Critically examining the "End of the World"
Posts tagged Patrick Geryl
Top 5 2012 Scams and/or Scammers
Mar 14th
There are still people trapped by debris in Japan and snake oil salesmen are already lining up to claim this tragedy is proof for whatever brand of crazy they happen to be selling. This all too normal, all too natural tragedy is being cited as the beginning of the end by more than one group of people who have found a way to make their money off the end of the world. So we’re going to take a time to look at the ravenous ghouls who are all to willing to cash in on people’s fear and panic. With that said, let’s look at 5 of the biggest lies, or liars, trying to cash in on Dec 21, 2012.
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Patrick Geryl is the author of a number of books where he claims to explain the “impending disaster” using the “ancient secrets” of the Egyptians and Annunaki. Of course, this is utter bullshit. He’s selling books like they were iPods and using the profits to invest in a compound in Spain for himself and his followers. Or more likely, himself when Dec 22, 2012 rolls around and we’re all still here. He can just say “oops, must have been wrong” and retire to his mountainous Spanish villa. Poor guy.
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Nancy Lieder first gained notoriety when she declared that an alien intelligence from the Zeta Reticuli cluster had warned her of impending disaster for all of Earth. First, it was the Hale-Bopp comet hiding something terrible. Then it was the impending arrival of Planet X in 2003. When Planet X did not arrive, it took virtually no time at all for Ms Lieder to change the arrival date for Armageddon to one which already had some footing in the popular consciousness, the “end” of the Maya(n) calendar, 2012. I imagine once Dec 22nd arrives, she’ll just pick a new date for our doom, and continue to operate her website and sell her books until the day she dies, or the world ends. Guess which one I’d bet on happening first.
The Maya(n) Calendar is obviously an inanimate object (in the same way the Gregorian calendar is an “object.”). It can not control who claims it as evidence for their own particular theory of doom and profit. Be it Patrick Geryl, Nancy Lieder, or any number of random people on Youtube, more and more people are pointing to this amazing act of time keeping and astronomy as some kind of monster just waiting for the opportunity to bring ruin to us all. But that kind of thinking is based entirely on a flawed understanding of the Maya(n) culture, and their calendar. There are a number of artifacts that include dates pointing to the next “cycle,” which is to say, the Maya(n) did not think their calender “ended” on Dec 21, 2012.-
Image by NuclearVacuum
Planetary Alignment and/or Galactic Alignment, much like the Maya(n) calendar are both ideas that have been seized upon by multiple groups and multiple theories. These alignment claims usually assert that a rare astronomical event will occur that will imperil the Earth. Essentially there is nothing to them. NASA and the astronomy community at large point out that the described alignments either will not occur, or happen all the time over and over again. In short, there’s nothing to any claims of any kind of alignment of celestial bodies.
Prophecies, both biblical and those of people like Nostradamus, are also frequently cited by various 2012 theorists as proof of their theory. Their adherents will work feverishly to associate any real world event or tragedy with their prophecy of choice in an attempt to legitimize their own beliefs. Ultimately though, prophecies are easily fulfilled when one looks back on them from the future and has the luxury of including, or excluding, events for the sake of demonstrating the veracity of the prophecy. Nostradamus did not make any 2012 prophecy. Neither did the Maya(n) people or the Bible, actually. In fact, it’s hard to find a legitimate “2012 prophecy” that’s more than 20 or 30 years old.
There is no reason to worry about 2012. We have enough problems with managing our limited resources as is. Don’t be fooled by any of these lies, or the liars that use them. You have more important things to be concerned about.
Water water, everywhere…
Jan 24th
It is a well known fact that three quarters of the Earth’s surface is water. What is not well known is just how little of that water is actually fit for human consumption. Thanks to the wonders of modern plumbing, or the plethora of bottled waters available for purchase, most people in industrialized nations have come to take potable water for granted. In fact, less than 1% of the planet’s water is clean enough for healthy human consumption. In fact, a number of major US cities are already facing down water shortages even without the possibility of impending threat.
Take into account that the human body is also roughly 70% water and that it is essential for metabolizing nutrients as well as breaking up and removing waste, and the danger of not being able to get clean water quickly becomes very alarming. Water always tops the list of supplies needed for relief efforts after hurricanes, earthquakes, or other natural disasters that can decimate a community’s infrastructure. There is good reason for that.
If there was to be a Earth shattering event like those predicted by Patrick Geryl, or Nancy Leider, you can rest assured that access to clean water would be one of the first things you would need to secure for the health of you and your family. But the wild prognostications of people like this are not the real threat to the drinking water supply. The infrastructure of the United States water supplies is decades old and well past time for replacement. Water and sewage mains are breaking down from disrepair and governments, both local and Federal, are loath to spend the kind of money it takes to replace these systems until it is too late, that is to say, until they’ve already broken.
These breaks can result in homes without water, crumbling streets, and ultimately cost more money to repair than they would have to just refit before they failed. Unfortunately, finding politicians willing to make hard choices now for the sake of the long term picture is increasingly difficult when more and more of their energy is focused on keeping the electorate happy right now. Tomorrow’s problems belong to a nebulous future, while keeping your present day poll numbers up is essential to maintaining your office. The fact that this kind of short sighted policy is ultimately detrimental to the community is a fact that is lost on both the elected officials, and the voters, who are more concerned about today than they are about ten years from now. It is essentially a collective decision to put off the oil change in the car because the budget is tight, so long as the motor keeps running. But eventually the head gasket will blow.
On the plus side, it is possible for individuals to build their own water filtration systems. (Sorry, Brita, you might work on tap water, but you wont work on contaminated water) There are also plenty of methods to both test and purify your water as well. In the mean time, it’s important for people to remember that water might be everywhere, but we can drink very very little of it, and to take steps to conserve as much drinking water as we can, while we can.
Patrick Geryl – Mr 2012 or Mr Crazy?
Feb 2nd
In his book The Orion Prophecy, Patrick Geryl, sometimes called “Mr 2012″ claims to understand secret information about the process of geomagnetic reversal. Essentialy Mr Geryl asserts that bombardment by the sun will lead to an instant change in the polarization of the magnetic field, thus causing apocalyptic havoc on the planet. While it is true that the magnetic field reverses, the tidal waves and earthquakes he insists will coincide with the event are fantastic in nature. The truth is that the Earth’s magnetic field has reversed dozens of times, including several times in humanity’s past.
Not only does he seem to be anticipating earthquakes and tidal waves along with the magnetic reversal, he asserts that entire continents will shift hundreds of kilometers almost instantly. If any of this is sounding like science fiction, or a recent Roland Emmerich Hollywood Blockbuster, I would not be surprised. The hyperbole used in his text is not uncommon, there are any number of gurus willing to claim that they have “secret insight” of “esoteric knowledge” in the name of turning a profit. The problem arises that when what should be entertainment at the least, and theory at the most, is espoused as irrefutable truth is the very real panic and fear that it can instill in people who do not have a background in geology, physics, or history.
That being said, if you do want to take a brief walk through crazy town to see first hand what profiteering hysteria looks like, you can find The Orion Prophecy by Mr Geryl on Amazon.
