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Tyler Cook
English 207
Tom Drake
March 29th 2011
2012: An Awakening
Thousands of years ago, the ancient Mayans had developed complex ways of recording time via
systems of calendars and mapping the stars in the night’s sky. From modern day interpretations of the
remaining recordings on ancient structures, and the stories passed down from generation to generation,
the Mayans have predicted that in the year of 2012, the world as we know it will become overwhelmed
by a series of extreme cataclysmic natural disasters occurring simultaneously. Although this is just an
ancient prophecy, there is a decent percentage of the population that is on the fence about the subject,
and a select few that are 2012 extremists. The documentary “2012: An Awakening,” found on
Netfilx.com, tries to prove the various theories behind the 2012 prophecy. Throughout the film, various
aspects of Mayan and Egyptian cultures, ancient hieroglyphic readings, and astrologic interpretations
are examined by the suspicious eye to come to the conclusion that prophecy is true. In order for this
prophecy to be true, all of the factors leading into it must be true, and by simply watching and listening
to the argument, or by doing research in opposition, the evidence supporting prophecy quickly falls
apart.
Supporters of the prophecy claim that there will be mass cataclysm, wiping out modern life as
we know it, occurring on December 21st 2012, and the ancient Mayans, in pair with the Egyptians, had
predicted it, passing down the information through their art, and therefore this proves the prophecy
true. The evidence presented to support the prophecy is that the sun is about the release immense
amounts of solar radiation, a polar shift is about to happen, the precession of the equinox will soon
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“wobble” on its axis, and that these events will lead to a spiritual change in 2012. Supported by various
uses of credibility, plays on emotions and values, the film comes off as persuasive, but not necessarily
true. By doing simple and small amounts of counter research, examining the fallacies of interviewees,
and by watching and looking past the methods of persuasion, this so called hard evidence they use to
prove the prophecy true, becomes evidently false. Based on what the featured “experts” present, the
conclusion of 2012 being the end of mankind comes off as unfeasible and a hoax.
When trying to become educated on such a topic as the end of the world wouldn’t one want to
be informed from professionals in the related fields? In the case of “2012: An Awakening,” the
interviewees are all “professionals” in the field, but which field are they truly professionals in? Patrick
Geryl claims to be a professional in the general field of 2012 mythology. However, this title seems to
have been self assigned due to the fact he is only, “a Belgian amateur astronomer and an author,” yet
claims to have decoded the “hidden knowledge” of the ancient Mayan and Egyptian writings
(“Debunking the “2012 Doomsday””). Adrian Gilbert is a bestselling British author for his writings on
esoteric knowledge, but comes off as an expert dealing with the magnetic field of the Earth. Annabel
Burton is “a professional consulting astrologer who writes weekly & monthly horoscopes,” and claims
that “2012 will trigger an era similar to the Age of Aquarius” (Annabel Burton Astrology). David Icke has
his nose in every aspect dealing with the 2012 prophecy and “his 533-page The Biggest Secret (1999) has
been called the conspiracy theorist’s Rosetta Stone.”(Wikipedia). Several other interviewed guests are
authors of books relating to 2012, excluding real scientific professionals in the film all together. Looking
at these credentials and what they are claiming to know or specify in, perhaps the field they are best
categorized to be “professionals” in is 2012 pseudoscience and theory.
The emotional appeals of the audience are always a key factor in persuasion, and this
“informative” documentary is no exception. The beginning of the film narrates and shows a black screen
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with the words “Watch listen and make up your own mind,” leaving the audience open and skeptical of
what they are about to view. Soon after this, newspaper clippings of dramatic words begin falling on
each other with suspenseful music which crescendos into dramatic music and sounds. Paired with clips
of massive cataclysmic earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes engulfing major cities of the world, this
leads to a state of fear in the audience’s psych. Random clips of melting icebergs and smokestacks
polluting the air also takes a jab at the audiences view on human’s environmental impacts. As the
interviewees speak and explain the cataclysms to come of 2012, they speak in such a manner that they
come off as if there is no other answer, and one event will lead to another, ending the world in giant
floods and devastation. By playing on the audience’s emotions, the documentary becomes that much
more persuasive when it applies values of not only history, but also humanity.
