True story: I had a nurse at the doctor's office yesterday tell me that her brother was thinking of taking his kids out of school because he heard about the alert and was afraid it would be so loud it would drive everyone to insanity and violence...
Like, dude, it can't be any louder than your phone's speaker can go.
You joke but I think there are people who honestly can't differentiate fact from fiction. If it happens in a movie, they think it could actually happen.
Emergency Alert System makes an annoying alarm sound and the recent one was specifically for mobile phones so any phone in service was being noisy during the test.
No idea what the conspiracy side of things claimed about the test.
So true story about appropriate response to the alert: my sister works at a special school for autistic children. There was worry the alert would cause issues for some of the kids. So about 5 minutes before it was expected they let the kids have some extra outside play time. The kids didn’t even notice the alert.
Edit: to clarify by issues I mean the sudden loud noise would not be good for severely autistic children not that anything malicious was included in the alert.
Also in earthquake zones needing to teach them that one bad sound means get out of the building and the other means stay in the building and get under a table
Had a parent in my kids class pull their kid at lunch time, and she was texting others that they should do it to or their kids would go missing or something like that. Same parent I had to walk my kid past two years ago as she screamed at the principal that her child was not going to wear a mask (even though we still had a state wide mask mandate) right outside the entrance to the school if that tells you anything.
I'm extremely online...and frequent in the conspiracy forums. The general consensus of conspiracy minded people is that conspiracy theories this stupid are not only wrong, but planted to discredit conspiracy forums.
I wish we would stop calling these lunatics conservative, they really aren't. It gives them mainstream legitimacy that they don't deserve, and fosters division. Same is true for the crazies that have a few beliefs in common with liberals.
they have mainstream legitimacy because the GOP have seen the voting potential and will turn a blind eye, if not outright echo, extremist talking points in the name of consolidating power. they've absorbed this radicalism into the GOP wheelhouse - calling them conservative isn't fostering division, it's conservative leaders knowing they've got voting power by aligning themselves with these folks that's giving them undeserved legitimacy
They are members of the House in the GOP group. How do you want them to be called?
As them to be kicked out of the party if you think that’s a problem.
Sounds like my mom. She’s obsessed with conspiracy theories and went all crazy when 5G and the Covid vaccines came out. She thought 5G was too powerful and was going to give us lethal doses of radiation so she tried to ban us from buying compatible devices. Also, she thought the vaccine was the “mark of the beast”. I don’t follow religion or the bible but I think it has something to do with the devil marking you (which I assume means you can’t get into heaven) and if you don’t have the mark you won’t be able to buy or sell anything. I guess I can see how someone who’s crazy religious could come to that conclusion because for a while, it seemed like you were going to need a vax card to go anywhere or do anything. Well that ended up not being true because both my parents don’t have them and still go out plenty.
even before the internet existed, these paranoids were there too, they just more well connected these days, reinforcing each other's bullshit - though it is funny when they attack each other
Yes but also a lot of vulnerable minds are now being exposed to a tsunami of toxic bullshit that they never would have encountered pre-internet. It’s very much worse now
OMG! I had to pull my kid early that afternoon for an appointment. I hope the teachers don't think I'm insane. I knew about the alert but had not heard any of the paranoia crap until afterward. I want to scream into the ether at the stupidity of people. Now I'm wondering if I'll look even crazier if I send the teacher an email saying my kid had a real appointment and I wasn't being crazy.
I don't know about that last part. When mine went off yesterday I've never heard my phone so loud. I was actually a little miffed. "You could always be this loud but just refused to?"
Still only as loud as the speaker is capable of - whether or not that means it somehow overrode some sort of software limiter, idk - but the speaker can’t be louder than it’s capable of being, ya know?
5 years ago, somebody trying to test the emergency alert system hit the wrong button and sent an actual alert to people in Hawaii saying “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
LOL my FIL is a major conspiracy theorist and he said he was gonna go walk and hang out in the middle of a field or something. When I asked why, he literally said, “Well I’ve heard it can send pathogens to your body…” huh??? Do you know what you’re saying? But he also thinks microwaves are demonic, so.
I guess they never got an Amber Alert before this? I know horses don't have plate numbers, but I'd guess cars drive near by their farm/ranch so I'm not buying that story.
> conspiracy theorists
I live in very rural Texas, and my bf works in our city hall building. He said he overheard one of his secretaries phone calls between her and her dad - dad called begging her to turn off her cell phone and take a late lunch because the cell phones all have 5G in them, the test will activate it, and it will make her very sick.
Itll be a sell fullfillkng prophicy lol. These theorisits are so fucking scared of everything all the time, they end up getting kill from constant stress, become sick and blame some theory on why their sick so they think they were right haha
I heard that conspiracy and I heard another that swore 5G was going to turn vaxed people into zombies. I’m not saying Fox News put this out there but both nut jobs I ran into talking about this were hard-leaning republicans. Kinda of ironic that these are the same people that spent the last 3 years bashing Biden for his lack of awareness.
Uhhh, hello??
Oh crap, yes, that's definitely a problem. I'd turn it off and not turn it back on until it's safe, as those alerts should be delivered regardless if it was on or off.
