The Hysterical Drone Hysterics
A heightened and well-earned public distrust of our government has accelerated the drone concern.
In 1938, with global tensions high and rising, famed radio personality and actor Orson Welles broadcast a prank prime-time “breaking news” Halloween episode, announcing to his audience that there was a Martian invasion. It was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’s novel, The War of the Worlds, and it was carried by the CBS Radio Network nationwide.
Obviously, the program was a parody, but given the social and cultural events at the time, the episode incited panic among some audience members. The media was widely condemned for allowing the broadcast.
In a modern case study of such hysterics, also associated with current social and cultural tensions, according to repeated mass media reports over the last 10 days, we are being invaded by alien drones. Drones, drones, everywhere!!!
When these reports first broke a week ago, both right- and left-wing media embraced and churned the news endlessly as a legitimate imminent national security threat. Sometimes, even the conservative MSM echo chambers, primarily Fox News, depart from all reason and logic, though their follow-up reports in recent days have been tempered by reality.
The concerns crossed party lines, with both Democrats and Republicans expressing concerns and outrage that there were no better explanations for all the sightings. That concern hit high gear with claims by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) that the drones over his state were being launched from an Iranian mother ship off the coast. New Jersey Demo Gov. Phil Murphy has repeatedly called on the Biden/Harris regime to provide answers.
When the “drone” reports first broke, I told our team that I suspected a few of these sightings were of actual drones, but once the hysteria metastasized, the vast majority were of private and commercial helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft being mistaken for drones. I also noted that many drone hobbyists are flying sophisticated drones and that the greater the media hype and hysterics, the more drone pranksters would pop up. That, combined with more well-meaning folks looking up and identifying anything and everything as a “drone,” resulted in “sightings” nationwide.
If you are familiar with the recreational and professional use of drones by civilians, they are actually amazing in terms of their capabilities. And there are millions of them in use, some by law enforcement and fire/rescue agencies, but the vast majority by civilians. These are distinctly different from military-type drones of all sizes.
Some of these drones are quite large, especially those designed for agricultural and other distribution and delivery use. In October, there were many YouTube videos of private individuals using drones for search and rescue after the September floods in North Carolina. And large drones were used to supplement helicopter delivery of goods to isolated flood victims in North Carolina.
To be clear, if China, Iran, or Russia were flying drones over top-secret locations in the U.S., they would not be lit up with red and green aviation direction beacons, white approach lights, etc.
That being said, it is highly likely that some individuals in our country are performing overflights on behalf of foreign adversaries. And nobody should discount the possibility of domestic haters using drones for nefarious, disruptive, or destructive purposes — and this is a very real concern.
Another drone concern is that operators could accidentally or intentionally interfere with flight approach and departure vectors, and those cases have been documented.
As the MSM was toning down its reports about drone sightings, Donald Trump amped up the concerns over the weekend, posting: “Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!! DJT”
And that feeds into the underlying social and cultural reasons behind the drone hysteria.
The reason these claims got traction is because of a heightened and well-earned public distrust of our government and its deep state actors who targeted the Trump administration.
As the Wall Street Journal editors note: “The loss of public trust in U.S. institutions is well-chronicled, and for an example of its cost consider the national mini-panic over unidentified aerial objects. No one in America seems to believe what anyone in authority says about them, and unproven claims are filling the vacuum.”
The editors conclude: “The feds need to explain to Congress and the public with more specificity what is really going on. But the larger need is for a government Americans can trust.”
Meanwhile, let’s hope one of the “Sopranos” in New Jersey won’t think Trump gave them permission to “shoot them down!!!”
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
