The “ridiculous” story of doomsday

By Vijay Joshi

Often the stories of doomsday having their origin in the ancient texts of different erstwhile civilizations appear in the media everywhere in the world to create panic among the common men. A decade ago there was a news of mother Earth coming to an end in 1999. People were panicked. But no doomsday-kind of events was experienced. Everything went on as it had to go.

Now one more story of doomsday has hit the people’s mind all over the world which claims to have evidences to support its argument in the ancient Mayan’s civilization. Many media have started airing and printing the news related to the new doomsday prophecy. Many news media, vernacular as well as the English media, have made stories out of the new doomsday theory. A Hollywood film – 2012: End of the Earth – has also been produce and has been fetching huge amount of bucks into its basket.

As the news of world witnessing its doomsday on December 21, 2012 is spreading like a virus among the common men in the entire country, people with scientific temper of the coastal Karnataka have come down heavily on the media that has been spreading the doomsday news.

“A Kannada weekly magazine had made a similar story a decade ago saying that the earth would come to an end in 1999. But nothing has happed, though the magazine claimed its report a scientific one. Similarly nothing is going to happen on the speculated doomsday” says Ashwath Prabhu, a student of MSW at SDM College, Ujire.

Many websites have come up supporting the doomsday prophecy claiming to be run by the scientists. The websites claim that their findings about the exact date of the doomsday are based on the Mayan calendar. “The Mayan calendar predicts that the earth will come to an end on December 21, 2012. They have come to this conclusion based on their in-depth astronomical observations” a doomsday website writes on its home page. The earth will stop rotating, the poles of the earth will shift and the Sun will absorb the entire earth, is what the website says.

“This is highly ridiculous. Those with a very little knowledge of the universe or the solar system can confidently rule out the website’s claim. A huge mass [earth] that has been revolving on a definite orbit around the Sun since millions of years cannot stop its movement all of a sudden. Earth cannot be stopped without an external force acts on it, as the Newton’s law says for any moving body”, explains Chinmay Hegde, a student of diploma in Electrical and Electronic. “The Mayan’s, whom the propagators of doomsday theory worship as gospels, couldn’t predict the end of their own civilization. How wise it is to trust in their prediction of the doomsday?” he questions with confidence.

A documentary aired by the History channel has become a source of information for the supporters of doomsday prophecy. Interestingly the documentary too goes to the Mayan calendar and its so-called predictions to construct its story of earth coming to end.

“I wonder as to why people, though supposed to have a scientific outlook, are getting lured to such an absurd finding. There is no scientific base for this doomsday theory. Only foolish among the foolish can believe in such a ridiculous story”, this was what student Prakash G R had to say when contacted.

The advocates of the doomsday prophecy have used the name of National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] as well to substantiate their argument. But, however, the NASA has come out with a statement saying that it has no idea about the doomsday prophecy.

Lecturer in physics at SDM College, Ujire Dr T N Keshav says: “Recently a press release by the NASA has made it clear to us that they have not said anything to support the doomsday argument. They have already distanced themselves from this entire controversy. In fact, the name of the NASA was being misused by the doomsday theorists”.

Though the preachers of doomsday theory say that they have found similar proofs to supplement their argument in many ancient scripts, a closer look at the Vedic scripts one realizes that doomsday is a mere speculation.

“According to the Indian astrology, the present era i.e. Kali Yuga has 432,000 years. We have just completed 5,111 years now. There are lacks of years to go to witness the end of this earth” says Sanskrit lecturer at Bhandarkar’s College, Kundapur Pasanna Kumar Aithal. “According to the Vedic science the earth is made up of Panchabhootas [five elements], namely the soil, fire, wind, water and the space. Excluding the space, all the other four elements have their own state of being. They are made up of tiny particles called the atoms, though the atoms lie in ionized form in fire. Those which are made up of atoms and have mass cannot be destroyed”, Aithal adds.

Rakesh N S, a media student, finds the hand of vested interests in the creation of this entire theory. “A film named 2012 is making huge profits in the box office. People are watching this movie out of their fear of doomsday. I assume that the producers of this movie made this story to gain publicity and thereby to make profit. There is a commercial tinge to this entire episode”, he explains.

Eminent writer and environmental journalist Nagesh Hegde had written about the speculations over doomsday recently saying that entire story is rubbish. He had called upon everyone to look everything from a scientific outlook.

Meanwhile, the sensitive readers have been demanding a scrutiny on the media reports with a potential to create unnecessary panic among the people.

Author is a student of Journalism | joshi.viju@gmail.com