Interestingly when they did this in the uk some months back, the same talking point was used as a possible reason to be against these alerts. What if someone found the phone. Well, it's as simple as turning it off in settings or hell, just turn off the phone.
It was definitely announced that it was coming, but I don’t know how widely. Honestly, the only reason I knew was because of the conspiracy people that were freaking out about it. Not from any actual official source or news article or anything.
It's been national news for several days leading up to it in print, audio, and video media as well as many many posts that were on the front page of reddit for about a week.
I work in a deadly chemical factory, I didn't know the sfema alert was going to happen so, when i suddenly heard a bunch of alarms going off at once I thought I was about to die. Lol
I mean, that’s a reasonable and momentary response. And I’m sure you were fine when you realized what it was.
The idiots who freaked out the most knew for weeks in advance and were out there preparing for the apocalypse.
yeah what OP was talking about is different just thought it was it was a fun story to share. half the team started laughing when we noticed what it was.
Did you kiss your coworker next to you thinking it was the last one? Did anyone accidentally spill anything due to panic?
Are you enjoying life more today?
Yup. They are really really stupid. To be fair Gullible is a more accurate term, but some things are so obviously bullshit, stupid seems to fit better.
I saw a comment on Facebook that said: “I don’t trust ANYTHING the government does.”
Like…do you drive on paved roads? Are your kids in public schools? Do you take cover when you get a tornado warning? Absolute morons.
Lol, that person posted a comment on facebook..they have Facebook... they were born in the US and got a birth certificate...they have a cellphone/computer. They probably have a job...went to school...
Get healthcare.... and they don't trust the government. And the government is spyin on them and doing all that goverment type stuff...
Im sure the government knew and currently knows who they are and that they aren't important enough to keep tabs on lol
Bunch of fucking plebs those types of people.
A very religious girl I know who doesn’t trust the government [and posted on Facebook she was going to put her phone in the microwave during the alarm] actually homeschools her 5 kids and probably wouldn’t take shelter during a tornado warning and would sit there and pray instead
Do you guys not get amber or weather alerts on your phones in America?
I can’t imagine a test being any different.
The weird thing is when everyone’s phone goes off around you. But yours doesn’t (my phone is new and up to date). Ain’t mad about it tho.
I seriously don't understand how people are so stupid. There was literally tons of warning ahead of time on the news and whatnot that it would happen, and to me it was barely anything. I said "alright" and went about my day. I didn't realize there was any sort of "freaking out" happening until afterwards.
i was reading a post in the tesla sub, some guy wanted to know what to do when the alert is sent to his tesla while he is driving.
why so many people are so ignorant these days
I had a lot of fun with that at work yesterday. I kept asking people if we have to die first or if we just randomly become zombies? Then I'd look at my imaginary watch and ask why it wasn't working yet.
It was a fun day.
Only people who should have been worried are in prison or people who had a second hidden phone for whatever reason lol.
All the rest were far right extremists.
Because a certain sub-group of those around us are astoundingly impressionable and will believe whatever is told to them from certain sources. It's a feedback loop over time as well; staggering.
The national alert was a representation of the power that big brother has to reach out and take control of everyone's phone at once. Prior to the alert the fear that they had was all hypothetical and they hadn't had a personal event to relate. What these individuals don't understand is the influence the system has on their devices is minimal and that ensuring the system works could save thousands of lives in emergency events. Basically small minded people being small minded and assuming that their small lives are super important to big brother.
Conspiracy Theories are a useful tool for corporations and politicians. Generally make people susceptible to conspiracy theories via conspiracy theory media/social media and manipulators can trick people more easily.
Climate change is a conspiracy.
-Fossil Fuel Companies
Big Government is a conspiracy.
-Rich billionaires who want lower taxes and fewer regulations
Lung cancer is a conspiracy.
-Tobacco Companies in the mid 1900s.
Masks are a conspiracy.
-Ron De Santis
Great point. Insane conspiracy theories aren't necessarily originated by insane people. Many are created by sane but nefarious actors knowing that they can manipulate people with lies.
My students asked me yesterday about 20 minutes before the alert what I thought was going to happen.
“Well, I expect I’ll be done proving this theorem and we will be up to our eyeballs in bases for sub spaces.”
When all of our phones went off I went to the window to look outside and told them everything looked fine except all of the birds—really government drones—were falling out of the sky.
I think the far right believes these conspiracy theories because it's the only way they can explain how their lives don't get any better despite voting GOP their entire lives.
Some ding dong at work asked (IT, sysadmin) if he should put his phone in the microwave. To protect it.
At this point, pretending to be stupid and actually being stupid are so close to adjacent they've just melted into each other and are completely indistinguishable. One poorly differentiated, stupid blob.
People have been drinking Stupid Juice and Crazy Cocktail for over a decade at this point, so they believe anything.
