Reaction Essay: War of the Worlds

In listening to the War of the Worlds radio lab I pondered about if that is possible in today's day and age. I honestly don't believe it could happen. Before 9/11.... possibly, after? Not a chance. During 9/11, even the news outlets would not confirm that we were under attack or this was a possible terrorism act. First reports were that it was a small commuter plane and had just accidentally flown in to the World Trade Center. I don't know how you accidentally fly in to one of the biggest buildings in the country but, that's for another story.

Americans especially were naive before 9/11 and didn't believe anything crazy like this could happen. Now we are a lot more cautious and don't believe everything we see. If I saw some bloodied up guy running towards me down the street screaming about aliens, I wouldn't start running with him down the street. I would need verification a la many other people running down the street or news companies everywhere.

News is instant now, if there is a UFO in La Plata county, when I log on to my home screen on my phone, there will most likely be a giant bulletin in red notifying me to get the hell out of Durango. If it is a fraud, the news will travel just as fast. Technology plays too big of a part in this day and age and anything of fraud is usually shown quickly.

Another argument is the radio does not reach enough audiences anymore. What do most people listen to now? College kids and the younger generation listen to their Ipod at home, in their car with an AM/FM transmitter. Their disconnected from the world around them now and do not know social and political topics anymore. The older generation, from what I can tell, usually listens to satellite radio and satellite radio obviously is not local and therefore scaring a city into thinking there are aliens would not be possible if it is not local. Reaching a broad audience is much harder than it was in the earlier years where radio was the only form of information and entertainment. More people are disconnected from the world and are centralized in their own likes and dislikes. Technology gives them that freedom but, it is also the culprit of the disconnection from the world.