Date: January 31, 2010
Title: 2012: The Impact
Podcaster: Bill Hudson
Organization: http://2012hoax.org
Music by Kevin McLeod; http://www.incompetech.com
Description: Bill Hudson with 2012hoax.org uses some ‘impact statements’ from the website in order to explain his motivation for fighting the “2012 doomsday” rumors, and hopefully motivating other people to get out and begin actively debunking the myth.
Bio: Bill Hudson is an amateur astronomer in California, and is not usually militaristic at all. He has spent the last decade looking up, and is involved in astronomy outreach programs in the California central coast area. He became involved in debunking the “2012 doomsday” hoax after being asked about it by school kids. He is the publisher of 2012hoax.org, a wiki that seeks to document and debunk all of the doomsday rumors surrounding the year 2012.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by The Planetary Society, celebrating 30 years of inspiring the people of Earth to explore other worlds, understand our own, and seek life elsewhere. Explore with us at planetary.org.
Transcript:
This is Bill Hudson with 2012hoax.org.
In my first podcast this year I laid down a challenge for people who are interested in space to get out and begin debunking the “2012 doomsday” hoax. In my second podcast I gave you some information and advice about how to get started doing it.
In today’s episode I switch gears a little, and hopefully provide you with some motivation.
Many people have asked me why I care about this so much. Why do I spend so much time and energy in debunking this particular myth? A couple of people have asked me who is paying me! They imagined that I must be getting a paycheck from someone in order to be so persistent! I found that to be funny and also a bit of a compliment.
The answer of course is that I don’t get paid. Nobody is sending me money. 2012hoax.org doesn’t make any money, we don’t even have ads! So… what *is* my motivation?
Perhaps the best way to explain what drives me to do this is to read some of the emails that I have received.
John writes:
“Great web-site, I reviewed it with my 7 and 9 year old who were having nightmares about the whole 2012 thing. They will no longer be fooled by the media! Thanks again.”
When I asked John how his children found out about 2012, he answered that they had seen *commercials* for some of the various shows that the History channel has produced regarding 2012. Not the shows themselves, mind you, but commercials for the shows.
This isn’t surprising, because the History channel has produced (at last count) no less than seven separate shows on 2012. They like to put all of them on the air in week long blocks arranged by topic, so if you happen to catch the “Apocalypse Week” then you get all of their productions regarding 2012 all at once.
Based on my unscientific and self-selecting interactions with people at the website, I would say that this hoax affects juveniles and young adults the most. They seem to be the most credulous audience for this kind of paranoid programming. However, this is not always the case.
Hillary writes:
So I wasn’t even aware of the 2012 rumors until I overheard my father talking one night. After he was finished with his conversation I decided to slip in and ask him a few questions. He answered me to the best of his knowledge, but ultimately left it at “The world is pretty much ending in 2012.”
On my way home that night my mind spun with so many awful thoughts. I have a two year old son, and a husband who works several states away from here. I called my husband sobbing, explaining to him everything that my father told me. For the few weeks that followed that there was a dramatic decrease in both of our moods… even once my husband talked about quitting his job and coming back home, to be with us. I also couldn’t think about my 2 year old, and every time I looked at him it was hard not to break down in sobs. The idea of never seeing him graduate or get married seemed like a hopeless thing. I’ll admit I was too scared to research because I was afraid I would just find what my father said to be true. But after two weeks of sleepless nights, depression, and scrubbing anything in my house to keep myself distracted, I decided to further educate myself on the issue. I ran across the 2012hoax site, and I must say in the hour that I spent on this site I feel like a new person. I’m going to call my husband in the morning, give him the link, and I’m going to look my two year old in the eyes tonight without crying. I just want to thank the people on this site for giving me hope. I know I sound a little dramatic, but I’ve never been so scared about anything, and honestly the thought of only seeing my son reach the age of four terrifies me. So thank you, I can now start dreaming about what my life will be like without the thoughts of losing everything in 2 years! 🙂
So, not only was Hillary deeply affected by this, but so was her father!
The thing that really gets to me is when I hear stories about people who become depressed, and even suicidal over these rumors. For example, Megan writes:
I actually just want to thank this site and its founders. I was recently introduced to the IHC by the commercials on TV and when I went through [their] site, I began to have a panic attack. For the few days afterwards I was subject to extreme depression and I contemplated taking my life in order to avoid the horrible fate of the world. I am 18. I found a link to this site on Yahoo Answers and I have been following it ever since.
I guess what I am trying to say is thank you. I appreciate this site and everyone who works on it. It has helped me, my family, and many others. I can finally function without thinking “what’s the point of living if life is going to end anyway?” I want you to know that you have saved me, and that I will tell everyone I know about this site.
So, there you have it. That is why I do this, not for fame, or fortune, but just out of a sense of civic duty.
You do *not* have to become as deeply involved as I am, in order to make a huge difference. Let us say that you give one talk to a group of 20 school-aged kids. Out of those 20, there might be 10 who have heard the rumors, and 5 of those believe it, and 1 is depressed, anxious, and perhaps suicidal. If you can reach that one kid, and get him to understand that this is a hoax, then it is worth it.
