Threats from Other Realms: Alien Attacks PDF

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Week 9: Threats fom other realms: Alien Attacks...

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Threats from Other Realms: Alien Attacks • Not too many people are actually afraid of aliens ◦ Have been times in history however 1. Mars attacks 2. The panic broadcasts 3. La guerra de los mundos 4. Halley's Comet Mars Attacks • History of aliens in pop culture ◦ Mars closest planet to earth - so largest threat ‣ Notion of life on mars is recent: 1870s ‣ Discovered water on mars - maybe mars was inhabited? - seems most earth like ‣ Percival Lowell • Wrote books about what life might be like on mars if and when its inhabited • Became the expert on martian life • Argued mars was a dying world • Was entirely speculation - scientists disregarded - but normal people bought into it ‣ Soon people though martians n=might be interest in earth ‣ H.G. Wells • British novelists • Once martians laid waste to their planet would come after earth • 1897 wrote The War of The Worlds ◦ Invaders from mars attack England - Good book ◦ Part of the Invasion scare fiction (battle of dorphy, and invasion of England) ◦ Wells interested in getting government and public appreciate the need for military preparation ◦ Generated interest in potentially threatening life on mars ‣ NYT had article about martian engineers and how good their engineering was ◦ 1920s: speculate we could pick up ratio signals from mars ‣ Started trying ‣ Public now have a well formed picture of what aliens looked like • Small, green, from mars ◦ 1899: newspaper entry about small alien with green skin ◦ Edgar Rice Burroughs: 1912 published A Princess of Mars ‣ About green martian men and women ◦ 1929: when alien first started to be used ‣ In a book The Alien Intelligence ◦ Now people know a lot more about aliens with people believing that they are more technologically advanced than us and are unfriendly and want to take up over ‣ Still not something people are panicked about The Panic Broadcast • The first big moment in alien panics in the 20th century • Emerged from Orson Wells ◦ An American director, known for his appearance on talk shows ◦ At the but of a lot of unkind references to his weight ◦ A commercial pitchman ◦ Almost a pathetic figure, best days were behind of him ◦ Very little people remember his as one of the best creative minds of the 20th century ‣ A giant in American and international radio industry ‣ O f th ti t t fi i i hi t

• Citizen Kane ‣ Directed an all black cast of McBeth • And a lot of otters plays ‣ Was great at creating realistic sound • It was a radio show about the War of the Worlds ◦ Broadcast kept repeating that this was fiction ◦ It was a play by play description of an alien attack on New Jersey ◦ How did people react? ‣ Broadcast generated widespread hysteria ‣ 100s of thousands of people were sent into hysterics ‣ In NYC people rushed to police stations asking for guidance ‣ People had packed and ready to be evacuated ‣ People reported seeing UFOs ‣ Many people did extremely irrational stuff ‣ Went on all over the north east ◦ When the broadcast ended Wells and his associated were questioned by the police ‣ The damage caused by the broadcast was the worst case scenario • Many deaths • Stampeded, suicides, car crashes ‣ Seemed this had created a catastrophe of epic proportions ‣ Tried to attempt a formal press conference and read a prepared statement • He was genuinely shocked that people believed this was real • Especially with all of the warnings before durning and after the broadcast • Why did people react this way? ◦ Channel surfing ‣ People would tune in for the beginning of a particular show and would decide if they wanted to keep listening to it ‣ People could miss the fiction warning ◦ Radio stations in 1930s was regarded as a quick news source ‣ 8/10 people believed that radio was an accurate and reliable news source ‣ It would regularly interrupt news shows to bring the news ‣ People used to their programs being interrupted by the news - used to live news ◦ Airships ‣ Luxurious and considered the future of air travel ‣ Like the titanic in the sky ‣ They flew relatively low - could block out the sun - always drew a crowd if flying over a city ‣ Eventually there was the Hindenburg crash - the radio broad cast of this was very well known at the time • So people expected that when something momentous happened, they would be able to hear it on the radio • No one expected the Hindenburg to crash but it did and they heard about it • No one expected aliens to attack but they heard it • The entire thing boosted Orson Wells popularity La Guerra de los Mundos • 1944: an American decided to do a local version of War of World to be broadcast around the country ◦ The producers did declare everything was fictional before and during the broadcast ◦ Format of news flashes of what was going on - same effect of New Jersey ‣ Troops were placed on alert ‣ Electrician in Chile dies of a heart attack - first person to be killed by an alien invasion ◦ A year prior in Chile banned the use of alarming radio broadcasts, likely to frighten listeners ‣ Th fi i t i i ifi t d t th d d i thi h d d

