• john_browns_beard [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    There are going to be very long books written about this whole event in the future.

    Assuming there aren't (and probably never were) any drones, everyone panicking about this will never get the answers they want. I hope that doesn't result in innocent people dying because Jim Bob from West Milford got a lucky shot off and depressurized the cabin of a 737 on approach to Newark.

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      2 days ago

      I feel like people are gonna forget like they forgot about the Chinese weather balloon panic

      • john_browns_beard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 days ago

        I hope so, but I'm at ground zero over here and it seems like there's a lot more people freaking out about this than the balloon panic.

        I do think the more normal people are starting to lose their patience already, though. The amount of "very clearly an airplane" videos being posted is quickly delegitimizing the whole thing for everybody except the most extreme conspiracy-minded. All it would take is one clear video of a big scary drone, it's been weeks and still nothing.

        What's wild to me is A) how few people have actually looked at a plane for more than a second prior to last month, and B) how easily people will see what they want to see, even when they are looking at something that is very obviously not that thing.

      • john_browns_beard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 days ago

        It's a sobering reminder that most of the population are, just beneath the skin, screeching and terrified apes throwing rocks at the full moon.

      • marxisthayaca [he/him,they/them]
        ·
        2 days ago

        it's incredibly funny that we are supposed to go at war with china in the next 5 years when 80% of the population is brainrotted into thinking angels float over the new jersey turnpike or some shit.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 days ago

        These things happen. There have been lots of utterly bizarre panics throughout history. I think it's mostly evidence that people really just don't know much outside of their day to day work and core interests. Even a pretty banal unknown unknown can smash in to the general public much the say way the Chixilub asteroid smashed in to the dinosaurs.