Althouse: Anti-electricity cartoon seems kind of like the way people are talking about 5G.

June 22, 2020

Anti-electricity cartoon seems kind of like the way people are talking about 5G.

5G from r/trippinthroughtime

35 comments:

Unknown said...: The early days of electricity were the Wild West. Totally unregulated. Anyone could call himself an electrician. There were many, many, many cases where houses burned down because they were wired incorrectly. And many people working on powerlines in cities got burned to a crisp in plain view of pedestrians.; 6/22/20, 6:51 PM
gilbar said...: you think electricity is Safe?
try laying on the wires, like the guy in the cartoon

too much work?
take a small screw driver (or a small metal skewer), and stick it into an outlet in your home

MORE THAN 20 americans have ALREADY been killed (killed DEAD) by lightning THIS YEAR
and What is Lightning? That's Right! IT'S ELECTRICITY
ELECTRICITY KILLS!; 6/22/20, 7:10 PM
h said...: The increase in racial injustice (comparing the relatively injustice-free 1950s to the horrible injustice of today) is strongly correlated with the so-called "improvements" in technology -- personal computers, the internet, robotics, etc. So to say "the solution to injustice is a further improvement in techology" is to overlook the obvious flaw. As the Amish know, if only we would revert to the technology of the late 1800s, we would have a world that is better in all respects, especially a world that has more racial justice -- the kind of racial justice that we had achieved in the 1890s. Personally -- to achieve racial justice -- I have cancelled my cell-phone subscription. Join me!! Those of you who pursue justice, join me!!; 6/22/20, 7:19 PM
Jon Ericson said...: People who like to wear masks would like to warn you about the 5G conspiracy.

Ha Ha, funny images.

Another 'cause' to fill the idle hours.

What's the New York Times' take?; 6/22/20, 7:20 PM
Random Onlooker said...: I was told analogies aren't effective as arguments....; 6/22/20, 7:26 PM
Howard said...: More like the degenerate aversion to mask wearing. Did you see the libtard governor of Tejas is asking Lone Staters to wear masks in public just because of increased covid-19 testing. Fuck him, you people are not pussies. Long Horn immunity will become the new Alamo... No one gets out alive. Love me some social Darwin attitude adjustment.; 6/22/20, 7:43 PM
Achilles said...: People need to start being cynical and wary of the people managing the wires your data travels over.

Those people are not always good people.

There are always people watching.

Always.

It is a decision you need to make without rose colored glasses on.; 6/22/20, 7:52 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Shocker! Cowboy's Dusty Trail Ends In The Big City.
Injured Pardner Says, Deceased Hoped To Earn Large Reward Offered By Authorities For Recapture Of Escaped Figment From Dali Exhibit.; 6/22/20, 7:57 PM
narciso said...: Meanwhile:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-will-move-to-dismantle-chop-zone-after-shootings-mayor-says; 6/22/20, 7:58 PM
Gahrie said...: I have cancelled my cell-phone subscription. Join me!!

I have never owned a portable phone or a pager.; 6/22/20, 8:00 PM
gilbar said...: you know what Amish folk do?
they WORK
they have (lots) of Children
they buy land

you know what Amish folk DON'T do?
they don't take loans
they don't cut their dicks off, to spite theirselves
they don't live in places like NYC

The total Amish population in United States as of June 2019 has stood at 336,235, up 11,335 or 3.5%, compared to the previous year.
3.5% growth... A YEAR

It ain't gonna be the mexicans, or the moslems that take over america; it's gonna be the Amish; 6/22/20, 8:01 PM
Narr said...: I'm not afraid of 5G!

Narr
What's one more G?; 6/22/20, 8:17 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Nobody's actually talking about any of this. We all died because of the failure of Net Neutrality.; 6/22/20, 8:22 PM
Rory said...: Tangential to electricity, but it's old timey technology: in the late 19th century in some European cities you could get a subscription to listen to opera at home, over phone lines from the city's opera house.; 6/22/20, 8:31 PM
Butkus51 said...: loading up on 5 G stocks last 2 weeks, shopping for 2 more, probably Ericsson and Square. Spreading that web.

its gonna be huuuuuuge; 6/22/20, 8:36 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Electricians.

