Where do all these idiot 2012 Mayan and Planet X questions come from?

me too

its spewed between the weak minded and the gullible

It's just one of those phenomenons. Its NOT limited to the Internet. And the idea that the world will either end or be transformed somehow in 2012 goes back a long time.

But the thing is, its totally baseless. Even historians who study the Mayan calendar, Mayan culture, Mayan history agree that the the Mayans never predicted the end of the world. Their calendar just ended, that's all. And no astronomer believes that there is a planet soon to collide with Earth - if there was such a planet we'd see it already.

I think the 2012 phenomenon is more about psychology than anything else. People just like this sort of thing. It gives them a shivery pleasure and they like imagining the world ending or changing. And people yearn to have an experience of something larger than themselves, whether its from religion, or from some crazy new age thing like the 2012 prophecies.

Pseudoscience and pop mythology have always been present in society; this is just the latest incarnation of it. Before there were UFO's, Bigfoot, Nostradamus, auras, etc. (And unfortunately many of those former pop trends are still hanging around to some degree.)

Remember that show "The X-Files?" Fox Mulder had a poster up on the wall behind his desk. It was your typical blurry picture of a flying saucer, with the caption "I Want to Believe." That, I think, really sums it up. Part of the problem is that the great majority of society is horrendously ignorant of science and the process of rational thinking. (Thanks, publik skoolz!) Part of it also is the desire most humans have to believe in something bigger than themselves, some mystery or force of nature to hold our attention and make us wonder. Together, those two factors create the perfect conditions for belief in all sorts of woo.

Below is a link to a good page debunking the whole 2012 mythology, which I used to give to such questions back when I still felt like paying them any attention. For an excellent but also very entertaining podcast on skepticism of these pop-mythology beliefs, check out the 2nd link below.

To people who have been taught to memorize knowledge out of a book and from the mouth of the teacher instead of being taught how to learn for themselves, there is no difference between someone telling them the world will end in 2012 and someone telling them it's a load of crap. To them, it's both just authorities telling them what to believe. It's the same deal as the creationism nonsense. To the average person, it only comes down to if you want to take the word of the preacher man or the scientist.

We have a serious lack of people who know how to research and learn and think critically in this country.

Yes, its coming from this program on the History Channel and also the Science Channel. The program is usually used in reference to Apocalyptic Prophecies and the various ones from around the world. The Mayan prophecy being one of the oldest and more popular.

history channel had a pretty convincing show. (well convincing to really dumb people) i myself learned about it like 5 years ago and i believed it at first but like last year i realized how dumb of a concept the theory is.

gross stupidity, a total lack of knowledge, and the notion that all information on the internet is gospel.

a few fraudsters are pushing this crap. very few.

ignorance, lack of interest in the effort required to understand even the most rudimentary science, total immersion and fascination with entertainment value.

By 2013, I'm sure people will stop talking about it.

At least, I hope they do.

I have know clue but, it is very annoying!