Can Perception Become Reality?

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There’s a lot of discussion these days about how the media influences people – whether the stories are real or fake. I ran across an interesting example that predates our current political mess by decades: Mad Gasser of Mattoon in 1944

ANESTHETIC PROWLER ON LOOSE
Mrs. Kearney and Daughter First Victims
Both Recover; Robber Fails to Get Into Home

Even for a newspaper, that’s a lot of assumptions: first, that these were only the “first” victims; second, that the prowler was using some sort of anesthetic; and third, that he was a robber. But it was enough. Within days, several more people called police saying that they too had been attacked by the prowler they read about in the newspaper. Their stories were published in the paper on September 5, owing to no publications on Sunday and the Labor Day holiday.

And that’s when the real melee began.

MAD ANESTHETIST STRIKES AGAIN

STATE HUNTS GAS MADMAN

[Then] the character of the newspaper reports changed dramatically. The headlines became: THE MANHUNT FOR MR. NOBODY

And as soon as that became the tone, suddenly there were zero more police reports. skeptoid.com

No residue of gas or lasting symptoms were observed, no gas is known to cause all the symptoms reported, and no prowler was ever caught – though there is an anecdotal suggestion that the initial attack could have been real.

In 1945 the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology published one research article on the Mad Gasser. Graphs of newspaper space in square inches compared to the number of reports showed a very apparent effect. If the morning newspapers dedicated more space to the Gasser, more reports came in that day. And during that initial 2-day Labor Day publishing break, no gassing was reported.

It’s depressing to think people can be manipulated so easily.

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon became one of the most famous case studies in mass hysteria. skeptoid.com

This was a small event in a small town during wartime, and it was over in a couple weeks when the local newspaper moved on. Consider Americans today, reading and viewing stories aimed at an agenda, whether pushed for ideological or financial reasons. Over and over, day after day. Maybe a single story gets repeated a dozen times – it feels as if it happened a dozen times.

As individuals zero in on fewer outlets, they get caught in the “echo chamber” of their own fears, hopes, and biases. Depending on which rabbit hole each of us chooses to fall down, we end up in “living” in different worlds.

No one can save us from ourselves – the answer must come from us.

Sixth Anniversary of RockyFlatsFacts

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It’s been a bit over six years ago that we launched this site with the publication of the book “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats: Urban Myths Debunked.” My personal opinion is that the Kindle version of the book is the best because it includes pictures of plutonium ingots and burning plutonium. It’s also cheaper and doesn’t require a shipping fee! There were 27 reviews of the book the last time I looked, and the reviews reflect the controversies that still surround Rocky Flats. The average is something near four stars, but there are several very negative reviews. A one star review says simply, “Poorly written.” Another says “Political parlance!” One says the book was “obviously written by a DOE shill.” That reviewer probably didn’t actually read the book, or at least failed to notice the book was not complimentary about DOE. My personal favorites are several of the five star reviews!

I’m obliged to discuss some statistics about the website. There have been 928 postings before I add this one. The counter, which was added a couple of years after we began, has now registered about 1,750,000. (For those who prefer precision, the last time I looked it registered 1,753,006.) The postings were about even split between expressions, book reviews, and commentaries until this year. There have been few book reviews in the past several months, mostly because I’ve begun to focus on writing a new book about Rocky Flats. That book will have “Nuclear Deterrence” somewhere in the title, because I believe Rocky Flats effectively performed its mission of helping provide a nuclear stockpile large enough that World War III was prevented.

The postings continue to be submitted by RF Alum and Ponderer, who often provides a different perspective. I think I can speak for both of us that the power of freedom of speech results in an open discussion, which hopefully results in consideration of different ideas. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our politicians used that approach? I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Ponderer has been a prolific writer and publisher outside this website. She has published several books, which includes an interesting series about Mars.

This website will continue to evolve. I’ve thought we probably would begin to run out of new expressions, but that has not yet happened. I won’t hesitate to stop posting commentaries if I think there is a shortage of decent material. That hasn’t happened yet.