The only "Men & Shorts" combo approved by Althouse; 6/22/20, 8:41 PM
Narr said...: Anyway, that imagery says 1800s, not 1900s. By 1900 probably every major city in the world had safe and fully operational electric trams and trolleys, and streets with horseless carriages. Milady's dress seems a bit 19th c also.

This is the problem of The Context of No Context. Watch a "history" documentary sometime and see how many old public domain artist's renderings are used-- perhaps an incident from the ancient world, retold by a Frenchman in the 17th century, translated to English in 1858 . . . imagery and iconography gathered by ignoramuses from a few coffee-table books and a Google search-- most junior history day submissions are as good.

Narr
This is the 20-hundreds, right?; 6/22/20, 8:44 PM
Narr said...: And besides, it may not be anti-electricity at all-probably part of the 1880s-1890s current wars -- AC versus DC in a fight to the finish cage match.

Narr
(AC won); 6/22/20, 8:48 PM
Wince said...: The one woman looks like she found an electric dildo.

Maybe that too is supposed to strike fear in the heart of men?; 6/22/20, 9:10 PM
Achilles said...: narciso said...
Meanwhile:

Yeah. The riots and looting are about as popular as cholera.

The democrats were counting on a Kent State moment.

They did not get their bloody shirt.

Trump has tricked them into dropping their mask again.

Next up is election fraud.; 6/22/20, 9:13 PM
Fernandinande said...: Edison and Westinghouse were competing to show that electricity was safe (AC vs DC), and also competing to show that their electricity was suitable for electrocuting humans in an electric chair.

"Brown had been on his own crusade against alternating current after the shoddy installation of pole-mounted AC arc lighting lines in New York City had caused several deaths in early 1888."; 6/22/20, 9:25 PM
chuck said...: There were many, many, many cases where houses burned down

If you run into a house with the old knob and tube wiring you might wonder that any survived :)

IIUC, the main concern about 5G is that the manufacturing is effectively monopolized by China. No one trusts China these days.; 6/22/20, 10:07 PM
Mary Beth said...: I hear about people who are anti-5G. I also hear about flat-earthers and other weird beliefs, but I don't know anyone who thinks like that. I can't tell if they're all just really small groups that get too much attention because everyone else needs someone to make fun of or if I just luck out in not knowing any idiots.; 6/22/20, 11:03 PM
Yancey Ward said...: We have just updated shit, haven't we? Now electricity will cause New York City to be under 50 feet of water by 2030.; 6/22/20, 11:04 PM
n.n said...: They're acutely phobic of nuclear. The caricatures of the anti-nuclear sects are priceless. Meanwhile, they are tilting at wind turbine gauntlets, and fawning over the photovoltaic environmental blights.; 6/23/20, 12:33 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “As the Amish know, if only we would revert to the technology of the late 1800s, we would have a world that is better in all respects, especially a world that has more racial justice -- the kind of racial justice that we had achieved in the 1890s.”

They do make the best furniture. I inherited an oak kitchen table probably from one of my great grandmothers. My partner, who went to school to learn about this sort of things, pointed out some of the things that identified it as being built in the latter 19th Century. We needed chairs for it. We originally looked for chairs of a comparable vintage, to no avail. I stumbled into a store that sells Amish built furniture in Sun City. We ended up having them build us six chairs that matched the table in terms of color and grain. Absolutely rock solid, built to last into the 22nd Century. Took four months, and they weren’t cheap. But well above most of the rest of the wood furniture we have in quality (she has some antiques of similar quality). I plan to go back there for an armed swivel secretarial chair for my oak roll top desk this fall. Slightly darker oak, but that won’t be an issue.

Around here, we tend to have more Mennonites than Amish (but the next town east of here does have buggy signs) plus some from similar sects. They do extremely good work, at a good price. This house about 15 years old, has extensive woodwork throughout. Most of it was done by Mennonites. The food that the women make is just as good. Her uncle befriended several families across the road from their ranch, and they always brought food, when they came over to visit.

