When I worked down at the Executive Office in DC in the mid 80's, there was often a guy in Farragut Square who had a sandwich sign that said "Is your mind controlled by silent radio? Many people's are."
He was notorious among the team I worked with, and when we'd space out in a meeting or something, and be caught adrift by a question we'd say, to laughs all around, "I'm sorry. My mind must have been controlled by silent radio.".
I remember the silent radio guy YoungHegelian mentioned. I thought he was in Lafayette Park. Probably both places. Like YH and his friends, we assumed that he was harmless, and he probably was, but then the Navy Yard massacre happens.
It really is a dilemma how to deal with these people. Yes, it seems that there were a lot of signs of trouble in the case of Alexis, and he probably should have had his access to the Navy Yard suspended (at least). But then he could have gone to some unsecured location -- like Lafayette or Farragut Park -- and killed a dozen people.
We don't have any very good ways to identify dangerous crazy people AND put them where they won't be a danger to others.
In the late 1960's, I was an engineer at one of the FCC's field offices. A good part of the day was spent answering telephone calls from the public concerning a variety of subjects related to radio.
A surprising percentage of the non-technical calls complained of being controlled by radio waves or hearing radio waves talking to the caller.
A couple of the more memorable calls from that time were the woman complaining of space aliens using unlicensed ray guns (I suggested she call the Air Force) and the male caller who was being "sexually attacked" by radio waves. (Don't recall the recommendation I had for him.)
And, yes, I'm more than familiar with the odd cases where extremely strong AM broadcast signals can be rectified and converted to acoustic energy and heard by such things as non-linear junctions in dental fillings. Trust me, these were not that type of problem.
Thinking someone is harmless because no one has done anything about them seems logical, until you realize no one is doing anything even about the obviously dangerous -- and pretty much every mass shooter recently (or even the bombers in Boston) have clear, violent histories that the government was aware of (or made aware of courtesy of local psychiatrists or, with the bombers, the Russians!) The government just chose to let the tinderboxes be, for one reason or another, until they caught fire.
Most electromagnetism (visible light being the exception) is invisible, yet different aspects of it seem to produce different effects on people.
Magnets attract quacks and charlatans. They are said to heal (or sometimes mesmerize).
Electricity- well, it's invisible, but electric power can get you killed. So, people respect it almost as though it could be seen.
And then there's those mysterious electromagnetic waves within the radio frequency spectrum- unseen, yet capable of making voices come out an inanimate box! These attract madmen.
In the late 60s I worked in a state hospital where we had lots of these kinds of people. They were perfectly happy to be in a protected environment. Many of them earned their keep by working in the laundry or hospital dairy farm.
They were liberated by federal judges, who ought to be forced to live with them under bridges in card board boxes like they do.
This is not to mention those who go around killing people.
There is a great little scifi novel, Demon in the Skull, by Frederick Pohl, which has a similar plot line. Except the mind control actually works and it is done with microwaves. This fine work of fiction can be purchased via the Althouse Amazon link.
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12 comments:
He is playing out a video game shooting his enemies one at a time.
When I worked down at the Executive Office in DC in the mid 80's, there was often a guy in Farragut Square who had a sandwich sign that said "Is your mind controlled by silent radio? Many people's are."
He was notorious among the team I worked with, and when we'd space out in a meeting or something, and be caught adrift by a question we'd say, to laughs all around, "I'm sorry. My mind must have been controlled by silent radio.".
Those jokes don't seem quite so funny now.
Some people just can't take the 60 cycle hum.
So many lives could have been saved with a simple tinfoil hat.
Another "Kenneth, what's the frequency?" story? See Dan Rather.
I remember the silent radio guy YoungHegelian mentioned. I thought he was in Lafayette Park. Probably both places. Like YH and his friends, we assumed that he was harmless, and he probably was, but then the Navy Yard massacre happens.
It really is a dilemma how to deal with these people. Yes, it seems that there were a lot of signs of trouble in the case of Alexis, and he probably should have had his access to the Navy Yard suspended (at least). But then he could have gone to some unsecured location -- like Lafayette or Farragut Park -- and killed a dozen people.
We don't have any very good ways to identify dangerous crazy people AND put them where they won't be a danger to others.
In the late 1960's, I was an engineer at one of the FCC's field offices. A good part of the day was spent answering telephone calls from the public concerning a variety of subjects related to radio.
A surprising percentage of the non-technical calls complained of being controlled by radio waves or hearing radio waves talking to the caller.
A couple of the more memorable calls from that time were the woman complaining of space aliens using unlicensed ray guns (I suggested she call the Air Force) and the male caller who was being "sexually attacked" by radio waves. (Don't recall the recommendation I had for him.)
And, yes, I'm more than familiar with the odd cases where extremely strong AM broadcast signals can be rectified and converted to acoustic energy and heard by such things as non-linear junctions in dental fillings. Trust me, these were not that type of problem.
I love the "video games made him do it " mentality. Because Call of Duty only sells several million copies a year and mass killings are really common.
Does anybody blame movies or music...with larger audience bases...for mass murders? Why not?
Thinking someone is harmless because no one has done anything about them seems logical, until you realize no one is doing anything even about the obviously dangerous -- and pretty much every mass shooter recently (or even the bombers in Boston) have clear, violent histories that the government was aware of (or made aware of courtesy of local psychiatrists or, with the bombers, the Russians!) The government just chose to let the tinderboxes be, for one reason or another, until they caught fire.
But, hey. Guns are bad, k?
Most electromagnetism (visible light being the exception) is invisible, yet different aspects of it seem to produce different effects on people.
Magnets attract quacks and charlatans. They are said to heal (or sometimes mesmerize).
Electricity- well, it's invisible, but electric power can get you killed. So, people respect it almost as though it could be seen.
And then there's those mysterious electromagnetic waves within the radio frequency spectrum- unseen, yet capable of making voices come out an inanimate box! These attract madmen.
In the late 60s I worked in a state hospital where we had lots of these kinds of people. They were perfectly happy to be in a protected environment. Many of them earned their keep by working in the laundry or hospital dairy farm.
They were liberated by federal judges, who ought to be forced to live with them under bridges in card board boxes like they do.
This is not to mention those who go around killing people.
There is a great little scifi novel, Demon in the Skull, by Frederick Pohl, which has a similar plot line. Except the mind control actually works and it is done with microwaves. This fine work of fiction can be purchased via the Althouse Amazon link.
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