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Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

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Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#21

Post by dfxm12 »

AlexandrB wrote: post #15
ggm wrote: post #3

Timely, given the "lights in the sky" fever.

I don't get why someone would see lights in the sky and jump to anything other than "domestic/commercial aircraft". Why would aliens or foreign powers light their vehicles up for easy spotting? I would really start to worry if I spotted an aircraft at dusk/night with no lights on it.

Most people don't know what airplanes really look like or what lights they have on them. To most people, any flying object is unidentified and any aerial phenomenon is unexplained. We use pennies more regularly than we see airplanes, but how many can pick the right penny from this lineup? https://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/groups/cognition/tutorial...

It gets easier to believe when supposed trustworthy sources: news outlets, the government as a whole and even specific senators/ex governors, fan the flames of conspiracy instead of common sense.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#22

Post by AceJohnny2 »

thmsths wrote: post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

I dunno, "collective delusion" sounds worse than a simpler "we weren't paying attention to the Thing, then media/memes sprung up and made us pay attention and we freaked out".

This happens all the time in our current media landscape. "Yeah health insurance denies claims sometimes, that's normal" to "wait actually health insurance denies claims routinely to increase its profits!?"

There are tons of things that we decide to ignore to go on with our lives. It's exhausting to freak out about all the things that deserve to be freaked out about.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#24

Post by [deleted] »

delichon wrote: post #14

The story completely misses that this period coincides with a temporary expansion of the habitat of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ The devil of the trees and terror of all loggers, forest rangers and apparently windshields.

[deleted]

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#25

Post by outworlder »

AlexandrB wrote: post #15
ggm wrote: post #3

Timely, given the "lights in the sky" fever.

I don't get why someone would see lights in the sky and jump to anything other than "domestic/commercial aircraft". Why would aliens or foreign powers light their vehicles up for easy spotting? I would really start to worry if I spotted an aircraft at dusk/night with no lights on it.

Aliens are just good neighbors and figured out FAA regulations before visiting.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#26

Post by outworlder »

glial wrote: post #20
chiffre01 wrote: post #8

The TLDR cause was: The windshield pitting epidemic was a case of collective delusion, where heightened awareness, media influence, and misattributed environmental factors led people to notice and misinterpret existing, ordinary damage as a mysterious phenomenon.

Yes, probably -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion

Nice. That probably explains why, say, we start seeing a model car everywhere the moment we decide to buy one.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#27

Post by csours »

thmsths wrote: post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

> The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion.

And this is why "conspiracy" theories exist. I prefer to call them Low Information High Satisfaction theories, as I fee that is a more accurate name.

I am do not intend to pass judgement on this commentor or on people who believe in these theories; in fact, I think that if you tell yourself "I am too smart to believe in conspiracy theories", you are making yourself MORE likely to fall into one.

We are truly living in an age of narrative; it's not the first and it won't be the last.

Book recommendation: High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#28

Post by ghurtado »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #10
thmsths wrote: post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

This happens all the time. See: drone sightings right now. Previously: Havana syndrome.

Also: killer clowns every few years. That one is a cultural icon by now.

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#29

Post by cute_boi »

thmsths wrote: post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

[flagged]

Re: Windshield pitting incidents in Washington reach fever pitch on April 15, 1954 (2003)

#30

Post by kryogen1c »

thmsths wrote: post #9

The conclusion is terrifying in my opinion. A not yet explained phenomenon or even something as far fetched as "aliens" would have been a more comforting answer than "essentially we can all start losing our mind at once, and it takes very little to trigger it".

I think that people, on the whole, vastly underestimate the degree to which humans are animals.
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