Nasa condemns fear-mongering website used to market new film
FOR THE past 30 years, business leaders, former governmentofficials and scientists have been secretly working on a plan tosave humanity from destruction when the Earth collides with anotherplanet on 21 December 2012.
They have set up a covert Institute for Human Continuity whichhas now agreed to go public and warn the world that there is a 94per cent probability of "cataclysmic forces" destroying our planetin three years' time.
Its website offers survival kits and encourages people to sign upfor a lottery to decide who will be among the lucky few chosen to besaved.
You are probably thinking that this is an elaborate hoax - youwould be right. But hundreds of people have apparently been taken inby the nonsense put out by Sony Pictures as part of a "viralmarketing" campaign for its film 2012, set for release next month.
Nasa is taking the issue so seriously that an astronomer at theagency has spoken out to condemn the use of the hoax website, whichclaims the world is going to end in 2012.
David Morrison said he had received more than 1,000 enquiriesfrom members of the public who were concerned that Nasa scientistswere involved in a conspiracy to deny that they were tracking themovements of Nibiru, a hitherto undiscovered planet on a collisioncourse with Earth.
Dr Morrison, a distinguished scientist at Nasa's AstrobiologyInstitute, said that the marketing behind the film, distributed byColumbia Pictures, was making some people so scared that he fearedthey could harm themselves.
"They've created a completely fake scientific website. It looksvery slick. It talks about this organisation having existed for 30years and it consists of international scientists and businesspeople and government officials having concluded that there is a 94per cent chance of the Earth being destroyed in 2012 - and it's allmade up, it's pure fiction. But obviously some people are treatingit seriously," Dr Morrison told The Independent.
"I've even had cases of teenagers writing to me saying they arecontemplating suicide because they don't want to see the world end.I think when you lie on the internet and scare children in order tomake a buck, that is ethically wrong," he said.
There is nothing on the website instituteforhumancontinuity.orgto indicate it is a hoax. It states that scientists are tracking a"planet X" on the fringes of the Solar System and mixes realscientific phenomena with complete fiction, such as a simulation ofplanet X's near-Earth trajectory.
The website urges people to sign up to a lottery guaranteeingevery person of the planet an equal chance of survival in 2012 withthe offer of a place in one of the Institute for Human Continuity's"safe havens". Only a small Sony Pictures copyright notice at thebottom of the screen and a link to the film's own website give anyhint that this is a purely fictional website.
Dr Morrison said the idea of a mystery planet called Nibiru datesback 30 years to fictional books about supposed predictions ofancient Summerian astrologers. It was taken up by others linking a2012 planetary collision with the end of the Mayan calender.Interest in the idea has resurfaced in the lead-up to the film'srelease, Dr Morrison said. "It is too bad, but there is no lawagainst lying on the internet or anywhere else except in a court oflaw."
Vikki Luya, Sony's publicity director, said: "It is very clearthat this site is connected to a fictional movie. This can readilybe seen in the logos on the site, including the Sony PicturesDigital copyright line and the reference to the '2012 MovieExperience'. It is also evident in the user-generated videos, aswell as the numerous online references to this marketing campaign."
No comments:
Post a Comment