Pessimists Archive Newsletter

Share this post

πŸ—ž π™ΏπšŽπšœπšœπš’πš–πš’πšœπšπšœ π™°πš›πšŒπš‘πš’πšŸπšŽ Newsletter

newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org

πŸ—ž π™ΏπšŽπšœπšœπš’πš–πš’πšœπšπšœ π™°πš›πšŒπš‘πš’πšŸπšŽ Newsletter

πŸ“š πŸ“ž πŸ§™πŸ“» πŸ’‰ πŸš—πŸ’¨

Pessimists Archive
Apr 17, 2021
1
Share this post

πŸ—ž π™ΏπšŽπšœπšœπš’πš–πš’πšœπšπšœ π™°πš›πšŒπš‘πš’πšŸπšŽ Newsletter

newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org

πŸ“š Novel Tragedy

A suicide is blamed on novel reading, other reports suggest β€˜beheading’ was a an exaggeration, but why let that get in the way of a good headline? When bad things happen, people want to blame something and often new things are the easiest to blame.

πŸ—ž St. Louis Post-DispatchΒ (1906)

πŸ“ž Anti-Landline Landlord

In 1927 this landlord treated telephones like indoor smoking or pets. Tenants sought legal advice about what to do, the big question? β€œHas a landlord the right to prevent his tenants from having telephones?”

πŸ—ž Portage Daily Register (1927)

πŸ§™πŸ“» Indistinguishable from Black Magic

After a lonely teacher bought a radio to keep him company, villagers began hearing strange noises when they knew he was alone. Their conclusion? He was a witch. He was swiftly killed. Villagers β€œSmashed the 'devil’s engine’” and β€œaverted complete disaster by torturing the devil from the soul of a witch, who was disguised as a school teacher”

πŸ—ž Santa Ana RegisterΒ (1927)

After putting a call out for polish speakers to confirm the story, one follower found something that suggests this could have been the case of chinese whispers or tabloid sensationalism.

Twitter avatar for @LukaszBorchmann
Łukasz Borchmann @LukaszBorchmann
@PessimistsArc I was able to find two other news where it stands they were farmers who believed radio causes rain. Both differ in terms of village location and in these stories, Sawicki was not killed. It is mentioned as an example of villagers' illiteracy (here from Nowy Dziennik, 1927).
Image
2:58 PM βˆ™ Apr 3, 2021

πŸ’‰ Side Effects

A report from 1894 mimics some recent coverage of COVID-19 vaccines: over zealous reactions to health events in a small number of recipients. The New York Post recently published a report on an unrelated death of someone who took the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, for example.

πŸ—ž Chicago Tribune (1894)

It is worth remembering that the modern anti-vaxx movement was bolstered by similar reporting on unrelated autism cases in the 90s (made credible by Lancet), many reputable outlets reported on the possible link without much skepticism.


πŸ’¨ Hot Air

Early concerns about automobiles and aeroplanes revolved around their speed preventing people exhaling carbon dioxide from their lungs properly, it wasn’t true for the same reason you don’t move backwards if you jump in a plane.

πŸ—ž The New York Times (1910)

πŸ“š Top Tweet

146 years ago a writer in The New York Times could not believe anti-vaxxers were still a thing. Little did he know…

Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
Guy in 1875 can't believe there are still anti-vaxxers. EIGHTEEN SEVENTY FIVE!
Image
5:12 PM βˆ™ Apr 15, 2021
727Likes318Retweets

πŸ—ž The New York Times (1875)


Did a friend send you this? Subscribe to our newsletter for more:

Share this post

πŸ—ž π™ΏπšŽπšœπšœπš’πš–πš’πšœπšπšœ π™°πš›πšŒπš‘πš’πšŸπšŽ Newsletter

newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

Β© 2023 Pessimists Archive
Privacy βˆ™ Terms βˆ™ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
SubstackΒ is the home for great writing