A large majority of the claims the film makes are based on real artifacts, structures, and readings
from ancient civilizations. They may be real, but the question is whether or not to believe what they say.
Because of the simple fact that they are real objects and recordings, it is evident that they must be real
and have some meaning behind them. The way the evidence is presented is in the terms of the
interpretations of what the hieroglyphics mean according to these “specialists.” For example, Patrick
Geryl claims that there will be a massive solar flare which will engulf the Earth’s magnetic field, and it is
proven by ancient Mayan and Egyptian readings. However, these claims are not “confirmed by
Mayanists and Egyptologists” who are true specialists in the decoding of hieroglyphics (“Debunking the
“2012 Doomsday””). Also, when Annabel Burton talks of a “spiritual change” occurring in 2012, she
discusses how people will unite together and become humanitarians far and wide. This deals with
ethical values of helping others and makes the audience feel as if they must reassess their own human
morality. Ultimately, there is criticism and judgment of historical facts and the human nature of being
ethical to draw the audience into belief.
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Adrian Gilbert, author of 2012: The End of Time, claims that due to the sun’s cyclic process, we
are due for a large surge of radiation from a giant solar flare, which has been predicted by ancient
Mayan and Egyptian records to occur in 2012, and alter the Earth’s magnetic field. Gilbert says that the
science community “knows about 2012, but don’t want to talk about it,” and that “science cannot
handle cycles, they only deal with linear” (“2012: An Awakening”). He explains that the sun currently has
an abnormal amount of sunspots, which means it is cooler, and is preparing for a large explosion of a
giant solar flare. As the sun’s radiation gets stronger, the Earth proceeds to heat up as the radiation
reaches its atmosphere. When the radiation from this giant solar flare reaches Earth, it will heat the
Earth and throw off its magnetic field, causing a magnetic flip.
Through his reasoning, Gilbert implies that due to this prophesized magnetic flip, Earth and all of
its inhabitants will experience a series of fatal cataclysmic events. The evidence to support his
hypothesis is a series of magnetic readings recorded in South Africa which show the magnetic field
weakening in the southern hemisphere. Although the Earth’s magnetic field is always altering, he feels
that this magnetic change is a precursor for a complete magnetic flip, and this magnetic flip will result in
cataclysmic disasters.
If all that Gilbert says is true, there is a possibility that some cataclysmic events would occur, but
by picking out a few simple fallacies by disproving his claims with facts, his theory is easily overruled.
First off, Gilbert plays off his authority as a bestselling author to make it seem as if he knows what will
scientifically happens. In the case of a magnetic flip, no significant events will occur, whereas even
without a magnetic field the Earth’s atmosphere would protect life from radiation. “Human beings have
been on the Earth for a number of million years, during which there have been many reversals, and
there is no obvious correlation between human development and reversals. Similarly, reversal patterns
do not match patterns in species extinction during geological history.”(GeoMag). This prophecy is also a
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non-testable hypothesis because there is no feasible way to test the theory rather than by examining
geological patterns correlated to the statement above, which disproves the theory. Likewise, he clearly
misunderstands various aspects of statistics by saying “science cannot handle cycles.” If this were true,
wouldn’t that rule out the elementary roles of photosynthesis, mitosis, and the water cycle? Finally, this
hypothesis of his fails Occam’s razor because they are only supported by hypothetical evidence and
circumstances.
To back up his arguments, Adrian Gilbert claims that the natural magnetic waves directly
correlate with human’s brains and bodies, and have already began to confuse scientists. But because he
is only an author and not a scientist, perhaps his brain hasn’t been altered. He also explains how the
Earth is speeding up from its 7.1 “pulse,” whatever that means, and our bodies are speeding up with
time to match its pulse, thus making time itself speed up. The truth behind his argument is so vague and
disproven that it ends up not even being a valid argument at all, just a prophecy.
