Do these "villagers" really claim to be living among aliens and interdimensional portals?
Some of them actually do, and here's why.
Thanks for reading my newsletter that separates reality from bullshit in pop culture and the media, and bullshit in the media is today’s topic. Tuesday editions are free to all; Thursdays are for paid subscribers only:
Another day, another shocking headline, this one from The UK Mirror (and yes, saying that the Mirror published a shocking headline is repetitive):
Villagers claim they are living among aliens, UFOs, and interdimensional portals
Those of you fluent in urban legendry may have already recognized this as referring to the “Zone of Silence” in Mexico’s Chihuahua desert (this link takes you to the relevant Skeptoid episode to learn all about it.) The basic claim is that radios don’t work there at all, nor do compasses or electronic equipment. It’s always said (but rarely actually reported) that UFOs fly overhead, that strange creatures and giant insects abound, and all sorts of other weird things.
But of course, if you go there (as many people do; legend trippers are known locally as zoneros), you find that none of that’s true. Your radios and phones and other devices work perfectly well, and you won’t find anything strange. I don’t know the impetus behind this Mirror article for reporting a total nothing, but it’s likely:
A slow news days and some editor just trawled the paper’s X-Files looking for some goofy clickbaity thing;
Someone has a new book or TV show about it and sent the paper a press release, but that’s not the case here. (A TV show is mentioned in the article, but it’s an old one.)
The writer made a painful attempt to link the article to the stupid “alien corpse” hoax in Mexico from September of last year, perhaps to give it some currency. 7 month old news is kind of a stretch if that’s what he was going for.
And by that same token, you may be inquired to ask of me: “So what’s your point in even writing this today?”
This note can be considered what we call “Bigfoot skepticism” — remaining sharply skeptical about goofy stuff, stuff that doesn’t even seem to warrant a thoughtful response. If you don’t keep that up, it all comes creeping right back in. For many people, this article was the first time they’d ever heard of the Zone of Silence, and they’ll share it on their social media and be amazed, and next week you’ll see it on TikTok.
Media literacy - Bigfoot skepticism is important because it’s a way for us to point out crap journalism so it’s not mistaken for credible reporting. There are always many people who don’t know.
Critical thinking - Don’t just point out that it’s bad journalism, show how and why we can analyze a story like the Zone of Silence and determine that it’s probably a false claim. I think my Skeptoid episode does a pretty good job, as an example.
The fun of solving mysteries - It’s always more fun to find out what’s really going on with stories like this, rather than simply accepting “there are giant insects in the desert” which is dumb and false. Share that fun and get people excited.
And in conclusion, back to the article’s headline about “villagers” saying they live among aliens and interdimensional portals: Yes, a few of them do. They make their living guiding the zoneros around and extracting money from them. That’s all well and good for zoneros who are there for the experience; doesn’t work out so well for people who came down unprepared with skepticism and actually expected to see a giant bug.
Our "Red Top" papers require no justification, truth or socially constructive foundation for most things they write. The Mirror is probably the best of a very poor bunch. It's interesting to note that, as the WWW has slime moulded itself around our tiny planet, our papers are seldom referred to by name and country of origin. We are now just another purveyor of nonsense across everyone's breakfast table.