I’ll try to remember to keep you informed about the new Rocky Flats book. I’m convinced that people will be interested in what it says regardless of whether they worked there, protested the place, or want to know more about the Cold War. I believe in the adage that people who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. That sentence made me remember writing that President Carter told some advisors he wanted to be remembered as “a Wilson.” One of the advisors replied that he should first want to be “a Truman.” (The decision to build Rocky Flats was made during the Truman administration.)

Down the Rabbit Hole

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I was fairly sure I knew where the expression “down the rabbit hole” comes from – from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carol, and her entry into Wonderland by following a white rabbit and tumbling down his hole. But I was curious how it became a metaphor for any entry into the unknown, the disorienting or the crazy-making.

The slang expression arose in the drug culture for a psychedelic experience. Although I didn’t find a citation for its first use, the phrase has spread.

We mean that we got interested in something to Juliasetsdkpictfield3 (400x300)the point of distraction—usually by accident, and usually to a degree that the subject in question might not seem to merit. newyorker.com

The New Yorker’s writer goes on to attribute the current popularity of the phrase to the internet, and explains why it perfectly captures what happens to us as we surf. Fun article.

Stackexchange.com warns against the mistake of diving for a rat hole when you meant a rabbit hole. A rat hole is a North American phrase for a waste of money or resources, which are commonly “poured” down the rat hole in a short-sighted move. That’s a bad trip.

Trump Able to Launch Nukes

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I’ve heard from people who fear a Trump Presidency that they worry he will have the authority to launch nuclear attacks and that nobody will be able to stop him. From what I’ve learned, that is exactly the case. Donald Trump as President will have the uncontrolled authority to launch nuclear weapons.

A recent article reports that as 45th President of the United States Trump will have 1,367 nuclear weapons under his control. Protocols have been developed that would prevent anyone from stopping him should he decide to use them. President Eisenhower had delegated use of tactical nuclear weapons to his generals in the event the Red Army invaded Western Europe. They didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission. The Cuban Missile Crisis caused pre-delegation to be reconsidered. Command authority was turned over to the “.  .  .President and the President alone. While individuals in the complex chain between the Oval Office and Minuteman III Launch Control Centers might refuse orders, they are trained not to and to acknowledge the President’s authority. Regardless of who is sitting behind the button, it might be wise to evaluate the process one more time.”

Bring Down the House

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Several sources report that this phrase is used to describe that applause following a theater performance can be so raucous that it might seem the walls of the building could collapse. Charles Earle Funk speculates in his book “A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions” about a less obvious origin. He writes that a regiment marching in cadence across a bridge can cause destruction of the bridge; he mentions he has no evidence applause has ever actually caused a theater to collapse.

Rocky Flats and Thyroid Cancer

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The State of Colorado Department of Health has announced they intend to “. .  . study the incidence of thyroid cancer in neighborhoods around the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, after a survey backed by a community group raised concerns.” I think that such a study is completely justified, since the group, called the “Downwinders,” is alleging that there is a higher incidence of that cancer in neighborhoods near where the Plant operated.

An article in the Denver Post points out that a 1998 Colorado Department of Health “. .  . study using a statewide cancer database concluded that those near Rocky Flats didn’t suffer from cancer rates higher than people in the metro area. But that study didn’t look specifically at incidence of thyroid cancer or other rare cancers.  .  .  .  . “

I think I know why this has become an issue. An autobiography, which has many technical flaws but attracted significant readership, raises the issue of thyroid cancer in association with Rocky Flats. I need to get a copy of the book from the library, but, as I recall, the allegation is that Rocky Flats was somehow equivalent to Chernobyl. The book ignores many technical facts, and one is that youngsters in the Rocky Mountain region who drank milk were more likely to develop thyroid cancer because of radioactive iodine in fallout (accumulated in the milk) from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. One area where that was identified as more prevalent of a problem was the “Rocky Mountain West.”

I’m in favor of the study that Colorado has announced, and I predict the Downwinders will be disappointed in the results. Rocky Flats did not process radioactive iodine that is commonly associated with thyroid cancer. However, I understand there are many who continue to be influenced by the sadly flawed raid of the Rocky Flats Plant by the Justice Department in 1989 that understandably worried people who lived nearby. My reassurance to those people is simple. Those of us who worked at Rocky Flats and lived nearby with our families did everything possible to protect them and ourselves.