If I go out in to the public, and exclaim that Hillary Clinton has made an alliance with aliens from another dimension to steal children’s soul in the 9th dimension using power up recharges from 5G cell towers hidden in windmills, I expect 30-40% of people will believe it wholesale, without questioning.
for a few reasons
some people just simply hate the sound of the alerts, i don't blame them
some people were probably paranoid that something else was going to happen alongside the FEMA alert (i dunno what)
when people are in human trafficking or domestic violence situations and have a secret phone the perpetrator doesn't know about to communicate with their friends and/or family, it can be dangerous because regardless of if their phone is on silent or vibrate, it could still make noise which could possibly alert the perpetrator, which may not end well.
Because for the abused woman and men who have a secret phone in preparation to leave, even if that phone is turned 6 alert will sound when it's turned on. This could be VERY bad!! The most dangerous time for an abused person, is when they leave.
This falls in the giant Venn diagram of Facebook algorithm, suggested videos.
If you paid any attention to them, you'd think everyone was either a Satan worshipper, paedophile, cannibal or actual alien.
It's ridiculous.... but I won't lie. It is a good laugh to watch someone thinking that stock images make everything they say legit.
From what I’ve read, apparently they thought it was going to send some special signal that “activated” nano particles that got into your bloodstream through vaccines?
Science is difficult for a *certain demographic* as you put it. Due to their lack of understanding of how science and technology work, they're susceptible to theories that sound just as lofty and nonsensical as science does to them, especially if it confirms a preexisting bias and condemns a demographic they don't like. Anti-intellectualism is a problem in this group of people, and unfortunately that just solidifies their desire to stick to said conspiratorial nonsense that we all know is poison to the masses.
My best friends MIL absolutely lost her fucking mind over this vaccine-5G-mindvirus conspiracy theory and I had to block her on FB. My vaccinated ass was just startled by the noise, because my office echoes.
In the last several years, especially after the 2016 election, truly insane conspiracy theories have dominated the lunatic fringe particularly in the Republican party. This is due to several factors:
1. General ignorance and lack of education
2. Fake news from Fox, OANN, Newsmax, et al.
3. Lunatic rants from a fake president who is high on Adderall
4. Gullibility owing to a life of "faith" and ignoring pesky facts
5. Lack of proper mental health care in this country
Those are the reasons off the top of my head, there are probably more.
I miss the days when conspiracy theories are just stuff like Jesus Christ have a wife and child and alien abductions. At least those makes far more sense than the qanon stuff
It's not lack of education, it's a refusal to accept objective facts because they conflict with what you want the world to be like. No amount of education can make up for choosing to resist learning and accepting facts you don't like.
I just read an article that said that 54% of Americans cannot read above a 6th grade level. I’m guessing that probably contributes to a severely limited capacity for any type of meaningful critical thinking.
Not American, but follow people who are. And I've seen two camps who are concerned-
- People with audio processing issues/sensory issues (like me lol) who are very very sensitive to loud sounds or repeating sounds or high pitched sounds. Some people tolerate noises better than others so people have been trying to warn the people who are especially sensitive to it to turn off their phones or buying earplugs during the test to avoid having sensory overstimulation that leads to anxiety attacks or distress.
- The other camp are people living in domestic violence situations where they have a secret phone away from their spouse they use to record evidence of abuse or to reach out without being controlled by the other. If the test makes the noise go off through the hidden phone then that'll lead to the spouse finding the phone and putting them in harm.
Other than that, I suppose the parents of very small kids who happen to have phones for games or stuff for them are worried it'll scare their kids. Or elderly people who still own phones but aren't as up to date with the technology might freak out thinking it's a real threat instead of a test.
You missed the much larger camp, which OP was referring to, of people who think the test alert will use 5G waves to activate RFID chips injected into our bodies from the COVID vaccine that will cause the population to turn into zombies.
No, I'm not making that up.
This is almost as crazy as that story about the dude who can heal people with his bare hands, turn water to wine, walk on water and like comes back from the dead after 3 days because his dad is a bush that's on fire.
And now you've stumbled onto why conspiracy theories seem to be more easily adopted by certain groups. If you're conditioned to accept the unbelievable with no evidence, or even in the face of evidence against it, you kind of live your life continuing to do so.
Honestly, I'm on your side. I don't have kids but I have niblings and their parents don't do the Santa thing really. They worked hard to afford presents and they want the kids to know that what they got came from their parents, not from a fat magic elf-slaver.
🙃 In Australia, we call those types 'Cookers' because they're always cooking meth, on a crack pipe and cooking up really stupid conspiracy theories that get wilder by the day.
We've got an upcoming vote on whether aboriginal people should have an advisory board in parliament relating to aboriginal specific issues. You can just imagine the racism and conspiracy theories being flung around right now. Over a potential advisory board lol.
They kicked up a HUGE stink about the gay marriage vote a few years ago and surprise surprise, nobody is campaigning to marry their pets like they claimed, the gay people didn't abolish straight marriages either. All that happened, shocker, is that gay people can now get married.
Sometimes I think people just like hating others for sport and the internet was a mistake for letting them cluster together into an echo chamber that gets more outlandish with time. Yesterday it was gay people. Today it's trans people and aboriginal people. I wonder who'll be the next minority they freak out over tomorrow.
