Is the entire country of Mexico anti-science?

Of course not, they are just willing to let really gullible people believe in silliness if it will generate a few dollars in revenue. We could learn that lesson in America, I think, as long as the anti-science crackpottery isn't harmful, like the left-wing fetish with giving their children crippling diseases in order to stick it to drug companies that make vaccines.  Instead, because it is campaign season, there is a whole bunch of people in the media throwing "anti-science" around about the opposition.   Last week alone - and I was not even looking - three different consumer science publications wrote basically the exact same article 'comparing' Republican contenders when it comes to science.  Do these journalists only have each other on their newsfeeds? How do all these people write the same article in the same week? But I digress.

It's silly stuff, mostly because they used their pet science positions to declare how 'conservative' the candidates were, which shows you they know nothing about politics.  They call Jon Huntsman a 'moderate'  despite the fact that he is the most conservative person in the campaign. Why call him a moderate then?  He accepts evolution, that's why, which 39% of Republicans don't, which means those people must be 'conservative' because, you know, they are anti-science.   Well, 30% of Democrats don't accept evolution, it just gets a lot less attention because people in science media have to vote for someone. Are Democrats conservatives? Why is 39% denial of evolution anti-science and 30% is not?  What is the magic number to make an entire party anti-science, 35%?  No one knows, it seems to be all postmodern-y and basically placed wherever Republicans will be on the other side of it.

So Mexico is not anti-science, it is just perfectly willing to let a bunch of gullible people think that the Mayans created an end-of-the-world calendar and that the Universe has some special affinity for a failed Central American nation and will go ahead and make it happen - so they should visit Mexico.  It's a calendar, those start over.  Just because 2011 ended did not mean there will be no 2012 but there's no reason not to party like it's December 21st, 2012 anyway, and so Mexico is hoping for a huge tourism boom.  Hey, you think I am posting this article on the 13th - a Friday the 13th - by coincidence??  Absolutely not, I want the page views. If you believe the end of the world is coming, please donate to the site.

The Mexico Tourism Department has gotten an $8 million budget to promote tourism to the "Mayan World" - but they mean just the southeast Mexico part, not the Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras parts. Their hope is to get as much as $14.6 billion in extra tourism revenue. They are even preparing an end-of-the-world itinerary which included Comalcalco, where the engraved Mayan reference to 2012 was found.

So if you want to celebrate the end of the 13th Baktun in style, you know where to go. You'll be really hung over on December 22nd but that's better than the alternative.


Comalco. Photo linked from The Guardian.