We like to think of ourselves as more sophisticated than Americans in 1938. We carry around small computers in our pockets and purses, so we should be better informed.

As in 1938, what we really need is a better bullshit detector: Americans still fall for hoaxes, lies, and frauds. Many still believe in UFOs. Why not? It makes as much sense as electing a convicted felon with a dead nutria pelt atop his head president.

In 1938, Orson Welles presented a version of HG Wells’ War Of The Worlds on the radio. The fictional Martian invading force landed in New Jersey. It caused such a panic in Jersey that PBS made a documentary about it in 2013. Here’s the trailer:

In 2024, we not only have smart phones, we have drones. Some people are freaking out over UFOs that are obviously drones:

About a month ago, reports began trickling in of people in New Jersey seeing large drones hovering or flying over their communities. The reports began to spread, and more people began peeking out their windows. Those people saw more drone-ish things and generated more reports, and the next thing you know the Biden administration has another “why aren’t they responding to the scary sky object??” hubbub on its hands.

 

What we know about the “drones” with certainly at this point is admittedly unsatisfying. It does seem as though some person or people saw something unusual and unexpected. Most of the documentation of the phenomenon, though, is of the “Bigfoot walking through the woods” variety: blurry, uncertain or obviously not what’s alleged.”

That sounds like a second rate episode of The X Files as opposed to something that allegedly technologically savvy 21st Century Americans should be alarmed by. This paranoid credulity is yet another example that flooding the zone with shit works. I agree with Philip Bump’s take on this mishigas:

If you are skeptical that government distrust is a central factor in the Drone Wars, simply consider the sources above: Hogan, Rogan and Van Drew are believers, while Kim and Kinzinger — a Democrat and a persona non grata in Trumpworld — are skeptics. The entire controversy has emerged as a central point of discussion in the right-wing media, particularly on Fox News.“

So much for being more sophisticated in 2024 than 1938. Americans are just as gullible now as then, arguably more so: the country just elected Donald Trump whereas in 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the Oval One. The proof is in the president.

The last word goes to Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre Of The Air: