What I learned from the War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938


No, of course I wasn't alive in 1938 when Orson Welles panicked the nation with his broadcast of "the War of the World" on CBS radio. But my mom was, and she would often mention it, and it became an early lesson in my life.

If you haven't ever heard what happened, to put it briefly, CBS radio broadcast the story of aliens from Mars attacking the earth, as read by voice actor Orson Wells. And yes, they stopped every once in a while to remind people that it was just fiction, but apparently that wasn't enough.

My mom, an intelligent and educated woman, always had a very short way with fools, and was always inclined to speak up about it. And from her I learned that it's easy to fool people, and it's easy to be fooled, and it's not very nice. And my "mama didn't raise no fool", and I was determined to grow up to be considerate to people who could be easily fooled, which is most people, especially nice and trusting people.

Whether Orson Welles knew that he would cause a panic, I guess we'll never know. Fictional radio programs had been popular since the invention of radio, and no one had ever panicked before, about the Lone Ranger, or whatever. Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't, but if it was intentional, it was the kind of mean spirit that I've grown to abhor.

Whipping up people to a frenzy with some type of broadcast has remained popular, and whether it's done by accident, or intentionally, for revenue, is a very bad thing. And if you are living in the 21st Century I don't have to tell you what can happen.

Making a very sharp distinction between reality and fantasy has always been important to me. I appreciate both, and there's a time and place for both. When those two things blur, it can cause havoc. Again, I really don't know if the young Orson Welles realized how confusing this would be to people, but I'd like to believe that the older and wiser Welles came to realize it, and would never do that sort of thing again.
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