2012 "Misinformation"

In a recent article on the Discovery Channel website, NASA scientist and spokesperson David Morrison assured the public that Roland Emmerich's upcoming disaster movie 2012 "exploits people's fears" with an ad campaign geared to convince people the world will soon suffer the sweeping, catastrophic effects of solar activity.
"I don't have anything against the movie. It's the way it's been marketed," said Morrison – who, frustrated by a torrent of anxious questions, recently posted a rebuttal at his "Ask An Astrobiologist" blog.
Morrison isn't the only one who thinks the promotional campaign for 2012 – which launched an armada of websites portraying the film's fictional events as grounded in astrophysical evidence – has crossed the line of good taste and responsibility.
"I think people are really, really worried about the world coming to an end. Kids are contemplating suicide. Adults tell me they can't sleep and can't stop crying. There are people who are really, really scared," he told Discovery. "People are very gullible. It a sad testimonial that you need NASA to tell you the world's not going to end."
Image Courtesy of nasa.gov
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- 10-27-09
- Michael Garfield's blog
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Orson Wells
One can look up into the sky as if to find the limits of one's wonder.
Or one can forsake such for the descriptions of another
Oh, come on
putting the rabbit in the hat
Have a <3
You know, we can say that people shouldn't take a movie seriously, or that "gullible" is just describing a certain group of people, or it is how this particular person sees humanity--but there is a core level of truth that is VERY REAL to many people and that is simply: that they believe what they see in the media, whether it is meant to be taken seriously or not.
People who believe in frequency, and group mind of the world, would be wise not to shirk that off because it is all a part of our greater reality. Why would we want people to feel afraid? It is important that people NOT feel afraid, but also that they are educated about this cosmic event in a responsible manner, when they are ready to take in that information. I agree that the movie marketing is irresponsible--I disagree with playing on people's fears. And I think that it is so rampant in our modern society that people like us have an acute tendancy to want to say "hey, silly, you should know better by now!" Yea, maybe they should know better...but maybe certain groups of people, particularly the mainstream of society (ie- not "us") does rely on the media to get their information, and it is a clear situation where the media WANTS them to feel scared, vulnerable, and sleepless....can anyone say "swine flu?" or "healthcare is socialism?" or "2012"--can you possibly see where the line has become so blurred that some people cannot even distinguish between justifiable worry and ridiculous pandering????
All I am trying to say here is that maybe this guy has a point and that sometimes creating a gimmick for a movie is creating a certain amount of fear---and if more people are fearful than not, then suddenly the world is a very scary place....People will not choose to change their way of thinking if we look at them in their fear and say "my god, you are an idiot"
It's hard for us
It's hard for us RS types to look at this objectively, since we've been familiar with the many facets of the 2012 meme for years, regardless of our personal beliefs about the so-called end date. But imagine if you were just exposed to it? People are fearful because they are losing their "2012 innocence,"not necessarily because they are gullible.
I've had friends and family members ask me lately, "Have you heard of this whole 2012 thing?" They are not gullible or stupid people, they just, until now, were not been exposed to the date and all its subcultural baggage.
But at the same time, I think eschatological fears are part of human nature, and movies are just movies. Hopefully those frightened by advertising will begin their own personal inquiry.
Fool me once...
Fool me once (Y2K), shame on you.
Fool me twice (12/21/12), shame on me.
2012 Innocence
I like that idea, losing innocence as oppossed to gullibility. We're all ignorant or uninformed about something or another.
Adopting a healthy skepticism about anything one is exposed to (especially via media) certainly curtails any immediate panic.
Thanks for covering this, I am sure it is only the beginning of 'the fear' !
"The only thing constant in life is change" -François de la Rochefoucauld
Boycott it!
Boycott it!
Marketing as innoculation against bullshit
I've always thought the silver lining of BS marketing is an apparent gradual decrease in mass gullibility.
It may even be one of the more effective/deeper branches of our education system: all those ads constantly abusing people's trust as hard as possible, creating a darwinian push for them to think more critically and see through institutional smokescreens.
Look at some PSA's from the 1950s, and try to imagine someone falling for them now: the stiff body language, the contrived scenarios, the hamfisted narration.
Not to say the PR/propaganda game has fundamentally changed since then - just that both sides have increased in skill, mostly in response to advances by the Man. This marketing campaign (which I hadn't heard of, BTW) could be yet another of His inadvertent upgrades.
Literalisation
In my eyes this film will cause damage by literalising the meme. I think it's healthier to believe that 2012 will herald a profound shift in human consciousness for the better than it is to worry about the literal end of the world.
The question is not whether a myth is a true but whether the way you interpret a myth makes you behave in a better or worse way. It's important that if myths were being artificially imposed on us for other peoples benefit that we hijack them and impose our own interpretation upon them that inspires us to grow and heal.