Until next time, this is Bill Hudson with 2012hoax.org
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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If I hear this guy on this podcast again you have lost a subscriber and supporter – this person has been on this podcast 3 times this year already – Are you that short of people with ideas ?
I am so sick of this guy pushing his own points of view – I believe he is causing more hysteria than 2012 itself – he is trying to create a cult following and self serving website push – GET OVER IT BILL HUDSON – let people think what they want !!!!!!!!
Then you will want to skip the following dates:
March 10th, June 6th, and August 6th. I think there’s another one that is not on the calendar yet that is after that.
As far as my creating a cult or website push: The site is a wiki, and nobody makes money from it. Indeed, by the time 2013 rolls around I will have spent about $500 in various fees and services. I don’t host ads. The contributors come from all over the world, and are primarily amateur astronomers who are tired of being asked about 2012. I’m not sure why you think that this is trying to create a cult. If so, it would be a cult with an automatic disbanding date, which is an interesting concept.
One good way to keep me off the air here would be to fill up the dates on the calendar. There are many dates that are marked as ‘still available’, and I imagine I will keep offering to record more episodes as long as there is space in the calendar. So, if you would like, you can volunteer to host an episode or two, and you’ll be certain you won’t hear my gravelly voice on those dates.
Dear Mat;
People are of course free to think what they want. You are free to get over Bill Hudson. Me? I can’t get over him…. I don’t want to.
“There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.” ~Isaac Asimov
We live in times when anti-science crud is given equal billing to science and reason. Those of us who believe in getting past the woo, and presenting truth to anyone who cares to hear it, are working hard to (in our own way) make the world a better place.
I’m not over Bill. I’m the Program Director of Astronomy.FM Radio (AFM*Radio) – we just invited Bill to host a show for us, “Just Another Day: 2012 Debunked” which will air once a month on our station.
“Just Another Day” premieres on AFM*Radio on Sunday, February 28th, at 9pm US Eastern time (a.k.a., Monday March 1st at 0200 UTC)
Thanks Bill!
~Michael
Wow, Mat. This is a free podcast. And we give everyone who is interested an opportunity to contribute a podcast. If you don’t like what you hear, please consider doing a podcast of your own. We still have many dates open for 2010.
Actually, there were a few dates in January that we needed filled and Bill graciously offered to do extra dates so we weren’t scrambling to fill them, and we thank him for that.
If you actually listened to this podcast you would have heard the heart-wrenching comments that Bill has received from people who are genuinely afraid the world is going to end in 2012. We’ve had lots of comments on earlier podcasts addressing the 2012 phenomenon, thanking us for posting the podcast. And unfortunately, as Michael said above, anti-science is running rampant and people are sincerely afraid and depressed. Bill and his team are doing a service that is obviously (and sadly) needed. They are changing people’s lives. Beyond what Bill has shared, I know personally that there are people out there that are considering ending their lives because of the 2012 hoax. If we knew that having Bill on every week would prevent a tragedy from occurring, we would do it.
Nancy;
I don’t think I can do every week… but if you have a situation where you need a hole to fill in the schedule in a hurry, you let me know.
Mat:
A few weeks ago I walked into the elevator where I work, and a young woman approached me and frantically asked if “everything in the 2012 movie was true?” She had come home from the movie and hadn’t slept because she was concerned if there was truth in what she had seen.
I explained some of the common misconceptions and pointed her to 2010hoax.com.
She came back the next day, relieved, and said something I didn’t expect: “I guess we have as much chance of the Earth being destroyed in 2012 as we do right now.”
My point is, there are people troubled by the crap that is circulating out there about 2012. If we can relieve that stress by making the listeners of these podcasts aware of the resource, then who cares how many times we repeat ourselves?
Rob Keown
I look forward to seeing the movie 2012? this weekend. The CGI looked great. Maybe the story and acting won’t be up to par for everyone but the 6 bucks I’ll be paying for the matinee…. well… I think it will be well worth the price for the big special effects alone.
I am 11 years old and I was so scared of this 2012 thing. Not to the point of suicide, definetly not, but It got me thinking about “what if” and I had trouble sleeping. How did I find out about it? I am computer savy, and being the curious person I was, I looked online about things like Earth’s age for a science project. Well, long story short, I definetly looked at the wrong website. I then researched on Yahoo! Answers. Most of the replies were doubting the end, and I began to feel more confortable about the situation. But then I saw the troll. That one post threw me off the edge, “Yes, it will. Anyone who does not believe in 2012 will surely die from their lack of preperation and ignorance. Only idiots would doubt it.” Wow. That was like…. lets just say it made me even more scared. But then one helpful person posted a link in their comment, leading to the http://www.2010hoax.org site. I clicked on it, and was thrilled!
What made matters worse, also, was at school. At South Lakewood Elementary, a few boys were shouting at the top of their lungs, “2012 is the end!”. This was after I had tried to research for my Science Project and had heard the rumor. It drove me so insane that I screamed at them to shut up! xD
Oh yeah, anyway.
The point is, I, being a naive 11 year old, became depressed and scared beyond my mind when I found these rumors. Like you said, this is hurting children more than people think. And to find out while doing research for a school project! Thats just wrong.
I am still a little unsure, though.
Thank you, http://www.2012hoax.org!