21st Century Magic Bullet Theory

The magic bullet/hypodermic needle theory says that we are highly susceptible to information from mass media. A news story comes out and is shot or injected into our brains. Humans will absorb the information and react homogeneously. According to the theory, humans ingest the information as true, whether it is logical or not.

Could something like this happen today? And would I be one of the believers?

May 2021 – Gas Shortages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRjNdgAetQE

What is going on here?

Hackers access the Colonial Pipeline, demanding millions in ransom, shutting down the pipeline, and causing fuel shortages in several SE states. Florida is affected, but the region where I live gets fuel from the port, not the pipeline. I go about my business and hope the pipeline gets up and running soon because I don’t want to see gas prices rise too much. Fast forward a few days. People are now panic buying gas, even filling plastic bags with gasoline. And my gas tank warning light is about to come on. So, what do I do? Instead of leaving my house a little early for my appointment the next day, I pull up gasbuddy.com and check where I can get gas right NOW. I didn’t believe the original hype, but now I was following the herd and worried about getting gas.

November 2020-ongoing – The Election Was Stolen

Source: thedailyword.com

Maybe you heard we had an election last November? Since the day after the election, the man with one of the biggest megaphones in the world has been screaming from the mountaintops that the election was stolen from him. Almost every media outlet in the world has been amplifying that megaphone for months. Lots of intelligent people have been echoing the claims of widespread fraud. One could argue that the first claims could apply to the magic bullet theory, and now we’re in the propaganda and gaslighting stage. However, I did not believe the claims in November, and I don’t believe them now. After all, we’ve had elections in this country for hundreds of years, and not once has there been evidence of fraud on a massive scale.

2021 – Dogecoin Hype

A cryptocurrency that started as a joke in 2013 has suddenly gained popularity and has become one of the highest valued cryptocurrencies. Dogecoin recently increased exponentially in value because a “sophomoric crowd” used memes and hashtags to boost trading activity. Early investors have made some real money on Dogecoin recently. But for various reasons, Dogecoin is not expected to maintain stability. I think I’ll sit this one out and look for another investment.

The magic bullet theory has been disproven but still crops up occasionally. We now have so many options for consuming media that it is easier to fact-check a story. If aliens were to invade Earth in 2021, we would probably get no less than twenty notifications on our cellphones. Now we have satire websites such as The Onion that intentionally publish sensational stories.