Something else interesting is that we see the women out with their kids a bit. They invariably drive minivans, and minivans with local plates almost always indicates Mennonite or similar. They will often have 3-4 kids along, with all but the youngest females wearing full length homemade dresses (over sneakers). But the thing that all of a sudden struck me, was that the kids, even the rare teenaged boy, were always happy, quiet, and perfectly behaved. Always. No fidgeting. No screaming. No acting out or running down the aisles. Never.; 6/23/20, 5:37 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: The thing is, that we really don’t know if there are going to be health issues from 5G. We have been assured by the “experts” that it is completely safe. Except that what the real experts say is that they just don’t really know. I have belonged to the IEEE for better than three decades, and what I get from their publications is that 5G is very likely safe, but not guaranteed. At one time, they said that high power lines were safe. But later, the prevailing wisdom was maybe not, and if you are going to have kids, maybe you shouldn’t live right under high power lines. I was sensitized to that issue because friends who had high power lines running right over their house had two deformed babies, neither of which lived even a year. They did genetic testing between kids, and everything looked good. It destroyed their marriage, because she moved on, and he didn’t. In any case, neither ever had kids after that.; 6/23/20, 5:51 AM
Darkisland said...: Blogger chuck said...

If you run into a house with the old knob and tube wiring you might wonder that any survived :)

I think Sippican used to be a frequent commenter here. Last week I ran across his blog for some reason https://sippicancottage.blogspot.com/

It is about a rather dilapidated house that he is fixing up. His adventures in plumbing are rather interesting.

One of the things he mentions about the house is that when he bought it (for $25m) it had knob and tube wiring with rotary switches. He has been working on upgrading it.

John Henry; 6/23/20, 7:03 AM
Darkisland said...: "Electricity: The Deadly Shipmate"

I served on a 1944 vintage C-3 cargo ship while in the Navy. All 240 volt DC. The ship itself was one of the two wires.

So you would have a motor with one wire in and the other just going to the hull.

And don't get me started about the "casualty power" system. Exposed, live, 240 volt DC lugs sticking out of the wall. Covered by a small hinged box for quick and easy access.

DC electricity has a lot of benefits but can be very exciting.

John Henry; 6/23/20, 7:07 AM
Darkisland said...: Blogger n.n said...

They're acutely phobic of nuclear.

One way to combat this would be to get the movie "The China Syndrome" in heavy rotation on all the movie channels.

It is pure pro-nuke propaganda and somewhat cartoonish. Still, a pretty enjoyable movie.

John Henry; 6/23/20, 7:10 AM
joshbraid said...: I am seeing two concerns with 5G: health and privacy.
I am seeing cartoons in response.
Whatever happened to "I believe in science"?; 6/23/20, 8:29 AM
stlcdr said...: Blogger Mary Beth (the commenter) said...
I hear about people who are anti-5G. I also hear about flat-earthers and other weird beliefs, but I don't know anyone who thinks like that. I can't tell if they're all just really small groups that get too much attention because everyone else needs someone to make fun of or if I just luck out in not knowing any idiots.

6/22/20, 11:03 PM
And anti-vaxxers. There is a whole social market in highlighting the tiny segment of society's cuckoos, and using them to tar People Who Don't Think The Way You Do.; 6/23/20, 8:43 AM
PM said...: If a porch 5G towerette can download Tiger King faster, which destroys your brain cells faster?; 6/23/20, 10:53 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: “I am seeing two concerns with 5G: health and privacy.
“I am seeing cartoons in response.
“Whatever happened to "I believe in science"?”

Privacy is really not that much of an issue. You either take care to not make yourself vulnerable, or you don’t. The problem is that the “science” cannot definitively guarantee that 5G is safe. Very likely so, but not guaranteed. We just don’t have enough experience yet with human exposure to those levels of broadcast power.; 6/23/20, 11:08 AM
Rusty said...: " I want to arrest the galoot
who tried to shoot
electricity into my walls."; 6/23/20, 1:56 PM