another planet x

There was a time when I thought that the assertion that the moon-landings were a hoax was the epiphany of stupidity, but maybe that dubious assertion has been bested. Only tonight, I found out that a large planet, or dwarf star, would shortly enter the regions of the inner solar system and wreak havoc upon the earth. It appears to go by the name Nibiru and it's rendevous with us is set for late next year, just in time, apparently, for the end of the most recent Mayan calendar cycle.

How have I managed to miss this object so far? There's little doubt that the intruder would be brighter than Jupiter (so easily visible in the night sky) and news and images would daily be beamed to an increasingly worried populace. Even if, as Nibirista argue, Nasa and national governments are enmeshed in a cover-up (naturally!), amateur astronomers, who are skilled and well-equipped, would have sounded the alert. Long ago, in fact. Nibiru failed an original arrival prediction in 2003 and it's only fair, don't you think, that another is scheduled for 2012. What's nine years in a 3,600 year orbit, anyway? Just like the most recent prophecy of that poor man in the US, who has moved the end of the world to October.

The oddest thing of all is the sheer quantity of misinformation, the lack of evidence, the opinion dressed up as fact and generally illogical thinking that goes into making up these zany, though clearly strongly held, views. And then there's the paranoia. Dare to question any tenet of the vision and you are part of the conspiracy to hide the truth from the people. Or you lack the spiritual depth to discern these subtle cosmic trends.

I'm good at empathy usually, but it's really hard to get my head around people who think like this. The sheer delusion is breathtaking.