[Aztlan] National Geographic Magazine

[Michael Carrasco]

Hi All,

Well, unfortunately, I don't really find any of this very surprising because after all we (many of us at least) live in a country (US) where the majority of the people do believe the world will end, and I am not talking about in geological time.

People like to hear this kind of crap because it makes them feel more comfortable about their own mistaken beliefs. I am not sure if Aztlan is the best place to go into this but let's call a spade a spade and go right to the source of these willed misconceptions: End of the world stuff is exciting, it seems to confirm a wide spread belief, and it even engages us non-believers who then condemn people for having such silly ideas. But I guess I am a bit surprised to see that that is what the NG has on their website, but considering what appears on TV "documentaries" can one really be surprised?

I'm always asked about 2012 when people find out what I do. That and why are the Maya and other Mesoamerican groups so violent and blood thirsty, which I think is a more serious misconception, especially considering the world wide carnage of recent years. I think the sad fact is that there is very little one can do to rectify these mistaken ideas at a large scale when the media profits from a different view and many people use these views to feel better about their own place in history.

Best,
Michael

Henry Avila <hwavila at tutopia.com> wrote: 
I read a similar situation in one the the lastest issues of "Popular
Mechanics" where they post that a giant asteroid will impact on Europe in
some decades.

Many times the wish for profit defeats the wish for communicate veridic
information to the people.  The case of the "Maya End of the World 2012"
it�s more dramatic.  The WWW is full of wrong information about it and the
worst thing is that there are books talking about the Maya End of the Word.
We have the duty of to instruct and guide the people in order to stop this
movement of wrong information.  Unfortunately, we don�t have the reach of a
popular magazine.

Regards!