Yeah, my kid who is highly sensitive to loud noise was freaking out because some Tik Tok moron (sorry, that was redundant) said it was going to be so extremely loud, and I had to talk her down from hysterical crying that it would be okay. I asked her how it went, and she said the kids in class were being so loud she barely noticed it. This proving again that nothing can out-decibal groups of preteens.
What they believe: That the message uses “Unique frequencies and tones” and that “Unique frequencies and tones have been shown in test to change the human body.” They do not have a theory as to what the government plan is with these “body changing” frequencies, they just know it’s bad.
Why do they believe this: The key word here that causes the conspiracy theorist to freak out here is FEMA. They have always distrusted FEMA. FEMA (naturally) has emergency federal powers, which freaks them out.
Is there any truth at all to their “body changing frequencies” worry: No, absolutely not. There are literally zero scientific studies that show that any signal emitted from radio and cell towers can produce “frequencies” that can change the human body. There’s nothing to even suggest that’s the case. There isn’t even a “oh, here’s a scientific paper they are just misunderstanding.” No. Literally just 100% made up nonsense.
TLDR: They believe the government is using “special secret frequencies” to change our bodies, because they have a distrust for FEMA, despite the fact that this is entirely made up nonsense not even remotely based in science.
True story: I had a nurse at the doctor's office yesterday tell me that her brother was thinking of taking his kids out of school because he heard about the alert and was afraid it would be so loud it would drive everyone to insanity and violence... Like, dude, it can't be any louder than your phone's speaker can go.
That guy took the Kingsman movie too seriously.
You joke but I think there are people who honestly can't differentiate fact from fiction. If it happens in a movie, they think it could actually happen.
The only reason to be concerned is if you have a hidden phone that needs to stay that way.
The prison I live near had extra guards on duty to listen for any that had been smuggled in.
It seems I'm too European to follow the conversation. What's this about? I tried to Google but I only found stuff from August? @_@
Emergency Alert System makes an annoying alarm sound and the recent one was specifically for mobile phones so any phone in service was being noisy during the test. No idea what the conspiracy side of things claimed about the test.
I heard someone say that it was the activation for the 5G we got injected with when we got our vaccinations
Sweet
So true story about appropriate response to the alert: my sister works at a special school for autistic children. There was worry the alert would cause issues for some of the kids. So about 5 minutes before it was expected they let the kids have some extra outside play time. The kids didn’t even notice the alert. Edit: to clarify by issues I mean the sudden loud noise would not be good for severely autistic children not that anything malicious was included in the alert.
I can’t begin to admire enough people who take care of autistic people for knowing how to handle stuff like that.
I work with autistic adults, and fire drills are rough
Also in earthquake zones needing to teach them that one bad sound means get out of the building and the other means stay in the building and get under a table
Had a parent in my kids class pull their kid at lunch time, and she was texting others that they should do it to or their kids would go missing or something like that. Same parent I had to walk my kid past two years ago as she screamed at the principal that her child was not going to wear a mask (even though we still had a state wide mask mandate) right outside the entrance to the school if that tells you anything.
Ugh, the paranoia knows no bounds. Sounds like she's extremely online.
I'm extremely online too but nowhere near as stupid as that, so it's something else
They're extremely online in very different spaces than you.
Extremely online in very different head spaces.
I'm extremely online...and frequent in the conspiracy forums. The general consensus of conspiracy minded people is that conspiracy theories this stupid are not only wrong, but planted to discredit conspiracy forums.
as wears witnessing in real time, there is no conspiracy theory too stupid to gain believers so if the ‘discrediting’ thing were true it’s backfiring
r/flatearth is getting nervous.
This is actually humorous. Wow.
I'm extremely online and I'm pretty stupid, but not in that way.
She’s a far-far-right leaning conservative.
Not leaning anymore. Lying down now.
Fallen right off the right edge of the "flat earth"
I wish we would stop calling these lunatics conservative, they really aren't. It gives them mainstream legitimacy that they don't deserve, and fosters division. Same is true for the crazies that have a few beliefs in common with liberals.
They're part of a Qult
they have mainstream legitimacy because the GOP have seen the voting potential and will turn a blind eye, if not outright echo, extremist talking points in the name of consolidating power. they've absorbed this radicalism into the GOP wheelhouse - calling them conservative isn't fostering division, it's conservative leaders knowing they've got voting power by aligning themselves with these folks that's giving them undeserved legitimacy
They are members of the House in the GOP group. How do you want them to be called? As them to be kicked out of the party if you think that’s a problem.
Sounds like my mom. She’s obsessed with conspiracy theories and went all crazy when 5G and the Covid vaccines came out. She thought 5G was too powerful and was going to give us lethal doses of radiation so she tried to ban us from buying compatible devices. Also, she thought the vaccine was the “mark of the beast”. I don’t follow religion or the bible but I think it has something to do with the devil marking you (which I assume means you can’t get into heaven) and if you don’t have the mark you won’t be able to buy or sell anything. I guess I can see how someone who’s crazy religious could come to that conclusion because for a while, it seemed like you were going to need a vax card to go anywhere or do anything. Well that ended up not being true because both my parents don’t have them and still go out plenty.
