HOME
DV NEWS
SERVICE ARCHIVE LETTERS SUBMISSIONS/CONTACT ABOUT DV
by
Mickey Z.
"In
a Knight Ridder poll, 44 percent of Americans reported that either 'most' or
'some' of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Iraqi citizens. The answer is zero."
(Christian Science Monitor, March 13, 2003)
October
30 marks 65 years since a 23-year-old Orson Welles set off a nationwide panic
over a fictional Martian invasion. The Sunday evening radio show began with
this announcement: "The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated
stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in 'War of the
Worlds' by H.G. Wells." But who listens to such details? What the public
did focus on was "Professor Farrell of the Mount Jenning Observatory"
talking about explosions detected on the planet Mars followed by reports of a
large "meteor" crashing into a farmer's field in Grovers Mills, New
Jersey.
----
Fifty-one
percent of Americans believe it very likely that Saddam Hussein has provided
assistance to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network. (September 2003)
----
Gathered
rapt around their radios, Americans learned a Martian had emerged from a large
metallic cylinder at the New Jersey crash site. "Good heavens," the
actor/reporter declared, "something's wriggling out of the shadow like a
gray snake. Now here's another and another one and another one. They look like
tentacles to me...I can see the thing's body now. It's large, large as a bear.
It glistens like wet leather. But that face, it...it...ladies and gentlemen,
it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it; it's so
awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of
V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and
pulsate."
The
broadcast continued as Martians mounted walking war machines, fired "heat-ray"
weapons, sprayed poisonous black gas, and quickly disposed of 7,000 National
Guardsman. By the time it was reported that similar Martian cylinders landed in
Chicago and St. Louis, the panic had begun.
----
Thirty-four
percent of Americans said they believed that the US had found weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq. (June 2003)
----
According
to the Museum of Hoaxes website, "Some people loaded blankets and supplies
in their cars and prepared to flee the Martian invaders. One mother in New
England reportedly packed her babies and lots of bread into a car, figuring
that 'if everything is burning, you can't eat money, but you can eat bread.'
Other people hid in cellars, hoping that the poisonous gas would blow over
them. One college senior drove forty-five miles at breakneck speed in a valiant
attempt to save his girlfriend."
An
Indianapolis woman ran into a church screaming, "New York has been
destroyed! It's the end of the world! Go home and prepare to die!"
----
Sixty-nine
percent of Americans said it was likely that Saddam Hussein was involved in the
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. (September 2003)
----
Dorothy
Thompson wrote about "The War of the Worlds" broadcast in the New
York Tribune: "All unwittingly, Mr. Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater
of the Air have made one of the most fascinating and important demonstrations
of all time. They have proved that a few effective voices, accompanied by sound
effects, can convince masses of people of a totally unreasonable, completely fantastic
proposition as to create a nation-wide panic. They have demonstrated more
potently than any argument, demonstrated beyond a question of a doubt, the
appalling dangers and enormous effectiveness of popular and theatrical
demagoguery."
Mickey
Z.'s uncle gave him a record album of "The War of the
Worlds" when he was about 10 years old. He (Mickey, not his uncle) can be
reached at mzx2@earthlink.net.
Other Recent Articles by Mickey Z.
* Not All
Italians Love Columbus
* In Our
Own Image: Teaching Iraq How to Deal with Protest
* "The
Truth Has to be Repeated"
* A
Ceremonial Journey: Bush's Progress
* History
Forgave Churchill, Why Not Blair and Bush?
* Incomprehensible
Reluctance? AIDS Dissent and Africa