Patrick Geryl, author of How to Survive 2012, claims that a specific sunspot he has discovered is
immensely similar to a sunspot in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which predicts a polar shift causing a
cataclysmic tsunami. Geryl claims that “no one knows it or understands it,” referring to his discovered
sunspot, and because ancient Egyptians and Mayans wrote about a similar sunspot, he has decoded
what it means; a major pole shift. He then backs up his argument by expressing how there are hundreds
of ancient stories telling of times where “only the highest tops of mountains were visible,” and of boats
raising to extreme heights in the water, referring to Noah’s Ark (“2012: An Awakening”). This is
explained by the next pole shift. Egyptians predicted that the Earth will start rotating 360° the other way
around, and the particles from the giant solar flare in the future will turn the core upside down, causing
a polar shift. Geryl continues on by saying that the Earth rotates at 1600 kilometers an hour, and when
the Earth stops and begins to turn the opposite way, the oceans will not, causing a giant tsunami two
kilometers high. This also is assumed to be how and why the city of Atlantis was lost, and why only a few
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of the records from its scholars were saved. Lastly, from evidence of a labyrinth in Egypt, the last pole
shift was “recorded” and accompanied with stories of the Americas being covered in ice one day, the
next being thawed, and vice versa with Antarctica. From this labyrinth, the Egyptians used their “Circle
of Gold,” a room which mapped the zodiac sky, and a set of 36 hieroglyphs to calculate the major next
polar shift; December 21st 2012.
Because the Egyptians were able to so accurately identify and predict other natural occurring
events, such as solar eclipses, the time of the Earth’s equinoxes, and seasonal changes, Geryl implies
that they can then accurately predict the next major pole shift. However, the only evidence to support
this reasoning is the Egyptian hieroglyphs and stories themselves, which rely heavily on pure belief, and
the prophecy itself, which has no solid evidence backing it up.
With lack of solid evidence to prove these hypotheses and prophecies true, once again there is a
list of major fallacies that shine bright. Again, an argument from authority is being made, where Patrick
Geryl claims to have discovered and analyzed a sunspot that “no one knows or understands,” but in
reality, “Patrick Geryl is an author, not a scientist” (“Debunking the “2012 Doomsday””). How does he
understand it correctly if he isn’t a scientist? This is also an instance of a non-testable hypothesis,
because like the theory of magnetic flip, there is no way to prove any of the prophecies true. Due to this
argument being so difficult to back up, Geryl has gone out on a limb to interpret a “mysterious” sunspot
and strange hieroglyphs that were found and unable to be read. However, if this sunspot and the
hieroglyphics are so hard to analyze, what makes Patrick Geryl, an author, not an archeologist,
anthropologist, or astronomer, able to analyze and decode them? Perhaps he has misunderstood, or flat
out made up these statistics. The claim that a tsunami two kilometers high will be triggered by this pole
shift is non sequitur due to scientific facts. In the case of a pole shift, the readjustment of the Earth’s
spinning parallel to it its axis is a very slow process, with the most recent shift changing “about 5° over
the last 130 million years” (Britannica Online Encyclopedia). With all of these fallacies, ultimately, Patrick
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Geryl is simply jumping on the bandwagon with the Egyptians about their prophecies without correctly,
or even at all, carefully analyzing them.
The only support Geryl can use as “evidence” are the hieroglyphs that were written, and
allegedly linked to records of previous pole shifts. Likewise, the dependency of the truth behind these
ancient writings is skeptical, and relies heavily on whether or not they truly could predict such an event.
Overall, the evidence backing up Patrick Geryl’s claims are ancient, misinterpreted, or flat out lies. There
are scientific facts arguing against this prophecy, and with such stable facts, it is hard to believe the
unknown.
Another reason proposed for a 2012 cataclysm was due to the precession of the equinox,
claiming that in 2012, the Earth will “wobble” on its axis at a specific region in the Milky Way Galaxy, and
this will cause cataclysmic natural disasters, as predicted by the Mayans. John Major Jenkins, author of
Maya Cosmogenis 2012, another 2012 prophecy book, “specializes” in reading Mayan calendars and the
esoteric connections to them. He claims that in 2012, Earth is due for a “rebirth,” due to its position in
the universe. Jenkins explains how the Earth “wobbles” on its axis every 20,000 years, and in 2012, this
will happen. Not only will it wobble, but Earth will be positioned at the crossroads of the Sagittarius
crossroads and the Dark Rift, the center of the Milky Way. This supposedly is the location of the
underworld, and when we cross it, we will experience a rebirth of Earth. According to Jenkins, all these
events were predicted by the Azapans, which were ancient Mayans, in which they carved stone
monuments and orientations according to a rare galactic alignment. On the winter solstice of 2012, the
end of the Mayan calendar, Earth will enter the Dark Rift at the perfect location, which only happens
every 26,000 years, and the stone monuments of Azapa will be ground zero of the series of events of
2012.
