Explaining the great fear of drones

The current fear of mass sightings of drones over the United States can be understood through the lens of social psychology. US history is full of similar waves of mass sightings of all kinds of strange creatures and unusual things, as well as reports of UFOs. Many years ago, I completed my master’s thesis on the history of UFO waves and related phenomena. As a result, my eyes were opened to a range of fears caused by similar psychological processes.

Let’s start with the fear of drones. The United States has experienced dozens of similar scares from unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over the past 130 years. Here are just a few.

1915, Eastern Canada: From 1915 to 1917, there were a series of sightings of phantom aircraft by people rumored to be German sympathizers in the United States, who were said to be conducting aerial reconnaissance missions as a prelude to an eventual attack. Sir Courtney Bennett, the British Consul General in New York, said that in 1915, thousands of highly trained German-Americans were drilling at Niagara Falls and Buffalo, and the invasion of Canada from northwestern New York state. He incited fear by making sensational claims that he was planning to do so. .

1916, Delaware, New Jersey, Washington DC: A spate of mysterious plane sightings have been reported amid claims that secret German agents are attempting to target military and government facilities. Popular books such as German-American conspiracy in america Written by William Skaggs German-American conspiracy Frederick Weill’s statements fueled rumors that military bases along the east coast near Europe were the main targets of such operations.

1917, New Hampshire: A number of mysterious lights have been sighted over the strategic naval base in Portsmouth, raising fears that German agents were scouting in preparation for an attack. A week after America entered the war in April 1917, two National Guardsmen from the 6th Massachusetts Infantry near Portsmouth opened fire on a mysterious aerial light believed to be of German origin.

Nationally in 1947: Reports of “flying saucers” abounded that summer, after an Idaho businessman, Kenneth Arnold, spotted nine disc-shaped objects while flying over Washington state.

1974, Midwest: A wave of UFO reports followed, followed by a series of “cow mutilation incidents.”

The phantom airplane that caused fear during the war was almost certainly not an airplane at all. Airplanes at the time were crude devices and dangerous to fly, especially at night. It was impossible to take off and land from a secret base in the mountains and remain in the air for hours at a time. Most of these wartime sightings coincided with the appearance of Venus, or were fire balloons similar to today’s Chinese lanterns that were later discovered nearby.

When Kenneth Arnold was interviewed after the 1947 sighting, he told a reporter that the crescent-shaped object he had spotted moved “like a saucer when it flew over water.” Journalists mistakenly wrote them as “saucer-like”, which led to a spate of reports of “flying saucers”.

During the 1974 “cow mutilation” and UFO wave, media coverage of farmers finding mutilated cows and nearby UFO sightings assumed great importance. Such claims are meaningless, considering that there are always mysterious objects in the sky, from Venus to small airplanes. Dramatic media coverage made residents more aware of dead cows and aerial lighting.

After all, several studies of cattle mutilation, including one by a former FBI agent, concluded that the animals died of natural causes and were attacked by predators such as buzzards, black flies, and coyotes. The wounds tended to dig into exposed areas such as the eyes and eyes, giving the impression of surgical incisions. sex organs.

There are several factors contributing to this fear, similar to the mass sightings of Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, and the Loch Ness Monster. These waves were usually caused by sightings that received sensational media coverage. This led readers to scrutinize environments such as lakes, forests, and skies for evidence of the reported objects and creatures.

There are always strange objects swimming or floating in the lake, moving through the forest, and rustling in the bushes. Usually we don’t pay much Note. However, prompted by media coverage, people tend to notice what has always been there.

New Jersey is home to one of the world’s busiest air routes. And human perception, like the brain, is notoriously unreliable. We tend to see what we want to see.

In this respect, to believe is to see. The brain is wired to connect the dots and create meaning where there is none. face of mars. An image of Jesus on a tortilla. Throw in concerns about nefarious foreign actors in the form of Iranians and Chinese, as well as triggering widespread criminal activity. distrust Get recipes to criticize the government and politicians and scare drones.

In the words of Carl Sagan, “When people have strong emotions, they tend to deceive themselves.”