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I really hope to see someone trace and deconstruct the level of bizarre conspiracy theory generation around this event. For those not aware, I've seen (mostly

by wcarss 3y ago

I really hope to see someone trace and deconstruct the level of bizarre conspiracy theory generation around this event. For those not aware, I've seen (mostly through semi-related posts on e.g. Reddit) a lot of people forwarding and subscribing to all kinds of absolute nonsense ideas about this event "broadcasting a signal to activate the Marburg virus" or "being particularly painful for the vaccinated to hear", or "likely to start many small fires in modern devices". I bet that kind of stuff goes around about lots of events -- but I am curious if this one has become so popularly expected to result in bizarre catastrophes just because it's national? Or are people just _much_ more gullible this year?

derelicta 3y ago
Time to mass-send "Over-the-air vaccination successful. Remain calm. -CDC" per SMS
pard68 3y ago
Ya it's weird, but it's largely a rehash of the same things that come up every time an amber alert or emergency tone is played.
- lawlessone 3y ago
  Also weird, it's the same people who complaining a pizza shop has a secret underground child prison that are upset by actual attempts to quickly save children.
  - GenerocUsername 3y ago
    The conspiracy is that the alerts are mostly used to catch escaped children
CalRobert 3y ago
The only concern I've seen is people who might have reason to keep a phone's existence secret. Those with abusive partners, parents, etc.
- LinuxBender 3y ago
  They might consider setting airplane mode or powering it off when not in use.
- wcarss 3y ago
  I saw this one too, and it's an interesting point to consider. I would imagine those people's phones would mostly already be usually concealed, because e.g. an amber or a weather alert with similar effects and consequences could come in at any time.
  - hiatus 3y ago
    Unlike those alerts, the FEMA alerts cannot be disabled.
    - coldpie 3y ago
      Hm, really? On my up-to-date iPhone 13 Mini, I have all of AMBER, Emergency, Public Safety, and Test alerts disabled. Seems like this would fall under at least one of those. I guess we'll find out :) I don't mind a text alert, but I'll be pretty pissed if it makes a bunch of noise.
      - imchillyb 3y ago
        Neither users nor device manufacturers are allowed the option to disable US Presidential or FEMA device alerts.
        coldpie 3y ago
        All right, fuck it, I'll just turn the thing off for an hour, lol. No one gets to make my phone make noise except me.
        ajdude 3y ago
        I heard from somewhere that even phones turned off will sound the alarm if the battery is in. Could you report back if that happens?
skilled 3y ago
Those aren't even that far-reaching theories... Apparently, Russia also did a test for this same exact thing today, so you can image the parallels that drew from a select few communities. 'Attention - remain calm': Russia tests public warning system (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-conduct-emergency-public-warning-tests-wednesday-2023-10-04/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-conduct-emergenc...)
blumomo 3y ago
[flagged]
- galangalalgol 3y ago
  This is getting voted down, I bthink because of the texture of the comment, but put another way I got upvoted recently for the same sentiment, so I'll echo it. We were told masks didn't work, so we wouldn't buy too many and short the people who needed them most, so people kept believing it after the well meant lie. We were told it wasn't a pandemic and that we could still stop it, so that people would continue the practices that would ease the burden on our nurses. The severity of the flu has been exaggerated (on average, there have been really bad years) so that people would get vaccines even if it might not be that important for them individually. If you manage the truth, you havebto keep doing it more and more. If you treat your citizenship like children, you'll get childish behavior. You can't wait for people to behave responsibly to give them responsibility, it works the other way around. Responsibility and accountability produce responsible behavior. As things stand, people expect that if something wasn't safe to eat it wouldn't be legal to sell it...
- walls 3y ago
  [flagged]
- lawlessone 3y ago
  OK what does that have to do with this text message you'll get?
believecty 3y ago
[dead]
ghaff 3y ago
So much current conspiracy stuff is so wild that it's essentially impossible to distinguish conspiracy theories that people deeply believe in from sarcasm and for the lulz postings.
zoklet-enjoyer 3y ago
Same thing happened last time.

by wcarss 3y ago

derelicta 3y ago

Time to mass-send "Over-the-air vaccination successful. Remain calm. -CDC" per SMS

pard68 3y ago

Ya it's weird, but it's largely a rehash of the same things that come up every time an amber alert or emergency tone is played.

lawlessone 3y ago
Also weird, it's the same people who complaining a pizza shop has a secret underground child prison that are upset by actual attempts to quickly save children.
- GenerocUsername 3y ago
  The conspiracy is that the alerts are mostly used to catch escaped children

CalRobert 3y ago

The only concern I've seen is people who might have reason to keep a phone's existence secret. Those with abusive partners, parents, etc.

LinuxBender 3y ago
They might consider setting airplane mode or powering it off when not in use.
wcarss 3y ago
I saw this one too, and it's an interesting point to consider. I would imagine those people's phones would mostly already be usually concealed, because e.g. an amber or a weather alert with similar effects and consequences could come in at any time.
- hiatus 3y ago
  Unlike those alerts, the FEMA alerts cannot be disabled.
  - coldpie 3y ago
    Hm, really? On my up-to-date iPhone 13 Mini, I have all of AMBER, Emergency, Public Safety, and Test alerts disabled. Seems like this would fall under at least one of those. I guess we'll find out :) I don't mind a text alert, but I'll be pretty pissed if it makes a bunch of noise.
    - imchillyb 3y ago
      Neither users nor device manufacturers are allowed the option to disable US Presidential or FEMA device alerts.
      - coldpie 3y ago
        All right, fuck it, I'll just turn the thing off for an hour, lol. No one gets to make my phone make noise except me.
        ajdude 3y ago
        I heard from somewhere that even phones turned off will sound the alarm if the battery is in. Could you report back if that happens?

skilled 3y ago

Those aren't even that far-reaching theories... Apparently, Russia also did a test for this same exact thing today, so you can image the parallels that drew from a select few communities. 'Attention - remain calm': Russia tests public warning system (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-conduct-emergency-public-warning-tests-wednesday-2023-10-04/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-conduct-emergenc...)

blumomo 3y ago

[flagged]

galangalalgol 3y ago
This is getting voted down, I bthink because of the texture of the comment, but put another way I got upvoted recently for the same sentiment, so I'll echo it. We were told masks didn't work, so we wouldn't buy too many and short the people who needed them most, so people kept believing it after the well meant lie. We were told it wasn't a pandemic and that we could still stop it, so that people would continue the practices that would ease the burden on our nurses. The severity of the flu has been exaggerated (on average, there have been really bad years) so that people would get vaccines even if it might not be that important for them individually. If you manage the truth, you havebto keep doing it more and more. If you treat your citizenship like children, you'll get childish behavior. You can't wait for people to behave responsibly to give them responsibility, it works the other way around. Responsibility and accountability produce responsible behavior. As things stand, people expect that if something wasn't safe to eat it wouldn't be legal to sell it...
walls 3y ago
[flagged]
lawlessone 3y ago
OK what does that have to do with this text message you'll get?

believecty 3y ago

[dead]

ghaff 3y ago

So much current conspiracy stuff is so wild that it's essentially impossible to distinguish conspiracy theories that people deeply believe in from sarcasm and for the lulz postings.

zoklet-enjoyer 3y ago

Same thing happened last time.