October 27, 2022
It's 1835 and the Sun a penny newspaper has published one of six articles about a new discovery from scientific articles published by Sir John Hershel who had constructed a special telescope in South Africa. The articles amanuenses describe the moon as full of wonders.
" To render our enthusiasm intelligible, we will state at once, that by means of a telescope of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle, the younger Herschel, at his observatory in the Southern Hemisphere, has already made the most extraordinary discoveries in every planet of our solar system; has discovered planets in other solar systems; has obtained a distinct view of objects in the moon, fully equal to that which the unaided eye commands of terrestrial objects at the distance of a hundred yards; has affirmatively settled the question whether this satellite be inhabited, and by what order of beings; has firmly established a new theory of cometary phenomena; and has solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy." https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/moon-shot-race-a-hoax-and-the-birth-of-fake-news
Lake, mountains including Endymion (John Keats poem), bison, water, various structures and then four foot bat like humans fornicating in public! The articles were reported in other articles, artistic renderings were produced, and many in the general public believed all aspects of the hoax. 1835 in New York the political landscape was polarized with outbreaks of violence associated with proslavery versus antislavery. Phrenology a new science helped the cause for characterizing human racial differences as a hierarchy of intelligence and culture with the Caucasian white northern European at the top. The religious Christian beliefs included the deduction that God wanted his beauty and creation to be admired and for him to be worshiped so of course other realms such as the moon must have intelligent creatures there! Fake news was selling the Sun's newspaper hoax.
Recently a slice of chorizo was reported to be a picture from the new James Webb Telescope by Etienne Klein who then apologized for the hoax though he did get a group of other scientists interested in analyzing his hoax before it was revealed. https://kslnewsradio.com/1973056/top-scientist-admits-space-telescope-image-was-actually-a-slice-of-chorizo/
I now bring us to our present controversies in which elections deniers are attempting to change the outcome of our votes through all sorts of claims and misdirections including acts of violence some knowing its a hoax(!) while those believers in our general public applaud and support these efforts.
October 30, 1938 Orson Welles and troup went on the radio waves and some allege over one million people panicked believing the rendition of H.G. Wells story. However, this may not be true at all since the radio was competing with the newspapers so the reports of panic may very well have been a hoax. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/30/241797346/75-years-ago-war-of-the-worlds-started-a-panic-or-did-it
What is real versus a story invented by another human to influence our behaviors? I have written in the past about huskers, magicians, illusionists, and politicians who are very adept in the bamboozle. They even invent new religious movements!
Well, please forgive me since my interest in our minds illusions, fantasies, and story tellings tendencies leads me to caution your conclusions including your cherished beliefs. My professional life has been in psychiatry. Did you know that the Diagnostic Statistical Manual had to wait until 1973 to remove homosexuality as a disease by the American Psychiatric Association. In 1932 the infamous Tuskegee Study began in which over 600 black people were mislead and participated in a study sanctions by the U.S. government in which some of the people were deliberately infected with syphilis! Nazi tormentors in the name of science carried out even more horrific crimes in the name of science. This segway into our human history in which the perpetrators rationalize morally reprehensible behaviors is very ugly. So is a hoax acceptable? Well, we all want to be entertained and this includes being fooled. However, if we have beliefs (such as religious beliefs) founded on a hoax?
Rebecca and I just completed a trip. She went to spend a week outside Atlanta, Georgia with a friend near the end stage of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) while I traveled to Silver Falls State Park and Columbia Gorge Oregon for hiking and then through the palous of eastern Washington to spend a few days with my son and daughter in law in Spokane. Rebecca and I rejoined in Reno where we visited with an old adventure and family friend who's still recovering from some illnesses and disabilities. My visit in Reno was warm and connecting so I could see some of the good qualities that I remembered in my friend. We are both adjusting to our aging process that has limited our hardiness. My friend and I spent the day driving up Mt. Rose to lake Tahoe and then shared a dinner at a restaurant. My tendency to offer suggestions was met with acceptance and verbal agreements. Life is a process in which we tend to continue our present path even when new information suggests we should change. Yet I have changed for the better and I have witnessed the same in others.
Rebecca and I had a Toyota Highlander AWD to tackle the mountain roads some of which were unpaved as we made our way through the mountains. We visited the ghost town of Bodie, Mono Lake, and the Bristle Cone Preserve out of Bishop California.
We walked into the ghost town of 5000 people and imagined the past this mining town had including the bar fights and shootings. We communed with trees some of which are reported to be 4000 years old in the 12,000 foot elevated mountains.
The last part of our trip was spent with family in Temecula, California. My sister was in good spirits and we talked so that I learned some more of our family history. Rebecca and my nephews wife went on shopping adventures and my nephew and I hung out sharing. My sister is coping with severe macular degeneration, leg circulatory problems, etc. but is looking forward to getting her scooter for mobility. My nephew has been coping with severe back disability and chronic pain so he has a pump with catheter into his spine which give him relief. Our family seems to have a positive outlook even with illnesses and disabilities.
Yesterday, after a two year absence due to COVID our hiking group Solemates had a hike up around Aiea loop trail. Reconnecting with people again was such a pleasure as we walked up around the mountain.
Today Rebecca is off to participate in the scattering of ashes of the matriarch of her deceased friend's family on the top of the mountain in Honolulu. I pick up my grandson this afternoon and plan to take him shopping for new parts in his computer. Then dinner with family.
Don’t forget birds are not real!
Leonard
From John Keats Endymion
Many and many a verse I hope to write,
Before the daisies, vermeil rimm'd and white,
Hide in deep herbage; and ere yet the bees
Hum about globes of clover and sweet peas,
I must be near the middle of my story.
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