World not ending in 2012, US government says (VIDEO)
A view of the Doomsday Preppers discussion panel stage during the National Geographic Channel’s portion of the 2012 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 3, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Having watched panic sweep Russia, the US government is taking a proactive step and reassuring its citizens that the world will not end on Dec. 21, 2012 – or any other day for that matter.
In a post at blog.gov.us, the US government’s official portal says NASA is receiving “thousands” of letters worried about the world’s end.
What’s worse, the blog post says, is that all the conspiracy theorists out there are scaring the kids – and right before Christmas.
“At least a once a week I get a message from a young person ― as young as 11 ― who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday,” David Morrison, a NASA astronomer, says.
The US government says the Mayan calendar was misinterpreted, there’s no comet headed our way and there’s no “hidden planet sneaking up” on Earth.
NASA has gone a step further, establishing several webpages, portals and video blogs about the science behind the world’s end.
Yet, the Mayans were so advanced, and their calendar simply ends, what gives?
More from GlobalPost: New discovery casts doubt on Mayan calendar prophecy
“Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012,” it says at NASA.gov.
“This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then – just as your calendar begins again on January 1 – another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.”
This seems prudent to many in government after watching Russians panic en masse last week.
The New York Times reports a priest was required to calm panicking female prisoners, Moscow stores are stripped of staples like kerosene and concerned citizens have built a Mayan archway entirely of ice.
Politicians even asked TV stations to stop broadcasting doomsday stories.
That country’s minister of energy said that while Russians might die because of “blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, floods, trouble with transportation and food supply, breakdowns in heat, electricity and water supply,” they definitely won’t die from a doomsday event.
More from GlobalPost: The End of the World, a special report
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!