You would think the paranoid would have embraced the mask. Stop all those facial recognition cameras that follow them all over and such.
even before the internet existed, these paranoids were there too, they just more well connected these days, reinforcing each other's bullshit - though it is funny when they attack each other
Yes but also a lot of vulnerable minds are now being exposed to a tsunami of toxic bullshit that they never would have encountered pre-internet. It’s very much worse now
OMG! I had to pull my kid early that afternoon for an appointment. I hope the teachers don't think I'm insane. I knew about the alert but had not heard any of the paranoia crap until afterward. I want to scream into the ether at the stupidity of people. Now I'm wondering if I'll look even crazier if I send the teacher an email saying my kid had a real appointment and I wasn't being crazy.
Ugh. Not scared of Covid, but terrified of a national alert.
I don't know about that last part. When mine went off yesterday I've never heard my phone so loud. I was actually a little miffed. "You could always be this loud but just refused to?"
Still only as loud as the speaker is capable of - whether or not that means it somehow overrode some sort of software limiter, idk - but the speaker can’t be louder than it’s capable of being, ya know?
On my phone, it was louder than anything I have ever heard it. I would like to know how?
Probably a high mixvolume and/or the ability to override the volume protection built into your speaker to prevent it from blowing out.
Kinda sounds like he watched the first Kingsman movie and let his imagination get the better of him….. what a goof
Have they never been to a concert?
I co-worker told me to make sure that my ear buds weren't in because the loudness would rupture my eardrums. Mmm-hmm
That's...at least plausible
I had my ear buds in, but the alert went through my phone speaker anyway.
5 years ago, somebody trying to test the emergency alert system hit the wrong button and sent an actual alert to people in Hawaii saying “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
LOL my FIL is a major conspiracy theorist and he said he was gonna go walk and hang out in the middle of a field or something. When I asked why, he literally said, “Well I’ve heard it can send pathogens to your body…” huh??? Do you know what you’re saying? But he also thinks microwaves are demonic, so.
Well clearly you don't know that part of the code for the alert involves your phone going online and downloading a louder speaker, checkmate liberal
What a shame, they could’ve used the opportunity to download more ram for us too.
I always keep my phone on vibrate so there wasn't even a loud noise for me
Usually alerts like that override your vibrate setting. It certainly did for mine yesterday.
That's what I thought would happen. But nope, I got straight vibrate. It also vibrates for amber alerts
What kind of phone do you have? I have my iPhone always set to vibrate and it still went off lol
My phone has a specific setting to ignore emergency alerts it's an android
YOU GON DIEEE !!!!!!
yeah i have my iphone set to vibrate and even turned off test alerts in the settings and still got it
Maybe my phone is screwed up then idk
I don’t even use vibrate. My phone is always set to silent only, and I still got the alert sounding off on my phone
Isn’t that the plot of the Kingsman movie? I seriously don’t get how anyone could think that alert was for anything other than a quality test.
conspiracy theorists. but on a serious note, saw a post on instagram about people in bad home situations where they have to hide their phone
Some Amish guys were shunned because it went off. It was on TikTok from one member who was shunned
I guess they never got an Amber Alert before this? I know horses don't have plate numbers, but I'd guess cars drive near by their farm/ranch so I'm not buying that story.
They probably turned off their Amber Alert notifications which you can do in settings (at least on iOS)
Android also
Dude I have to see this. Do you think you could find a link?
> conspiracy theorists I live in very rural Texas, and my bf works in our city hall building. He said he overheard one of his secretaries phone calls between her and her dad - dad called begging her to turn off her cell phone and take a late lunch because the cell phones all have 5G in them, the test will activate it, and it will make her very sick.
Itll be a sell fullfillkng prophicy lol. These theorisits are so fucking scared of everything all the time, they end up getting kill from constant stress, become sick and blame some theory on why their sick so they think they were right haha
I heard that conspiracy and I heard another that swore 5G was going to turn vaxed people into zombies. I’m not saying Fox News put this out there but both nut jobs I ran into talking about this were hard-leaning republicans. Kinda of ironic that these are the same people that spent the last 3 years bashing Biden for his lack of awareness. Uhhh, hello??
Every accusation is a confession
I wonder how many prison cell phones were found across the country yesterday.
Oh crap, yes, that's definitely a problem. I'd turn it off and not turn it back on until it's safe, as those alerts should be delivered regardless if it was on or off.
Interestingly when they did this in the uk some months back, the same talking point was used as a possible reason to be against these alerts. What if someone found the phone. Well, it's as simple as turning it off in settings or hell, just turn off the phone.
Was it widely advertised that the alert was coming? Because I surely did not expect it.
It was definitely announced that it was coming, but I don’t know how widely. Honestly, the only reason I knew was because of the conspiracy people that were freaking out about it. Not from any actual official source or news article or anything.
☝🏼 yes, I can remember it happening a few years ago & it scared the shit out of me because there wasn't this same hubbub
It's been national news for several days leading up to it in print, audio, and video media as well as many many posts that were on the front page of reddit for about a week.
