2012 Cultists Await Alien Rescue

I suppose it was inevitable. Now that 2012 is here, stories of 2012 cultists are beginning to appear in the mainstream media. I've commented before on this blog regarding the ridiculousness of the 2012 apocalypse, including conversations Westerners have had with actual practitioners of the Mayan religion. Even though the big deal is supposed to be the end of the current cycle of the Mayan calendar, the Mayans generally have to explain that it has nothing to do with any sort of apocalypse and that Westerners who say so don't understand their beliefs. Anyway, Yahoo News reports today on a French commune made up of New Agers who believe that when the world ends on December 21, 2012, aliens will arrive and transport them to a new civilization. There's no mention in the article on whether or not these are supposed to be Mayan aliens.

An estimated 20,000 New Age believers who say the "upside down" mountain is home to aliens who will rescue them from an impending apocalypse have saturated a small French commune near the foot of the picturesque Pic de Bugarach.

The Independent reports the growing flock, whom locals refer to as "esoterics," believe the world will come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012. They also reportedly believe that the unique mountain is in fact home to a race of alien beings that will emerge to rescue the gathered humans and transport them to a new civilization.

Pic de Bugarach has long been famous because rock samples taken from its peak are actually older than points measured at lower elevations. Scientists say that is because when the 1,230-meter (4,040-foot) mountain erupted, its peak flipped upside down before crashing back down upon the mountain's base. The mountain is said to have played a role in inspiring everything from Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" to Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

It seems to me that this should be a simple critical thinking problem. If aliens really do live inside the mountain, why has no one outside the cult detected them yet? Oh, that's right - their advanced technology shields them from detection. Even so, it seems to me that if the 2012 apocalypse is one big misunderstanding, what does that make the beliefs of these cultists? If there's not going to be an apocalypse in the first place, why should the aliens bother showing up?