2001: Drone Hysteria

Speaker: People in New Jersey are concerned and demanding information after a wave of mysterious drone sightings. Since last month, dozens of drones mysteriously hovering in the skies at night. You've the news footage. Mysterious drones hovering over new Jersey. At first it was just a few, then it seemed like the drones appeared all over the northeast. That is not an airplane. It looks like a spaceship. Not a plane. That is a drone in the airspace. Definitely not planes. And there were too many of them. There's no way planes could fly that close together Every day, all we could talk about was drones, drones, drones. But nobody knew who was flying them. It couldn't be civilian? surely not. Some of these drones were reportedly the size of cars. A New Jersey legislator posting on X that the drones appear much larger than typical hobby drones, in some cases up to six feet. They often fly with their lights off, making them harder to detect. Is the military behind this? What's going on in America? Why doesn't our government tell us what's going on in these skies? Could it have been a foriegn government spying on us? This is New Jersey Representative Jeff Van Drew speaking on Fox News. From very high sources, very qualified sources, uh, very responsible sources, I'm gonna tell you the real deal. Um, Iran launched a mothership probably about a month ago that contains these drones. That mothership is off the, I'm going to tell you the deal. It's off the east coast of the United States of America. conspitacies started flying.... by everyone, including the president elect. can you comment on the drones that are flying around New Jersey ports? It seems like the American people have a big discontent. The government knows what is happening. And for some reason, they don't want to comment. And I think they'd be better off saying what it is our military knows and our, our president knows. They asked President Biden about the drones and he didn't have much to say. Nothing nefarious, apparently. But they're checking it all out. We're following them closely. So far, no sign of them. The other night, there was, right here over Picatinny, there was a drone just hanging out. I put my drone up in the air and went towards it. I had full battery life. Not three minutes into the flight, I lost control of the drone. Could it be something from out of this world? I mean, just last month a US House Oversight Committee dropped this on us. Lawmakers interviewed former intelligence officers aboiut the pentagon's U.A.P or unidentified anomalous phenomenon. What do you believe? U. A. P. S. Could be or are strong evidence that they're nonhuman, higher intelligence. Let me be clear. U. A. P. Are real advanced technologies not made by our government. or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe Then a month later these drones suddenly appear over our night skies. No wonder we're in a tizzy over this. But could the answer be simpler than we think? Authorities in Toms River, New Jersey, launching their own drone offensive for a closer look. It seems Michael Kosta with the Daily Show was hovering closer to what was really happening. I think I know what's going on here. We spotted a drone in the sky. So we're going to launch a drone to find out what, holy shit, now there's two drones up there. We should put another drone. Holy shit, there's three drones up there. Unlike cable news... it took a comedy satire show to bring our expectations back down to earth. It looks like, perhaps, this whole drone hysteria is a result of people spotting drones looking for drones. And all this drone talk got me thinking.. thinking of another drone phenomenon that took over the head lines a few years back. It was call the birds aren't real movement. Birds aren't real! Birds aren't real! Birds Real movement marched through downtown Springfield today to give one message. Birds are not real. The group believes all the birds in the United States have been killed by the government. The United States government replaced them with robot replicas that look like, mimic, and act like real birds in every single way. In today's episode, we're going to talk about the other drone mystery in our skies. Are bird real? And could they be spying on us? INTRO I'm Javier Leiva and this is PRETEND... Stories about people pretending to be someone else. BIRDS AREN'T REAL This might be the dumbest conspiracy of them all. BIRDS AREN'T REAL? Of course they're real. Right? The basic theory is the since the 1959s, the government killed off every bird and replaced them with bird drones to watch over us. And as ridiculous as this sounds, they do bring up a few good points. For instance, have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Have any of you seen a baby pigeon ever? No. I don't think so. I have not, no. This is a clip from the Birds aren't real documentary. Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Actually, I haven't. That is kind of sketchy now that I think about it. I've never seen a baby pigeon. Birds are real! Birds are real! Ever notice how Pigeons congregating on power lines? Well, that's not random—they recharge their drone batteries through electromagnetic induction. When they bob their heads while walking, they are actually adjusting focus on their internal camera systems. The leaders of this movement claim that the governement deploys birds various different ways to manipulate us. For example.... geese. This parking lot neausance is used to control traffic and crowds. Hummingbirds? well.... hummingbirds are trained assasins who specialize in assassinations. Don't believe me? I regard Alan Dulles as an almost unique figure in our country. I know of no man who brings a greater sense of personal commitment to his work, who has less pride in office than he has. This is John F Kennedy awarding Alan Dullus, the first civilian CIA director, with the national security medal of honor. His 10 years of service in the Central Intelligence Agency have been the climax of a lifetime of unprecedented and devoted public service, But behind closed doors, it appears there was tension. When JFK learned about the secret government program to replace all the birds with drones, Allen Dullus told the president to mind his own business and focus on his silly space program and stay out of it. Birds aren't real conspiracy theorist believe JFK was assassinated by a hummingbird surveillance drone. I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. We all remember where we were when that happened. But what if I told you that something far greater was at play in this very moment? A saga of government corruption so entrenched in our society that to expose it would make Watergate a mere footnote in the pages of history. For the last few years, my team and I have been investigating the biggest crime ever perpetrated on the American people. Since the Eisenhower administration, the U. S. government has been committing genocide on the entire bird population and replacing these birds with sophisticated robot replicas equipped with five megapixel cameras and a sophisticated tracking system that can follow your every movement. I know this is horrifying, but please remember, stay calm. It is estimated that by 2001, 90 percent of the birds that we see in the sky will actually be surveillance robots. We must act now to prevent this from going any further. Join us. And together we can make 1987 the year that we take back our freedom. how did it start? So how did this conspiracy theory take flight? It all started on January of 2017 at a women's march in Memphis Tennessee. I consider myself to be an average American. I wake up in the morning, wash my car and I have an avid disbelief in avian beings. Peter McIndoe (mc-in-doe) noticed a group of pro-trump counter protestors across the street and decided to join them. Instead, he was touting a different message. BIRDS AREN'T REAL. He didn't think much about it. It was so obsurd that it was funny. He didn't think anyone would actually take him seriously. Until they did. Someone took video of it, posted it online, and it took off. This was the beginning of the dumbest satirical movement since flat earthers. Nobody really believes the earth is flat, right? When Peter bought a billboard featuring the words "birds aren't real" in the middle of midtown memphis, it cuaght the attention of the local news. WREG, interviewed Peter McIndoe about his idiotic movement. Maybe you've seen the billboard near the Highland Strip or heard the story on Wednesday's live at nine. A campaign called birds are not real, brings his efforts to the mid south. And this morning we are joined by one of the messengers of the movement. Peter McIndoe is here to tell us how this all came about. We want to emphasize you were not the founder. We put the billboard here because we wanted to bring it to the biggest city in the world, you know, the Paris of the West. Uh, so we brought it to Memphis, Tennessee. So this is really satire. I mean, you don't really believe that that happened, correct? This is a satirical campaign to make the point that what? You're looking at me like, no, it's not satire. I really do believe this. Honestly, it's kind of offensive. This was all toungue and cheek, right? The media didn't really think they were serious, did they? Peter McIndoe went on the Fox News and was grilled by host Jesse Watters. Is this a schtick? Do you really in your heart? Why would it be a schtick? Because there are birds everywhere. You report on UFOs in this show, yes? I could see the government using some birds, maybe, as drones to disguise them, but you're saying all birds, the pigeons here in New York City. Every, every bird, every bird, in every pigeon here in New York City. Peter McIndoe was in character. Everyone knew this was just a silly joke. But this Fox news host gave it credibility. Anything to fill air time I guess. One jouralist put it best... Birds Aren't Real as "a joke that thousands of people are in on." What I love about this satirical movement is that it checks off all the flaws with some of the more believable consipiracy theories out there. First of all, these bird thruthers have an answer for everything. Why did the US invade vietnam? Birds. Cuban Missile Crisis was thwarted by Seagull drones communication interception. We can go on and on. This is exactly how conspiracies work. I'll give you the formula. In order to start a consipiracy theory and for people to believe it, you have to draw on people's belief in pseudoscience and their distrust in institutions of government and politicians. Let's take the idea that vaccines cause autism. In 1998, a now debunked study, flasely linked the MMR vaccine to autism. The study on involved 12 participants and was no credible at all. In fact, the guy who did the study lost his medical