The Mayans didn't predict that the world will end in 2012

[Humes fork]

There is quite some noise around about the supposed Mayan prophecy of the world ending in 2012.

Why is it not said louder that it's an urban myth, that there is no such Mayan prophecy?

The Skeptic's Dictionary has an entry on it, or if you want it easy, read the kid-version entry.

Besides, it's pretty remarkable that people think that a civilization that went into decline around 900 CE (when the Europeans came to Mesoamerica, the Mayans were already only a shadow of their former glory) has anything relevant to say on the world many centuries later.

 

[Mike!]

Doom and gloomers have to have something to look forward to, don't they? Granted, their lives involve one big disappointment after another, yet they still look to the future, for another date when it all will end, again.

 

[Ray Brady]

"2012 Will Be a Year Much Like Any Other"

It's hard to see a headline like that getting picked up by Yahoo! News.

 

[Halfcentaur]

One of the things I hear sometimes which "believers" claim give this idea so much credence was how the Aztec predicted Quetzalcoatl would return and destroy their civilization. Quetzalcoatl was also said to have plumes or something, which Cortés had. How they stretch this to the Maya, you got me.

 

[RobDegraves]

My favorite thing to say about the 2012 Mayan prophecy....

If you are really worried, we can apply the traditional Mayan remedy. We just take a large number of people up a pyramid and tear out their still beating hearts.

We can start with all the people who believe in a Mayan prophecy.

 

[Brattus]

There is quite some noise around about the supposed Mayan prophecy of the world ending in 2012.

Why is it not said louder that it's an urban myth, that there is no such Mayan prophecy?

The Skeptic's Dictionary has an entry on it, or if you want it easy, read the kid-version entry.

Besides, it's pretty remarkable that people think that a civilization that went into decline around 900 CE (when the Europeans came to Mesoamerica, the Mayans were already only a shadow of their former glory) has anything relevant to say on the world many centuries later.

Are you serious? I have been living in this hole in the ground with nothing to eat but dirt for the past year just to survive. I saw a TV show about it! It was on the history channel! They can't lie on TV can they? Now you come along and say it is all made up b.s. Great. It looks like the human race will live on but now I have to get a job.

Thanks. No really. Thanks.

 

[Senex]

Are you serious? I have been living in this hole in the ground with nothing to eat but dirt for the past year just to survive. I saw a TV show about it! It was on the history channel! They can't lie on TV can they? Now you come along and say it is all made up b.s. Great. It looks like the human race will live on but now I have to get a job.

Thanks. No really. Thanks.

And I have reason to believe that isn't a real picture of Humes Fork. Will the bulloney never end?

 

[AlaskaBushPilot]

Why is it not said louder that it's an urban myth, that there is no such Mayan prophecy?

The myth is one sound byte. It requires an IQ of 20, and feeds the ego.

Understanding anything about the Mayans is not only too much effort, but when you stop to realize how awesome the capacity to construct an accurate calendar that far into the future is - the fragile little egos of the stupids can't handle that.

 

[ehcks]

The only thing that will change on December 21, 2012, is that no one will care about the Mayans anymore.

 

[mike3]

The myth is one sound byte. It requires an IQ of 20, and feeds the ego.

Understanding anything about the Mayans is not only too much effort, but when you stop to realize how awesome the capacity to construct an accurate calendar that far into the future is - the fragile little egos of the stupids can't handle that.

And, more importantly, it does not give exciting woo stuff. And isn't a small ego good? Also, it doesn't take a Ph.D.'s worth of understanding to simply get that this one myth isn't so.

 

[Jim_MDP]

My favorite thing to say about the 2012 Mayan prophecy....

If you are really worried, we can apply the traditional Mayan remedy. We just take a large number of people up a pyramid and tear out their still beating hearts.

We can start with all the people who believe in a Mayan prophecy.

Silly, silly hooman... it must be done quickly and almost surgicaly, with an obsidian blade!

If you want to please the Gawds... do it right.

 

[Nosi]

One of the things I hear sometimes which "believers" claim give this idea so much credence was how the Aztec predicted Quetzalcoatl would return and destroy their civilization. Quetzalcoatl was also said to have plumes or something, which Cortés had. How they stretch this to the Maya, you got me.

The two have a similar skin tone and same-ish real estate. That's all the 'blenders' need.

 

[swanjackal]

Understanding anything about the Mayans is not only too much effort, but when you stop to realize how awesome the capacity to construct an accurate calendar that far into the future is - the fragile little egos of the stupids can't handle that.

I know, they were years ahead of their time and great seers.......they even created gods that give you astronomical scores in scrabble....and it hadn't been invented yet.

 

[Chris L]

I don't know much about the Mayans, but I do know a little about human nature. That tells me that the Mayan calendar makers were probably less concerned about what might happen 10,000 years in the future than they were in getting the time of the next harvest right. So when the calendar "ended" wouldn't matter much if exceeded their lifetime.

 

[AlaskaBushPilot]

Also, it doesn't take a Ph.D.'s worth of understanding to simply get that this one myth isn't so.

Yeah, that is one of the most disappointing things about living in the Era of Stupid: No level of knowledge, no matter how small, can be applied to Stupid.

 

[scratchy]

Yes, it is easy enough to see that they did not make such a prediction. But people will still believe they did. The real issue re the end of the world in 2012, is not wether they made the prediction or not, but so what if they did?

 

[Bell]

The real issue re the end of the world in 2012, is not wether they made the prediction or not, but so what if they did?

Then it must be true!

But no, they did not predict the end of the world. The Mayans created a calendar that somehow stopped at December 21, 2012. It's some modern day men that saw that as a prediction of the world's end.

Last year's Gregorian calendar ended December 31, 2011. Guess what... we're still here.

 

[Marduk]

I know, they were years ahead of their time and great seers.......they even created gods that give you astronomical scores in scrabble....and it hadn't been invented yet.

if you were playing those rules before April 2010, you were cheating

 

[kerikiwi]

It matters not a jot whether the Mayans predicted the end of the world, or simply that this is the end of their very, very long year.
If they made such a prediction they were just as deluded as any other person who has made such predicitions.

 

[mikeyx]

There is quite some noise around about the supposed Mayan prophecy of the world ending in 2012.

Why is it not said louder that it's an urban myth, that there is no such Mayan prophecy?

The Skeptic's Dictionary has an entry on it, or if you want it easy, read the kid-version entry.

Besides, it's pretty remarkable that people think that a civilization that went into decline around 900 CE (when the Europeans came to Mesoamerica, the Mayans were already only a shadow of their former glory) has anything relevant to say on the world many centuries later.

they already rescheduled the rapture once or twice, whats your point?