Bad Astronomy

Comet wrap-up

Regular readers already know I’ve been talking about this goofy idea by a guy named Eric Julien that a comet was going to hit the Earth on May 25th and kill millions of people. If you’re new here, you can read this. But that link doesn’t really tell you why I fight twinkies like Julien.

This is why I fight doomsayers. And this. And this.

Damnation, this makes me angry. People with little or no understanding of science going out and scaring other people out of their own ignorance (or, just possibly, a desire for cash, power, and/or fame coupled with their own sociopathic antipathy for other’s feelings). I don’t know what drives Eric Julien, but I know that when it comes to him, and others of his ilk, I will apply the brakes.

And as far as Eric Julien’s prediction of death and destruction on May 25, 2006, all I need to do is point out one line – just one line – printed on his very own website (www.savelivesinmay.com), right at the top, that puts lie to everything he said:

“Update May 26, 2006”.

No, wait. I was going to end this blog entry there, but I just cannot leave it at that. Because even though the world did not end on May 25, and everything Julien said is demonstrably wrong, get this: he is now claiming victory. That’s right, the one tack that always surprises me– to completely deny all reality in toto, and say you were right all along:

Eric Julien declares that his alert of a giant tsunami, triggered by volcanic eruptions in the Atlantic Ocean which were to have followed the impact of fragments of comet SW-3, these fragments generated in 1995 by the intervention of a hostile extraterrestrial civilization, brought forth the success of the greatest exopolitical operation in history.

Contrary to the declarations of NASA, fragments of comet SW-3 did indeed strike the Atlantic Ocean, as Julien forecast in his article published last April 11th. Despite the appearance of a series of waves of unprecedented height – up to 80 meters high when the known record was 34 meters – no tsunami struck the Atlantic coastlines.

You may have to re-read that last paragraph. Yes, the comet did hit, he claims. Yes, it did cause 80-meter-high waves, he claims. But no, they didn’t hit the US east coast.

Wanna know why?

Benevolent aliens stopped them.

AAAAIIIIIiiiiiieeeeee!!!

If this sounds familiar, then I agree. James Cameron should sue.

It is very, very tiresome fighting crap like this. It’s like digging a hole in water. And honestly, I will always expect there will be people either unstable enough or willing enough to prevaricate to promote this kind of doomsday nonsense. Mental illness exists, just as much as the sociopathic need to lie on a massive scale. If there’s a third option, I’d like to hear it. I can’t think of one.

And if that sounds mean-spirited, then I think it is the height of restraint given what these awful doomcrying people say and do.

What’s truly frustrating, in the end, is how many otherwise normal people believe this garbage, especially when we have enough real nightmares to deal with. My work – all our work – will never, ever end.