Planet X Cults

I've been asked if I'm just playing at being a scientist. I'm tempted
to ask the scientists if they are just playing at having common sense.
Some of the statements about Planet X cults in general and me in
particular are totally ridiculous.

I've been a member of Troubled Times for two years now, and I've never
given Nancy Lieder any money, nor has she asked me for any. Troubled
Times disseminates information on how to survive cataclysmic events,
grows seeds and gives them away, that sort of thing.

You people assume that if I write a novel about cataclysms in 2003 I
must be one of Nancy Lieder's brainwashed followers. By that illogic,
since I write about a psychic and vampires I must also be a psychic
and a vampire. Hey, maybe I'm actually a psychic brainwashed Nancy
Lieder following vampire! Not to mention an ignorant troll.

Do I definitely believe Planet X will appear in 2003? No. Do I believe
it is POSSIBLE Planet X (or some other disruptive astronomical object)
will appear in 2003? Yes.

(Yes, I know, I am not allowed to openly believe such a thing on this
list without scientific proof. So, go on, launch your attacks. Try to
find a different aspect of my website to criticize, to add a new angle
of irrelevancy to the issue. I personally recommend you criticize the
color of font I use on my website, since everything else, including
the background color of the pages, has already been brought up.)

I don't need to believe that manna falls from a comet's tail to figure
out that having the Earth pass through the tail of a comet the size of
Hale-Bopp would probably be pretty miserable for humanity. I don't
have to believe that aliens live on Nibiru to accept the concept that
a planet or other celestial body with a long range orbit may show up
and pass too close for comfort. I don't have to believe that Planet X
will show up in 2003 and come from a particular point in the sky to
think that perhaps I should prepare for possible catastrophes. You
people are so busy criticizing the trees that you ignore the forest.

As I pointed out before, the true value of people like Velikovsky,
Sitchin and Nancy Lieder lies in the fact that they open people's
minds to extreme possibilities, even though their details may be
wrong. They don't deserve to be ridiculed for it. Ridicule didn't work
with Velikovsky, and it obviously hasn't worked with Nancy Lieder,
either. She keeps coming back. You people ignore the evidence right in
front of your faces, on this very list.

Comparison of "Planet Xers" to a cult like Heaven's Gate is utterly
stupid, as is the assumption that Planet Xers are likely to commit
suicide if Planet X doesn't appear next year. Planet Xers are
survivalists, trying to find ways to survive possible catastrophe. Why
would people oriented towards survival commit suicide?

A much better comparison is Y2K. Y2K also had a specific date, and
people prepared for it, expecting disaster. Preparation for Y2K was
much more wide spread than preparation for Planet X. Did you hear
about a lot of Y2K suicides??? I prepared for Y2K, and I didn't feel
at all suicidal the day after. Actually, I was so happy on 1/1/2000
that my face hurt from smiling.

The assumption that people who move to the boondocks ruin their lives
is narrow-minded. If I manage to move to the boondocks this year (as I
would like to do) and nothing terrible happens next year, what then?
Why, I'll still be sitting in the boondocks, watching deer come out of
the woods to feed, using my binoculars to get close up views of eagles
perched in trees, planting the garden of my dreams and using my
telescope to star gaze with less light pollution than I currently
have. Maybe that sounds like a ruined life to you, but to me it sounds
like heaven.

And if I can move to the boondocks, raise a good portion of my own
food and get my own power source, like wind power, I will also be
better able to cope with other possible disasters:

1)	A volcanic eruption that seriously disrupts global climate. There's
good evidence that happened in 1812 and 535 AD. It can happen again.

2)	An asteroid impact. Doesn't have to be a planet killer to cause
serious problems. Just a moderate one hitting the right place will do.
Such asteroids have hit before: Tunguska in 1908, in the Amazon in the
1930's, and over Greenland in (I believe) 1998. Three in one century,
and all fell in mostly uninhabited regions. That kind of luck can't
last forever. One hitting a big city would cause economic disaster
throughout the country it hit.

3)	A stock market crash. Happened in 1929, it can happen again.

4)	World War III. No explanation needed.

5)	A killer virus pandemic. Such a virus appeared spontaneously in
1918, and another one can appear again. Although the death toll in
developed nations would be less due to better medical facilities,
those facilities would be overtaxed, and the absenteeism due to
illness would have considerable economic impact.

6)	Global climate disruption due to global warming, caused by whatever
the currently accepted theory is. Rising ocean levels can cause
serious disruption in coastal economies, droughts can cripple large
scale agriculture.

As our society grows more intricate and globally interconnected, it
takes less to disrupt our accepted standard of living. The destruction
of two skyscrapers sent the US into an economic recession. What would
any of the above listed calamities do?

People laughed at those who prepared for Y2K. I spent less than $4000
on preparation, and $2800 of that was for a wood stove. The only Y2K
item I haven't used is a water filtration pitcher that cost $24.95.
The wood stove has already paid for itself by reducing our heating
costs.

On the other hand, for 18 years I have paid an average of $500/year to
insure my house, principally against fire. Over 18 years I am out
$9000, and I have nothing to show for it. And yet next month I will
write out a check for $500+ to insure my house against a fire that has
never happened in 18 years, and probably never will happen.

No one thinks that is wrong, but if I store food and water, or try to
move somewhere where I am not so dependent on society to guard against
possible catastrophe, why I am crazy and ruining my life. Go figure.

And organizations like Troubled Times, that trumpet possible disasters
and give people information on how to survive them, are considered to
be evil cults.

Whatever. I have better things to do than try to reason with
supposedly scientific people who, in their own way, are as irrational
as the Planet Xers they scorn. I'll keep writing novels and preparing
for possible catastrophes, and leave you to your backbiting and
nonsensical assumptions.

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Wendy Jensen
www.wendyjensen.com


"I would not sit in the scorner's seat 
Nor hurl the cynic's ban- 
Let me live in a house by the side of the road 
And be a friend to man."

Sam Walter Foss, The House by the Side of the Road