Reply #7: I think it's media marketing driving most of this

[muriel_volestrangler]

There are people with books, movies, video games and TV shows to sell. They've fastened onto the internet New Age/ancient philosophy/apocalyptic cult undercurrents, and think they've got a chance for a countdown. They could have chosen Black Helicopter or chemtrail paranoia, but that means having to claim that a real entity (the US government/United Nations/etc) has to be blamed, and someone is likely to answer back. And there's a chance of multi-million dollar Dan Brown-style 'this is true, honestly' BS to it, so it's worth a marketing campaign or two.

By choosing an End Of The World scenario, they don't have a direct opponent. Sure, the astronomers may be pissed off at the made-up 'facts' being thrown about, but massive ignorance of astronomy isn't new. Mayans may be pissed off at their old religion and calendar being hijacked, but they're not bleing blamed for the End Of The World, just wrongly credited with predicting it.