Fox News: Either Planet X Will Kill Us All on April 23rd or the Rapture Can Happen Any Time, Take Your Pick
Cite: https://sploid.gizmodo.com/fox-news-either-planet-x-will-kill-us-all-on-april-23r-1825197325
Fox screenshot
Silly fringe theories about Planet X—an imagined planet typically named Nibiru that is on course to hit or pass by Earth with disastrous consequences—are the kind of thing normally relegated to vanity press-published books or those tabloids you browse in the supermarket checkout aisle. On Wednesday, they made it into Fox News , with the added caveat that maybe some other Biblical catastrophe could surprise us instead.
The Planet X theory first emerged in 1995 and is usually evidenced by tortured interpretations of religious texts, with vague suppositions that NASA either hasn’t detected this ominous celestial body or is actively covering up its existence to prevent widespread panic. In an article filed to Fox’s website on Wednesday, this time the prophesied doomsday comes courtesy of an article in British rag the Daily Express citing numerologist David Meade’s interpretation of the Bible’s Revelation 12:1-2:
Is The Rapture finally here? One Christian numerologist says a biblical sign strongly suggests it.
...
The passage reads: “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”
In the passage, the woman is represented as Virgo.
According to Meade, the alignment represents “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” marking the Rapture, the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time.
(Incredibly, while the Express article introduces Meade as a conspiracy theorist, the Fox News one does not.)
Meade is apparently telling every gullible soul with the time to listen that Planet X will appear above the Earth on April 23rd, 2018. This will trigger the Rapture, because the planet’s massive gravitational forces will cause volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and all that other bad stuff you see in Roland Emmerich movies.
To contest this grand claim, Fox News includes one view from a mainstream scientific source in just nine words:
NASA repeatedly has said Planet X is a hoax.
To clarify, NASA has said that Caltech researchers analyzing the orbit of objects in the Kuiper Belt have found some evidence that there is indeed a large planet in orbit around the Sun beyond Neptune that could be as large as 10 Earth masses. (This is also sometimes referred to by the nickname of “Planet X” in the media, though the conspiracy theories predate any scientific evidence of its existence.) The existence of this planet is merely theoretical, though similar analysis of Uranus’ orbit laid the basis to first observe Neptune in 1846.
If it does exist, NASA says the available evidence indicates the unknown planet would be “about 20 times farther from the sun on average than Neptune” with an orbital period of 10,000-20,000 Earth years. That’s way further away than Pluto, which no one really seems concerned about smacking Earth in the face.
Regarding the Nibiru theory, in an article on NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, NASA planetary astronomer Daniel Morrison says conspiracy theorists are “constantly changing their story” on the catastrophic nature of Planet X. Morrison warned that Nibiru stories circulate on YouTube and numerous websites, that he sometimes gets five emails a day about it, and that “If [a story] is real, it is likely to be in regular news media, not just posted on some website.”
Fox, which is apparently some website, instead directed readers to this lengthy quote from Jonathan Sarfati, a physical chemist who happens to be a Young Earth creationist and is thereby maybe not the ideal person to pick for a debunker. According to Safarti, we don’t need to worry about April 23rd, not specifically because Planet X does not exist, but because the Rapture will happen at any time it damn well pleases:
He told the Express: “As usual with any astrology (or Christian adaptations of it), one cherry-picks the stars that fit the desired conclusion.
“There is nothing to suggest that April 23 is a momentous date for biblical prophecy, and Christians need to be careful about being drawn into such sensationalist claims.
“We won’t know the day or the hour—so we should be prepared at all times!”
There you have it, folks. Either a mythical planet is going to rend the Earth beneath its mighty gravity on April 23rd, or something else just as bad and unpredictable could happen at any time. The only thing that’s clear? NASA is hiding something.
Fox can pump out fake news about planet X almost as fast as Tesla can make the model X.
Ahh, shit. April 23rd is a Monday too. Go figure... damned numerologists.
Hello darlin'... understanding astronomy... if Nibiru was really going to be here in two weeks, it would already be visible and disrupting our orbits. It's a great story, but it's just not real. I do admit that I love watching the nutters on YouTube wind up over it.
Hey there Jen, what's shakin'?
Usual stuff. Busier than a bee. Staying outta trouble and being as low profile as possible. You?
Same. Taking up a new role at work. Always changing here, but it earns me more money.
Tesla has unsolved problems with the X, so the production rate is quite slow compared to other cars.
Fox pumps out massive qualities of bullsheet. that their viewers eagerly lap up.
They are getting closer to the promised 2500 a week. Musk is supposedly extra musky because he's been staying at the plant - rumored he doesn't have time to shower.
April 23rd?
Shoot! I'll be out of town that day!
Then there are several things I am putting off till the 24th
I hope donating all your assets isn't one of them, they prefer them well in advance and the 24th doesn't give time for the check to clear!/s
My second quarter car insurance premium isn't due to the 27th so I might hold off.
I just filed a tax extension so that's put off and I won't get the Charger inspected till after 24th and no sense paying bills before then.
Very wise!
Darn. I just filed mine. It sucks being responsible in regards to an inevitable catastrophe.
Taxes? Who pays taxes?
...Just say, "I forgot." - Steve Martin
What is it time for our destruction again already?
I think it means that the rest of us get to keep all the stuff owned by Fox viewers.
Sermons at all the teavangelical churches the following Sunday should be interesting.
ah yes, Harold Camping would be proud, don't ya think ? (or maybe he'd condemn David Meade to eternal torture in a lake of fire or something of that nature ?)
some of these religious people actually seem to desire for the end of the world - it's almost like a death cult.
I forgot about that dipstick. A friend on a former political forum used to listen to his radio program for kicks and giggles.
Fox is becoming like the "History Channel"......all nutty bible-babble, all the time.
Now they only have to chase down the legacy of Hitler and fake UFOs.
Let's keep in mind that Fox News is a business. They air this kind of cr@p because their audience loves it.
The reason Fox News advertises so damn much post-apocalyptic survivalist gear and other nutter supplies is because deep down in their twisted little hearts Fox News mostly fundamentalist evangelical small c christian viewers truly do know that they really are not even close to being good enough to be lifted up in The Rapture and so they will all likely be left behind to fight it out with zombies, other beasties and The Whore of Babylon during the Tribulations. So it is written and so thus it always shall be forever and forevermore /s...
And don't leave out Manbearpig.
Every time one of these damned doomsday things comes along I keep hoping it's real and every time I'm let down. I'll do what I always do. Buy a bottle a of Chivas Regal and get blasted. Say isn't there a comet coming around in 2026 or 27? Maybe that one will put the world out of our misery? Either that or maybe I'll be lucky and be dead by then.
I'm checking my Mayan calander...Nope, we have another couple of thousand years before we are wiped from the face of the earth. I'm not canceling my fishing trip this weekend.
Fox News: Either Planet X Will Kill Us All on April 23rd or the Rapture Can Happen Any Time
One way to put an end to this lunacy I suppose.