Hollywood
Yes-- boycott the machine
I wholeheartedly agree with Yarn as Yoga-- Sony be damned for propagating more catastrophobia. --And I agree with Sean B that we all have a choice between Love and Fear.
My 2012 does NOT include crustal upheavals, mass coronal ejections, magnetic pole shifts or anything of the sort. I choose peace and love; I choose a positive evolution of the human species.
The problem is that the majority of the species are bovine-like. They are so incredibly gullible and simply meander to the slaughter to be programmed with more negative catastrophic CRAP that pollutes the collective consciousness and becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. ..and when I say "bovine-like", that is not a judgment; just an observation.
It is time for leadership. It is time to decide which camp you are in: 1) The "earth is coming to an end" when the sun aligns with the galactic center crowd or the, 2) "Hey-- this is cool; our planet and species is about to undergo a positive shift toward enlightenment" crowd.
Make your choice and make your reality.
*Todos Somos Uno*
new 2012 scenario, perhaps?
I agree, Hollywood scenario of 2012 is pretty narrow minded. The only interesting thing about the film, in my opinion, are special effects. As for the plot - it's a drab: the same old strategy of scaretactics, physical destruction, lots of noise, explosions, etc.
On the other hand, progressive scientists have theories that a shift in the earth electromagnetic fields can produce quite unexpected effects in the human brain and psyche.
Personally, I would be more interested to see a film that focuses exactly on that subject. For example, the base idea could be that on December 21, 2012 all people of the earth suddenly become telepathic? What would be the consequences of this global phenomena? How many of existing socio-economic structures would survive the sudden change? And would it change the world for better or worse?
Alternatively, that could be a very interesting documentary by conducting a series of interviews with leading specialists across different fields, i.e. sociologists, psychologists, economists, business leaders, doctors, politicians, new age and spiritual leaders, biologists, brain scientists, marketers and advertisers, artists, etc. and ask them one single question: If the world suddenly goes telepathic, how do you think it would effect the world and you?
Better than telepathic, I think...
...would be waking up to the knowledge of the most recent previous lifetime.
Kinda like the show Flash Forward, but that suddenly everyone realizes that the people in the center of their lives (and even some in the periphery) were different essential characters in previous lifetimes.
The realization would be gradual in that it wouldn't become apparent to you until you looked into the eyes of someone you knew in a past life. Immediately, you'd get flashbacks of your past life with this person, and the personal dynamic would immediately change into a transpersonal dynamic causing everyone to reconsider their treatment of others.
How could you cheat, lie to, rape, or kill someone who had been your son or daughter in another life?
Not only would this be a cool solution to the inhumane treatment of others, it would make a really cool TV show!
The 6th Night Begins...more from Calleman
November 8, 2009 – the beginning of the Sixth NIGHT ---
October 31, 2009
Before going into the specifics of the upcoming sixth night, November 8, 2009 – November 2, 2010, of the Galactic Wave Movement (or Underworld) I feel I should clarify some of my basic points of departure for understanding the Mayan calendar, since the various ideas that are currently proposed for this vary significantly. There are for instance those that believe that the end date of the Mayan calendar only marks the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new. On my own part I however think that we are approaching something much more profound than just a point in a cycle that again will be repeated. The only Mayan inscription from ancient times, the Tortuguero monument, which describes the end (http://bit.ly/3Ni2rD) of their calendar says that nine cosmic forces will then manifest. Empirically, there is also overwhelming evidence from modern research that we are approaching a point in time when nine evolutionary levels (so called Underworlds) of the cosmic plan are simultaneously going to be completed.
This would imply that we are approaching not another cycle or another shift, but the end to all shifts, which have been driving evolution since the beginning of the universe. Such an end to all shifts could conceivably provide the basis for a harmonious eternal peace on Earth. What is about to transpire now is in other words not something that has ever happened before in the history of the universe.
Maybe this impending change, partially unknown, causes the widespread denial that I feel dominate many people at the current moment. Rather than facing a great change in our socioeconomic relationships (since any change in human consciousness also implies a change in our relationships) many prefer to fantasize about some physical or astronomical event, that purportedly is going to happen on December 21, 2012. In reality the Mayan calendar is however not about something that will happen on a singular date, but a description of a divine plan for the evolution of humankind where quantum shifts between calendrical energies bring about shifts in consciousness.
Thus, human consciousness will continue to be transformed step by step in accordance with this plan until we come to the real end date of the process of creation, October 28, 2011. At this date the highest quantum state of the universe will be attained (13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13 13 Ahau) when the shifts disrupting the harmony will come to an end.
Obviously, we are not there yet. In this plan for the evolution of consciousness we are now approaching the sixth night of the Galactic Wave Movement, the eighth of the nine levels, which will begin on November 8, 2009. If my understanding of the Mayan calendar is correct we will in this coming night be witnessing the most significant transformation of consciousness ever in the history of mankind........
to continue:
calleman.com