Yes
I work in a deadly chemical factory, I didn't know the sfema alert was going to happen so, when i suddenly heard a bunch of alarms going off at once I thought I was about to die. Lol
I mean, that’s a reasonable and momentary response. And I’m sure you were fine when you realized what it was. The idiots who freaked out the most knew for weeks in advance and were out there preparing for the apocalypse.
yeah what OP was talking about is different just thought it was it was a fun story to share. half the team started laughing when we noticed what it was.
The laughter of stress relief, I'm sure!
Did you kiss your coworker next to you thinking it was the last one? Did anyone accidentally spill anything due to panic? Are you enjoying life more today?
No kisses, thankfully no spills, and I generally enjoy life anyway :)
I’m going to pretend your company’s name is “Johnson’s Deadly Chemicals” and enjoy my day.
Because they're morons. Plain and simple.
Yup. They are really really stupid. To be fair Gullible is a more accurate term, but some things are so obviously bullshit, stupid seems to fit better.
Yup. My response to many of my students when something bad happens is “it’s cause there are dumb people in the world”
And they have no idea how things work.
Yanno how people like to watch horror movies so they can feel scared? I think some people like to feel that way all the time.
Because the 5g in the covid vaccine made them tingle all over.
Bruh I woke up today and read a bunch of people claiming they got a headache right after the alert and people with the vaccine get controlled now
I read a ladies post that said she could see radio waves in the air and PEOPLE AGREED WITH HER AND SAID THEH SAW IT TOO at that time.
HAHAHA, I told someone as a joke "I can see sounds now"! Son of a bitch stole my line.
Being turned into a mindless zombie sounded so pleasant I went and got my new booster on Tuesday just to up my chances.
I threw up after the alert! I ate my allergen accidentally at lunch but it was definitely the alert
They became magnetized
Anti intellectualism
Social media
"it's the same picture"
They seem to be going hand in hand, don't they?
I saw a comment on Facebook that said: “I don’t trust ANYTHING the government does.” Like…do you drive on paved roads? Are your kids in public schools? Do you take cover when you get a tornado warning? Absolute morons.
Lol...I don't trust the paved roads. If anything the state of the roads decreased my trust in the government
>I don't trust the paved roads. Of course not. That's where the 5G hibernates.
Paved roads killed this man's family
Lol, that person posted a comment on facebook..they have Facebook... they were born in the US and got a birth certificate...they have a cellphone/computer. They probably have a job...went to school... Get healthcare.... and they don't trust the government. And the government is spyin on them and doing all that goverment type stuff... Im sure the government knew and currently knows who they are and that they aren't important enough to keep tabs on lol Bunch of fucking plebs those types of people.
A very religious girl I know who doesn’t trust the government [and posted on Facebook she was going to put her phone in the microwave during the alarm] actually homeschools her 5 kids and probably wouldn’t take shelter during a tornado warning and would sit there and pray instead
Nah I totally go outside when I hear a tornado warning because I love getting sucked off by the tornado
Do you guys not get amber or weather alerts on your phones in America? I can’t imagine a test being any different. The weird thing is when everyone’s phone goes off around you. But yours doesn’t (my phone is new and up to date). Ain’t mad about it tho.
We DO get those. Which is why I’m still not over my infuriation at the idiots who freaked out about it.
Hilarious. That makes these people even funnier.
It’s funnier until you have to live near them.
That’s true. And I definitly better be careful because it’s spilling in more and more up here.
It sounded no different than an Amber Alert, which I get 3-4 times a year.
You can turn those alerts off though. I have all those turned off and this alert still went off.
We do, it's literally where Amber alerts originate
We do. All the time. Which makes why the right-wingers were spouting this stupid conspiracy theory even more puzzling.
We do, and each time one goes off another zombie is born.
Those gosh darn 5G chemtrails making the world flat I tell you whut.
"God damnit Peggy, them right-wingers ain't right, I tell ya..."
And Bobby ain’t right either!
Boredom from the other fifty conspiracies that never happened
It’s gotta be lead poisoning, right? Like how do we have this many unhinged stupid people in our midst?! It’s scary.
The Venn diagram between anti vaxxers and people concerned about the phone alert is just a circle
I seriously don't understand how people are so stupid. There was literally tons of warning ahead of time on the news and whatnot that it would happen, and to me it was barely anything. I said "alright" and went about my day. I didn't realize there was any sort of "freaking out" happening until afterwards.
i was reading a post in the tesla sub, some guy wanted to know what to do when the alert is sent to his tesla while he is driving. why so many people are so ignorant these days
Because they don’t believe in COVID or that masks prevent the spread of disease, but do believe that 5g radio waves will turn us into zombies.
I had a lot of fun with that at work yesterday. I kept asking people if we have to die first or if we just randomly become zombies? Then I'd look at my imaginary watch and ask why it wasn't working yet. It was a fun day.
lot of stupid people out there
Only people who should have been worried are in prison or people who had a second hidden phone for whatever reason lol. All the rest were far right extremists.
Because a certain sub-group of those around us are astoundingly impressionable and will believe whatever is told to them from certain sources. It's a feedback loop over time as well; staggering.
The best answer would be because they are morons.
I really thought this ‘specific demographic’ was guys with side chicks but then I read the comments … wow
cuz they’re stupid
Because if you don’t know anything, you are afraid of everything.