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From this argument, it is implied that because the ancient Mayans could so accurately predict
times and dates via their calendar systems and reading the stars, they can also accurately predict the
position of the Earth in the Milky Way, and when its axis will “wobble.” On top of predicting our location
in the universe, they also know how to predict cataclysmic events. However, the only evidence
supporting this theory is the stone monuments and orientations and the readings that go along with
them, which leaves it wide open to possible fallacies. First off, and once again, there is an argument
from authority, in the instance of Jenkins coming off as an archeologist and astronomer, but in fact is the
founding member and advisor of The Maya Conservancy, and a “known user of hallucinogenic drugs”
(Wikipedia). This is also a non testable hypothesis, as are all of these prophecies, and Jenkins too is one
to jump on the bandwagon of ancient civilizations.
As for Jenkins backing up his argument with evidence of any sort, which he does not, it would
still be out ruled. According to the Britannica Online Encyclopedia, “the clouds of dark material making
up the Great Rift are several thousand light-years from the Earth.” This alone disproves that we will be
entering the Dark Rift, often called the Great Rift, next year, and in all truth, not any time soon at all. As
for this theory, it is completely disproved and is based solely on hypothetical situations. Even if these
theories were true, they will not be occur for millions of years, and by that time, perhaps something else
would have wiped us out, like ourselves.
David Icke comes back into the picture and states that the Mayans used a pole to tell when the
sun was directly overhead; the start of a new year. From this, they gathered that time was a cyclic
process, but not a continuous cycle, more like “breathing in and out, or getting close to ourselves and
farther away”(“2012: An Awakening”). He also claims that the Mayan elders tell us that we don’t know
everything, they have passed down information from generation to generation, and since we are getting
closer to 2012, they are beginning to give more hints. If the Mayans wrote clues and built structures that
would last a long time, it was because they wanted to preserve this information and pass it onto the
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future. Based on this information, Icke thinks that we are placed in this cycle near the end where we are
getting farther away from ourselves, and that 2012 will bring us all closer to not only our own spirits, but
also each other. Finally, to ice the cake on this documentary, Annabel Burton, an astrologist, comes into
the film and exclaims that when 2012 strikes, there will be a spiritual change in everyone from the series
of events that occur. Her reasoning is that once the pandemonium strikes, everyone will realize that we
need to band together and help each other out. “2012 will open eyes about sharing and giving more to
those that have less,” similar to the Age of Aquarius (“2012: An Awakening”).
What Annabel Burton and David Icke are trying to say is that because of all these cataclysmic
events, and the predicted “place” in time, regarding spiritual connections, once 2012 strikes, everyone
will suddenly have an epiphanies and human’s evil nature will change. There is absolutely no evidence to
back up this theory and simply are just their own personal opinions, and because of that, there are some
extreme fallacies. Again there are the instances of argument from authority, with Icke being a
professional in writing conspiracy guides as discussed before, and the simple fact that Annabel
specializes in daily horoscopes gives her no affirmative authority. Likewise, this is yet another non
testable hypothesis, hardly even being a hypothesis. Annabel uses emotional appeals to come explain
that during these hardships, people will band together and care for one another. But what really shows
when she says this is the fallacy of exclusion. When a natural disaster hits, such as Hurricanes Katrina,
Ike, or Rita, people go crazy looting stores. In a world of ships there are pirates to steal your things, and
in chaotic times, there are power hungry individuals. What would make the end of the world any
different? However, in these interviewees’ minds and perfect little worlds, this will come true, and that
is the only instance they can argue against; personal opinion.
After analyzing the points of immense solar radiation altering Earth’s magnetic field, a pole shift
causing a two kilometer high tsunami, the axis “wobbling” in the center of the Milky Way, and the belief
that a spiritual change will come in 2012, the ancient Mayan and Egyptian prophecies of December 21st
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2012 become even harder to believe than at first. The “facts” presented are almost all fictitious or
misinterpreted, the credibility behind the speakers is a joke. Even if the presented material was true, it is
scientifically proven that cataclysmic events would occur.