inmates at a prison near China, and the pilgrimage of many to “hide out” in the Alps.  And in Russia, there are people hoarding food, matches, kerosene, and candles.  

Articles and posts have abounded this year, from the Huffington Post to the New York Times and even on Wikipedia, not only pointing out these trends but trying to show how they have been fabricated or misconstrued – in order to put the public’s mind at ease.  And why not?  The media, to some extent, used its massive influence to create the panic in the first place – so why not use the media to diffuse it?  Let’s see what happens.  (We look forward to seeing you on December 22^nd!)