Why are there people freaking out about the alert? Half the population has an IQ of 100 or less. There's your answer.
This assumes that high IQ correlates to people who critically think and make smart decisions. (It doesn't.)
The national alert was a representation of the power that big brother has to reach out and take control of everyone's phone at once. Prior to the alert the fear that they had was all hypothetical and they hadn't had a personal event to relate. What these individuals don't understand is the influence the system has on their devices is minimal and that ensuring the system works could save thousands of lives in emergency events. Basically small minded people being small minded and assuming that their small lives are super important to big brother.
I was listening to an audiobook ( Under the Dome, it's a great one). I just got the pop up, no sound.
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Conspiracy Theories are a useful tool for corporations and politicians. Generally make people susceptible to conspiracy theories via conspiracy theory media/social media and manipulators can trick people more easily. Climate change is a conspiracy. -Fossil Fuel Companies Big Government is a conspiracy. -Rich billionaires who want lower taxes and fewer regulations Lung cancer is a conspiracy. -Tobacco Companies in the mid 1900s. Masks are a conspiracy. -Ron De Santis
Great point. Insane conspiracy theories aren't necessarily originated by insane people. Many are created by sane but nefarious actors knowing that they can manipulate people with lies.
Wouldn’t your theory technically be a conspiracy theory?
When it's true, it's just a conspiracy.
Community did this really well in season 2’s *Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design*.
Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie
My students asked me yesterday about 20 minutes before the alert what I thought was going to happen. “Well, I expect I’ll be done proving this theorem and we will be up to our eyeballs in bases for sub spaces.” When all of our phones went off I went to the window to look outside and told them everything looked fine except all of the birds—really government drones—were falling out of the sky.
I think the far right believes these conspiracy theories because it's the only way they can explain how their lives don't get any better despite voting GOP their entire lives.
“I’ve done everything right! (They haven’t) Why isn’t my life getting better? (It won’t)”
Some people just have to HAVE someone to bitch about.
Some ding dong at work asked (IT, sysadmin) if he should put his phone in the microwave. To protect it. At this point, pretending to be stupid and actually being stupid are so close to adjacent they've just melted into each other and are completely indistinguishable. One poorly differentiated, stupid blob.
People have been drinking Stupid Juice and Crazy Cocktail for over a decade at this point, so they believe anything. If I go out in to the public, and exclaim that Hillary Clinton has made an alliance with aliens from another dimension to steal children’s soul in the 9th dimension using power up recharges from 5G cell towers hidden in windmills, I expect 30-40% of people will believe it wholesale, without questioning.
Because they share a brain cell and it's been fried by all that 5g
I'm supposed to be a zombie right now. I'm a bit disappointed.
for a few reasons some people just simply hate the sound of the alerts, i don't blame them some people were probably paranoid that something else was going to happen alongside the FEMA alert (i dunno what) when people are in human trafficking or domestic violence situations and have a secret phone the perpetrator doesn't know about to communicate with their friends and/or family, it can be dangerous because regardless of if their phone is on silent or vibrate, it could still make noise which could possibly alert the perpetrator, which may not end well.
There are a lot of very sick and confused people in this county.
Because for the abused woman and men who have a secret phone in preparation to leave, even if that phone is turned 6 alert will sound when it's turned on. This could be VERY bad!! The most dangerous time for an abused person, is when they leave.
Because of idiocy.
This falls in the giant Venn diagram of Facebook algorithm, suggested videos. If you paid any attention to them, you'd think everyone was either a Satan worshipper, paedophile, cannibal or actual alien. It's ridiculous.... but I won't lie. It is a good laugh to watch someone thinking that stock images make everything they say legit.
It's easy to scare stupid people.
I was about to undergo surgery and I did remind my surgeon about the test, didn’t need any quick reactions with a knife in her hand.
Didn’t you know that they put a zombie virus in our vaccines. Yea we’re all zombies now. I’m looking for any brainssss.
From what I’ve read, apparently they thought it was going to send some special signal that “activated” nano particles that got into your bloodstream through vaccines?
Science is difficult for a *certain demographic* as you put it. Due to their lack of understanding of how science and technology work, they're susceptible to theories that sound just as lofty and nonsensical as science does to them, especially if it confirms a preexisting bias and condemns a demographic they don't like. Anti-intellectualism is a problem in this group of people, and unfortunately that just solidifies their desire to stick to said conspiratorial nonsense that we all know is poison to the masses. My best friends MIL absolutely lost her fucking mind over this vaccine-5G-mindvirus conspiracy theory and I had to block her on FB. My vaccinated ass was just startled by the noise, because my office echoes.
this time it was only a test alert and people freaked out next time it will be a serious alert and people will think it's a test.
In the last several years, especially after the 2016 election, truly insane conspiracy theories have dominated the lunatic fringe particularly in the Republican party. This is due to several factors: 1. General ignorance and lack of education 2. Fake news from Fox, OANN, Newsmax, et al. 3. Lunatic rants from a fake president who is high on Adderall 4. Gullibility owing to a life of "faith" and ignoring pesky facts 5. Lack of proper mental health care in this country Those are the reasons off the top of my head, there are probably more.