licence for falsifying data. But that didn't matter. It was official enough for some people to believe it because some people have the legitamite fear that big pharma and governments prioritize profils over public health. From there, the theory takes on a life of its own. Believers then seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs. The anti-vaccer communities create an echo chamber where misinfromation circulates... to the point where it becomes commonly accepted. But most importantly, a great conspiracy theory has to tug at your heart strings. "My child changed after the vaccine" becomes more compelling to some than peer-reviewed studies. In a way, Birds are real was a brilliant piece of satire. It's so ridiculous, that maybe it will help us question some of the consipracy we already believe. And trust me, we all believe in some kind of conspiracy. Recently, the creators of the birds aren't real movement dropped the act. not actually believe that birds are robots. This is a character that I played for four years, the leader of a fake movement with fake evidence and a fake history. Our goal was to convince the public that our satirical movement was a real one. And see if the media would believe what we were saying So, in late 2021, we ended up coming out of character, letting people know that this was satirical. We made this up, uh, and it ended up being covered on the front page of the New York Times and The Guardian. People were pretty shocked. But at the end of the day, whether people really believed birds aren't real.. they were able to start a real movement. We had to ask ourselves, why do so many people identify with this idea? You know, why, why did a city, you know, make a movement its own after a, you know, good looking guy like this just held up a sign. Why do 500 people show up outside of CNN to protest the pro bird media? Why do 1, 000 people show up in Washington Square Park in New York City demanding that the mayor shut down the pigeons? They believe that at the end of the day, people just wanted to connect around an idea and have a good laugh. So now that the bird has flown... what are the organizers behind the birds aren't real movement up to these days? You'll never believe it. That is after the break. //AD BREAK// Right now, new questions are swirling around Enron. You'll remember that former Houston based energy giant that filed for bankruptcy in 2001. A new website, billboards, even merchandise are promoting the resurrection of this infamous company. You heard right. Eron... the company behind one of the largest corporate fraud scandals in history is back. Yes, the company that used accounting loopholes, shell companies, and accounting stategies to hide it's debt and inflate its profits, made a mysterious return. A few weeks ago, eron.com came back online. There was even a billboard spotted in houston where the company was based showing the Eron logo and the words, "we're back." At first people wondered could this be true. The URL is actually eron.com. The website included this video. The world is changing faster than ever. Can you feel it? Growth. Transformation. Rebirth. In the modern world, we must accept change is the only constant. Learn how to adapt. Forgive. To allow change to happen in the world and within ourselves. We understand this better than anyone. And we're here to lead. By example. I am Enron. I am Enron. I am Enron. We are Enron. The video features a montage of different corporate stock video clips. At the end, the camera zooms out and reveals a crowd of people, of all ages and races in the shape of the Enron E logo. Then, there was the video from Eron's new CEO. What does being the new CEO of Enron mean to me? How much time do we have? My name is Connor, and I'm the new CEO of Enron. Conor is Connor Gaydos, one of the conspiritors behind the birds aren't real movement. When I was a child, my father would renovate houses. And something that he would tell me was, The sun, all that really matters is to have a strong foundation. He called it Good Bones. Well, I believe that Enron has good bones It didn't take long for the media to take the bait. The question many people are asking, Is this real? Records show the trademark for Enron's logo is currently owned by The College Company. The address listed for the college company on the trademark filing from 2020 took us to an apartment near the University of Arkansas campus. We knocked on the door with no answer. The College Company bought the enron trademark for $275 dollars. If you blink, you'll miss it. but hidden in the website's terms and conditions it clearly states that the new enron is satire. It's not entirely clear what the birds aren't real creators are planning to do with Eron. That's it for today's episode... I hope I didn't discourage your from looking up at the sky and enjoy all of it's mysteries and wonder. Watch for birds, drones, whatever. But remember, just because you see it doesn't mean it's real. Question everything. In today's era of AI, where we can't even trust our own eyes and ears, we have to be smarter about what we see on tiktok, read on reddit, and try to get out of our own bubbles. If it sounds too good to be true, maybe it's not. Because the consequences for letting conspiracy theories run a muck is that with time, they become accepted. And who knows, we may end up with a Federal Avian Reconnaissance Termination...FART for short.