[Aztlan] 2012 Conference Trailer

[John Major Jenkins]

John H.,
I'm aware of coincidence as a valid possible explanation. I'm also aware
that leaning on coincidence can prevent further investigation of
evidence that, when fully examined, renders coincidence an extremely
unlikely  conclusion. That's what I believe is going on here. What makes
me uncomfortable is the willingness of the rational intellect to close
the door on a deeper investigation of the facts by invoking the
coincidence explanation. In fact, as I've presented more and more
contextual evidence, the support for the idea that the end date falling
on a December solstice is coincidence really becomes quite tortured. 

Perhaps we should take a poll - how many listeros are willing to end the
investigation by concluding that the Dec 21 placement of the cycle
ending date is a coincidence? Even if we start with this conclusion,
should we not also be open minded about investigating the matter
further, if we assume that it is not coincidence? I've already tried to
lead the discussion in this direction several times, but all kinds of
diversionary minutiae are thrown up to derail the rational process.

The sociological phenomenon of 2012 is indeed fascinating. Perhaps a
professional sociologist should take a look. I think we are in agreement
that the marketplace, and the culture, is polluted with superficial
entertainment that distorts facts and truth. I resent being placed in
that category, by implication or direct labeling, just because I'm
trying to move the rational examination of the actual artifact of the
2012 end date forward - an effort that scholars are late in joining. The
problem is made difficult because for twenty years I've been clearing
away the debris around the topic, pursuing thoughtful and carefully
documented investigations, but scholars resist being guided by an
autodidact.   

You mention Benfer's work. Good stuff. Now we cycle back to a previous
exchange where I pointed out that Benfer's approach to the solstice
alignment and the Fox dark-could constellation in Peru is identical, and
no less rigorous, to my pioneering field research that shows how the
ballcourt at Izapa is aligned to the December solstice sunrise horizon
(thereby implicating the dark rift as an iconographic feature on the
ballcourt's throne). Why his methodology, argument, and conclusion is
accepted and mine is resisted is baffling, since they apply the exact
same rational processing to almost identical situations. I'll just wait
until some "real" scholar publishes my solstice observations in the
Izapan ballcourt, since it's not in Lowe or Malmstrom or Norman or
Kappleman or anywhere else, though I will not expect my work to be
cited.

What does it say that there's nothing on Youtube about San Bartolo? That
Youtube is populated by the pop culture? That the mass public of bored,
in-debt, and over-stimulated consumers prefer to indulge in mindless
irrational entertainment? That's not exactly a newsflash.

John Major Jenkins
http://Alignment2012.com





-----Original Message-----
From: Hoopes, John W [mailto:hoopes at ku.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 10:27 PM
To: John Major Jenkins
Cc: Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: RE: [Aztlan] 2012 Conference Trailer

John MJ,
 
For what it's worth, and with all due respect, coincidence is quite
often a valid explanation that conforms well to Occam's Razor.  Just
because it doesn't suit you doesn't mean others aren't perfectly
comfortable with it.
 
The sociological phenomenon of 2012 is fascinating in itself.  The
resurgence of the New Age worldview takes me back to about 1973, when
Carlos Castaneda made the cover of TIME and Comet Kohoutek inspired its
own cliques of end-of-times speculation (Marshall Applewhite and David
Berg both come to mind).  One of the things that time had in common with
now was that the White House had lost all credibility (in the throes of
the Watergate scandal).  I suspect that the loss of credibility of
centralized authority contributes to the increased credibility of
alternative authorities, regardless of how bizarre they might be.  (This
may be a hypothesis worth examining in ancient Maya contexts as well.)
1973 was a heady time for New Agers.  However, it was also the year of
the First Palenque Round Table--a major turning point in Maya studies.
 
There is plenty within academic Pre-Columbian scholarship to excite the
public if it's marketed well.  It would be wonderful to take advantage
of growing interest in things Maya to educate the public about what
really is known and what leading scholars are doing, not just about the
Maya but the rest of the Pre-Columbian world as well.  I think Bob
Benfer's 2200 BC temple with astronomical alignments at Buena Vista in
Peru is pretty darn amazing, but it's still well known to a fairly small
circle.
 
http://rcp.missouri.edu/bobbenfer/index.html
 
There are hundreds of videos on YouTube about 2012, but I can't find a
single one on San Bartolo (pirated or not).  That says a lot.
 
John Hoopes

________________________________

From: John Major Jenkins [mailto:kahib at ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Thu 1/24/2008 10:26 PM
To: Hoopes, John W
Cc: Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: RE: [Aztlan] 2012 Conference Trailer



John H. and others interested in this thread,

This all sounds oh so clique-ish. I'll take the high road and simply
offer an observation. Up until very recently the professional scholars
have dismissed 2012 as a non-topic, an irrelevant calculational accident
of Long Count math. The possibility that the 13-Baktun cycle end-date
might have had some meaning for the creators of the Long Count has been
unanimously dismissed by every professional scholar I've communicated
with since 1991, despite the fact that the best correlation candidate
places the 13-baktun cycle's end-date on December 21, an accurate winter
solstice. That this unusual occurrence might be an invitation for closer
rational scrutiny regarding whether or nor some intentionality is
present in the 2012 date has been ignored and disregarded by scholars,
invoking "coincidence" as the only explanation.

Now that we have the un-lettered folk wondering about and speculating
upon what it might mean, the avenue of academic scrutiny presents itself
- let's examine the sociological phenomenon of end-time hysteria,
apocalypse delusions, and the onerous stench of spiritual materialism in
the modern American empire. Surely an examination of the sociological
phenomenon of end-time hysteria is a valid topic for educated
assessment, and it has a precedent - year 1000 for example. This
response of scholars is quite predictable; in fact it's a kundebuffer
response - a predictable counter-response - to the New Age frenzy over
2012. However, the scholars aren't really doing their job. I submit that
scholars are continuing to neglect examining the 2012 artifact itself;
e.g., how a big cycle ending in the Maya Long Count might have been
involved in Maya eschatology, the World Age doctrine, Maya beliefs and
spiritual teachings related to cycle endings, big and small. Scholars
are being distracted by the 2012 glitz just as much as the New Age
fantasts are; and both sides are neglecting to look at the
thing-in-itself rationally, as an authentic artifact of Maya calendrics
and time philosophy. Just some food for thought,

John Major Jenkins
http://alignment2012.com <http://alignment2012.com/> 

"A giant kundebuffer is being set up (in unconscious cooperation) by two
groups: The ungrounded cheerleaders of 2012 and the scholarly debunkers.
There is the potential to create a Y2K fiasco for serious research by
setting up 2012 for inflated expectations which (because inflated
expectations are almost impossible to realize) can be a great triumph
for the debunkers."

---Jonathan Zap