Given the ongoing flurry of news about the (increasing?!) number of unexplained drone sightings across the United States – and elsewhere – I can’t help but wonder about the parallels between this event (assuming it’s real event), and the innumerable reports of unidentified airships – from all points across the country – at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Though I believe the drone panic shares similarities with prior mass public episodes, the singular difference today is the pervasiveness and immediacy of communications technology, and its ability – in a sense drawn from the works of Philip K. Dick and anticipated by Neil Postman – to alter human cognition, perception, and especially attention, in ways that were simply not possible with communications technology of prior eras.
So, below are three videos which are apropos to the focus on this December’s skies. While I’m fully “on board” with the analyses and conclusions of the first two videos, I do not agree with the conclusion of the third … regarding the true origin about the Phantom Airship of 1897, though the great mystery airship saga of over-a-century-ago truly merits a feature film. Regardless, We Travel by Night’s video is still extremely impressive from the standpoints of the research involved, animation, and the clear way that information and data are presented.
But, first…! …a quote from a short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth: “The Marching Morons”…
“Elsewhere there was the usual run of traffic accidents.
A three-way pileup of cars on Route 66 going outta Chicago took twelve lives.
The Chicago-Los Angeles morning rocket crashed and exploded
in the Mo-have – Mo-javvy – whatever-you-call-it Desert.
All the 94 people aboard got killed.
A Civil Aeronautics Authority investigator on the scene
says that the pilot was buzzing herds of sheep and didn’t pull out in time.
Hey! Here’s a hot one from New York!
A Diesel tug run wild into the harbor while the crew was below
and shoved in the port bow of the luck-shury-liner S.S. Placentia
It says the ship filled and sank taking the lives of an es-ti-mated
180 passengers and 50 crew members.
Six divers was sent down to study the wreckage,
but they died, too,
when their suits turned out to be fulla little holes.
And here is a bulletin I just got from Denver. It seems –“
From: “The Marching Morons”, by Cyril M. Kornbluth, Galaxy Science Fiction, April, 1951
I’ve had this copy of Galaxy for a long, long time: I purchased it from the late Robert A. Madle in the 1980s. (!) Now I show it to you, here. (It’s been sitting around all these past decades, but I was confident it’d come in handy some day, even if it took a little time!)
At Alex Hollings’ Sandboxx YouTube channel…
“What’s really going on with the drones over New Jersey?” (December 14, 2024)
“Idiocracy was meant to be a funny movie, not a how-to guide.”
At C.W. Lemoine’s YouTube channel…
“NEW Drone / UAP / UFO Sightings EVERYWHERE! Is the Threat REAL?” (December 14, 2024)
A former fighter pilot, YouTuber since 2018, and published author, C.W. Lemoine’s videos are in equal measure enlightening, entertaining, and highly informative, focusing on such topics as the intersection between popular culture military aviation and technology, military life, and aviation – both civilian and military – “in general”. Particularly interesting are the regular guest appearances of and interviews with other military aviators, such as “The Mover and Gonky Show” with Trevor “Gonky” Hartsock.
At We Travel by Night…
“The Phantom Airship Mystery of 1897: what did the Americans see?” (July 23, 2024)