Preppers make memes, too. (Photo: PrepperCentral)

In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, reports emerged that Nancy Lanza, the mother of gunman Adam Lanza, was a member of the "prepper" community, a group of people who stock food, water and supplies in preparation for an impending apocalypse. Many collect weapons and medical supplies, fearing that socioeconomic collapse or deadly pandemics are imminent. Mrs. Lanza, some outlets reported, collected guns because she was a survivalist who was well-acquainted with the prepper movement.

Many of these reports were thinly-sourced, based primarily an an account from her ex-sister-in-law who said the two had discussed prepping.

As it turns out, real preppers are none too happy with the way the media has portrayed them in the wake of the shooting. One, named Daisy Luther, took to the blog Prepper Central to lament the "psychological warfare" media organizations have unleashed on the prepper community. Those of us with more mainstream beliefs find it threatening, Ms. Luther argues, that preppers do not blindly swallow what the media feeds them or rely on government safety nets:

The propaganda machine is not only going after guns in the wake of the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School – this has become a two-for-the-price-of-one crisis, allowing the government and media to yet again, demonize preppers...Preppers have been cast in an ugly light for quite some time.  We are painted as camo-clad survivalists, clenching a knife in our teeth while unloading an automatic weapon into some real or imagined threat.

She has a point!

Preppers have already been immortalized in the Discovery Channel show Doomsday Preppers, which, like every reality show, finds the most extreme possible example of the subculture and edits it to make them look as insane as possible. Though, to be fair, it's probably not very difficult to make preppers look rather out there. (Here is a post about how you should be prepared to use deadly force to protect your loved ones this holiday season.)

Of course, if the apocalypse does begin tomorrow as the Mayans supposedly predicted, we're probably going to all wish we, too, had a mountain of water bottles in our basement.

(h/t Christopher Mims)

Stop it. (Photo: Instagram)

NASA has warned us time and time again that the Mayan apocalypse, predicted to fall on 12/21/12, is not scientifically possible. It's not gonna happen, people! And yet, Twitter users everywhere are spending a disproportionate amount of time coming up with completely original Mayan joke material. Now, there is Instapocalypse, a site that culls Instagram photos published with the #apocalypse hashtag, because we all get the Internet we deserve.

So far the site is pretty sparse, populated by some pics of weird expiration dates on foods and a shoddy-looking apocalypse countdown thing created by something called Versagram. We do, however, have to agree with this photo, which correctly pronounces that 12/21/12 will be the most annoying day in Facebook history. Also, this cat is cute!

If a fiery asteroid does end up hurtling towards earth on 12/21/12, I think we can all die happy knowing that we contributed to such a meaningful project.

(Photo: Apocalypse.net)

Though NASA has already gone to great lengths to assure adults everywhere that rumors of the world's supposed impending demise are in fact false, the government has now turned its focus to precocious teens who have traded in anxiety about what to wear for class picture day for soul-crushing fear of the apocalypse.

On USA.gov, which is apparently "the U.S. government's official web portal," some enterprising government intern wrote a short blog post meant to assuage the worries of America's angst-ridden tweens. No comets or stray planets are coming to collide with our own, we promise!

NASA has received thousands of letters concerned about the end of the world. David Morrison, a planetary astronomer and senior scientist for NASA who answers questions from the public about astrobiology, says, “At least a once a week I get a message from a young person ― as young as 11 ― who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday.”

Young people, always remember that if you're feeling upset about doomsday rumors, Neil Degrasse Tyson has your back.

(h/t NYMag)