• Ecuador 1959: Ecuador radio had a performance of a song and in the middle it was interrupted to say that martians had landed and were marching towards the city ◦ Military and airbase had been swept aside by martians ◦ Reporter who was playing the news broadcaster: Leonardo Paez ‣ Pretended to collapse ◦ Had a general message that people had to prepare for combat and should take a stand against the aliens ◦ Terrifying description of the aliens ◦ Impact ‣ Was the same, there was warnings ahead of time as well ‣ Crowds rushed into the streets, and thought etc loud in the sky were attackers ‣ Churches opened for people to seek sanctuary and make peace with their gods ◦ Station's staff realized what was going on and broadcasted that this was fiction ‣ When things got ugly - before broadcast no one was seriously hurt ‣ Once people realize they were fooled, they were pissed off ‣ A mob headed towards the station • Broke the windows • Lit the building on fire • Fire crews came but most of cities dispatch were sent out to fight the aliens • Death toll was around 20 people • Building was severely damaged ◦ The were told several times that the broadcast was fake but it did nothing • There were several other similar broadcasts ◦ None of them caused the same level of widespread panic, they did cause local alarm ◦ Even though the story is well known by now and did Gove out warnings • Why? ◦ All explicitly stated to be fictional but still hysteria ensued ◦ Broad factors ‣ Broad stresses - public confidence was fragile • 1938: US coming out of crippling depression • 1944: Chile was recovering from earthquake • 1949: Ecuador the populations was facing super inflation and currency crisis ‣ Someone with an impressive title and talk with confidence • Wells had a speaker identify as a professor • Talk very soberly and serious - sound like a public official ◦ Almost exactly like Roosevelt ◦ Roosevelt had often gave radio speeches and people had known his voice • Same in Chile and Ecuador: people who spoke with confidence and seemed to have high value ‣ There was a fear of an external aggressor • 1938: nazis ◦ Even people who didn't think it was martians they thought it was a nazi attack • Ecuador ◦ Thought is was the neighbouring Peru ◦ Plague hit Ecuador they blamed the Peruvians ◦ Poor relations between the two countries with a war and Ecuador lost the war ◦ If not aliens it was Peruvians pretending to be aliens • Dorothy Thompson: one of the leading American journalists ◦ Her editorial played a part in getting Wells off the hook ‣ Main message was the US population should thank Wells for doing a public service ‣ Referred to a complete failure of logic as one of the reasons behind the panic ‣ Ab t h i h d l llibl dl ti i hi h i th

scientific mindset ‣ Conclusion able to apply to any mass panic • Worried because how easy it is to frighten people by fanaticism • Even predicting the Reds and the war on terror • John Leslie - The End of the World (book) ◦ About a bunch of reasons of how the world could end - kinda random Halley's Comet • In ancient times the moment was the most remarkable thing someone could see ◦ Comets seemed erratic and unpredictable ◦ In many cultures comets was used by the gods to send messages to the humans ‣ Most cultures feared comets because it was their gods sending them bad news ‣ Arrival of comets tend to inspire terror • Edmund Halley ◦ Wrote about comet he had discovered ◦ He looked back in history to instances of a particularly bright comet that appeared ◦ Found they came around every 76 years ◦ Predicted the next sighting would be 1768 and then 1835, which it did ◦ Another astronomer made another discovery ‣ In the tail of this comet there was cyanogen, a form of cyanide ‣ Believed that when Halley's Comet passed infant of the sun; the gravity could push the tail towards to earth and the tail of dust and gas would envelop the globe ‣ Why should the public care? • With technological advancement news or false news alike could spread very quickly • This is what was seen • 1910, Jan. 12: A comet appeared in the sky, referred to the Great January Comet ◦ People started to devouring information about astronomy and looked for when Halley's Comet would come next - in around a month • 1910, Feb.7: A front page article in the NYT, about the story of the comet's cyanogen tail and if a single grain of cyanogen touched a human's tongue they would instantly die ◦ Quoted a French astronomer who said it could snuff out all life on earth ◦ The newspaper immediately recanted the article and issued an apology ◦ Many astronomers came forward and said the chances of actual disaster were very small ◦ People ignored the retraction and other sources, the damage was done ◦ As more responsible scientists, irresponsible scientists also came to make new claims (very scary claims) • Comet Commercial activities ◦ Responsible: marketing related towards people new found interest in the comet ◦ Irresponsible ‣ Comet pills: harmless substances that were sold as offering protection against the comets effects; thousands of people believed in this and purchased • Comet effects ◦ Reports of suicides ◦ Reports of people holding oxygen tanks ‣ Difficult of hospitals to buy oxygen ◦ Massive prayer vigils and people would not go to work ◦ People liquidating life savings and buying oxygen, comet pills, or going on spending sprees...