A mishmash of theories that combines cosmological disaster with the coming end of the Mayan calendar cycle has assumed the role of this year’s inevitable apocalypse scare.

Experts from various disciplines - even NASA officials - have denounced the phenomenon as purely fictitious.

“There’s no object we’re seeing that’s hurtling toward us - no invisible planet,” said Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar, an astronomy expert at the University of Winnipeg. “Earth is not going to suffer any cosmological disaster in 2012.”

The theory, which has captured the imaginations of many in recent years, relies largely upon the pseudo-scientific claim that the ancient Mayans’ 5125-year-long calendar cycle’s end date, Dec. 21, 2012, will coincide with the world’s end.

Though she states that there is absolutely no astronomical data supporting the 2012 apocalypse theory, Milosevic-Zdjelar worries many individuals might have bought into the hoax.

“There is a genuine fear,” she said. “Many students ask me about this, and some are seriously frightened.”

“People tend to misinterpret danger,” she added, reflecting on several similar scares in recent decades. “People like to speculate about doomsdays, but when the most beautiful event occurs, like a solar eclipse, you have people hiding in fear for no reason. People let their fears run wild.”

Milosevic-Zdjelar specifically stressed the importance of expert denunciation of pseudo-scientific theories.

“Whenever we see a big hoax, we have an obligation to step out and say something,” she said. “Officially, NASA has a duty to educate the general public on these matters.”

But why do so many individuals accept baseless theories such as that of the 2012 apocalypse, or at the very least find them compelling?

Curtis Pankratz, a sociology professor at the University of Winnipeg, has an explanation.

“A lot of this comes from the fact that so many things happening around us are chaotic (and) beyond our control,” he said. “(Apocalypse theories) give people the idea that we can understand what’s really going on.”

Pankratz proposes that societal reactions to apocalypse theories often reflect our deeper anxieties.

“Not knowing what’s going to happen to the world is understandably discomforting,” he said. “The idea that there is an underlying logic can be comforting. If you feel you understand the world, you feel you can control it.”

“ People like to speculate about doomsdays, but when the most beautiful event occurs, like a solar eclipse, you have people hiding in fear for no reason. People let their fears run wild.

Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar, astronomy professor, University of Winnipeg

The propagation of the 2012 apocalypse theory is due in large part to its representation in popular entertainment. The 2009 blockbuster film/pariah 2012 is perhaps the most widely known example.

Barry Pomeroy, an English professor at the U of W and University of Manitoba who teaches a course on post-apocalyptic literature, says one of the alluring aspects of apocalypse-themed entertainment comes in the form of escapism.

“People want to be taken out of their lives,” he said. “Nothing would be more exciting than a massive change, where all of the rules are suddenly gone.”

The portrayal of the world’s end in art and entertainment can provide another means of examining society’s real-world fears.

“I think there is an inverse correlation between fears represented (in art) and those in the real world,” he said. “As the (real world) fears of our time get worse, our fears represented (in art) become more realistic. Most of our modern portrayals are less realistic; they sanitize our fears.”

In short, what does our art say about us today?

“It reflects a culture of avoidance,” he said.

Ultimately, disassembling the 2012 apocalypse theory doesn’t require a Ph.D. in astrophysics - it only calls for common sense.

“My calendar at home comes to an end too,” said Pomeroy.

Published in Volume 66, Number 21 of The Uniter (March 1, 2012)