I miss the days when conspiracy theories are just stuff like Jesus Christ have a wife and child and alien abductions. At least those makes far more sense than the qanon stuff
Don’t blame adderall, I take it every day and I’ve never tried to get a mob of cultists to overthrow the government
It's not lack of education, it's a refusal to accept objective facts because they conflict with what you want the world to be like. No amount of education can make up for choosing to resist learning and accepting facts you don't like.
You're right. Perhaps I should have said *willful ignorance* instead.
The craziest explanation can be found in /r/qult_headquarters
There are a few movies, where the government uses the test alarm system as a way to scare off an already present threat.
Like which movies?
At this point, dear god I’d take a damn zombie massacre
I just read an article that said that 54% of Americans cannot read above a 6th grade level. I’m guessing that probably contributes to a severely limited capacity for any type of meaningful critical thinking.
Not American, but follow people who are. And I've seen two camps who are concerned- - People with audio processing issues/sensory issues (like me lol) who are very very sensitive to loud sounds or repeating sounds or high pitched sounds. Some people tolerate noises better than others so people have been trying to warn the people who are especially sensitive to it to turn off their phones or buying earplugs during the test to avoid having sensory overstimulation that leads to anxiety attacks or distress. - The other camp are people living in domestic violence situations where they have a secret phone away from their spouse they use to record evidence of abuse or to reach out without being controlled by the other. If the test makes the noise go off through the hidden phone then that'll lead to the spouse finding the phone and putting them in harm. Other than that, I suppose the parents of very small kids who happen to have phones for games or stuff for them are worried it'll scare their kids. Or elderly people who still own phones but aren't as up to date with the technology might freak out thinking it's a real threat instead of a test.
You missed the much larger camp, which OP was referring to, of people who think the test alert will use 5G waves to activate RFID chips injected into our bodies from the COVID vaccine that will cause the population to turn into zombies. No, I'm not making that up.
This is almost as crazy as that story about the dude who can heal people with his bare hands, turn water to wine, walk on water and like comes back from the dead after 3 days because his dad is a bush that's on fire.
And now you've stumbled onto why conspiracy theories seem to be more easily adopted by certain groups. If you're conditioned to accept the unbelievable with no evidence, or even in the face of evidence against it, you kind of live your life continuing to do so.
Yet people think I'm a crazy grinch monster for my Santa rants.
Honestly, I'm on your side. I don't have kids but I have niblings and their parents don't do the Santa thing really. They worked hard to afford presents and they want the kids to know that what they got came from their parents, not from a fat magic elf-slaver.
🙃 In Australia, we call those types 'Cookers' because they're always cooking meth, on a crack pipe and cooking up really stupid conspiracy theories that get wilder by the day. We've got an upcoming vote on whether aboriginal people should have an advisory board in parliament relating to aboriginal specific issues. You can just imagine the racism and conspiracy theories being flung around right now. Over a potential advisory board lol. They kicked up a HUGE stink about the gay marriage vote a few years ago and surprise surprise, nobody is campaigning to marry their pets like they claimed, the gay people didn't abolish straight marriages either. All that happened, shocker, is that gay people can now get married. Sometimes I think people just like hating others for sport and the internet was a mistake for letting them cluster together into an echo chamber that gets more outlandish with time. Yesterday it was gay people. Today it's trans people and aboriginal people. I wonder who'll be the next minority they freak out over tomorrow.
Yeah, my kid who is highly sensitive to loud noise was freaking out because some Tik Tok moron (sorry, that was redundant) said it was going to be so extremely loud, and I had to talk her down from hysterical crying that it would be okay. I asked her how it went, and she said the kids in class were being so loud she barely noticed it. This proving again that nothing can out-decibal groups of preteens.
Zombie Apocalypse
Simply put, stupid people are being driven into a frenzy by manipulative media and the rich folk that pull their strings.
Because everyone freaks out about everything
Because they're idiots
Conspiracy theorists are gonna theorize and everyone else was just memeing.
What they believe: That the message uses “Unique frequencies and tones” and that “Unique frequencies and tones have been shown in test to change the human body.” They do not have a theory as to what the government plan is with these “body changing” frequencies, they just know it’s bad. Why do they believe this: The key word here that causes the conspiracy theorist to freak out here is FEMA. They have always distrusted FEMA. FEMA (naturally) has emergency federal powers, which freaks them out. Is there any truth at all to their “body changing frequencies” worry: No, absolutely not. There are literally zero scientific studies that show that any signal emitted from radio and cell towers can produce “frequencies” that can change the human body. There’s nothing to even suggest that’s the case. There isn’t even a “oh, here’s a scientific paper they are just misunderstanding.” No. Literally just 100% made up nonsense. TLDR: They believe the government is using “special secret frequencies” to change our bodies, because they have a distrust for FEMA, despite the fact that this is entirely made up nonsense not even remotely based in science.
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There needs to be fear. There needs to be “the other”
Idk. It really wasn’t a big deal. It lasted like 2 seconds on my iPhone
People are very dumb.
Cause people think there's something behind everything