So… apparently, there are people who, when confronted with a record snowfall in the South, are of the opinion that it is somehow ‘fake snow’, sent by whatever evil force de jour, in order to shut down everything… because evil. There are videos of folks trying to melt the snow with a lighter, pointing at how it ‘doesn’t melt right’, ‘burns’, and has a ‘chemical smell’...

Not gonna post a link to the video, because they don’t need more traffic, but debunkery ensues: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/debunked-fake-snow-burning-snow.3026/

Basically, it boils down to ‘You folks have never had much experience with snow, have ya?’.

Snow doesn’t melt like ice does. Lighters leave soot marks on things held over the flame. Chemical smell could be anything from stray lighterfluid, to singed gloves, to folks not knowing what snow smells like.

I think it falls under a current trend towards ‘something big has happened that we don’t understand, therefore it must be [insert paranoid conspiracy]’ that we have seen growing ever since 9/11. Some folks just can’t handle ‘big things’ happening, especially tragedies, and they don’t seem ‘real’, They don’t want to admit ignorance, so they come up with an idea that fits the data. Rather than test the theory (scientific method), they just run with it, and take it as dogma.

I saw some of those on my FB feed. People are just looking for excuses everywhere these days. My view is people want an excuse to justify their position (usually being poor or based on their skin colour) when most of their problems could be tackled by getting on with some work and improving their communities, not just blaming ‘the government’ for keeping them down.

Mr R - 03 February 2014 04:30 AM

I saw some of those on my FB feed. People are just looking for excuses everywhere these days. My view is people want an excuse to justify their position (usually being poor or based on their skin colour) when most of their problems could be tackled by getting on with some work and improving their communities, not just blaming ‘the government’ for keeping them down.

Yeah. I think ‘the evil government’ is taking the scapegoat role that ‘evil jewish bankers’ or various ethnic groups have long held. After all, racism is bad, but if you’re upset that the country isn’t handing you everything on a platter… why that’s patriotic, right? We the People! Wave the flag! Make our country great again!

*sigh*

People always want the ‘easy answer’. They want something to blame. It’s not their fault they’re poor - it’s the government with its taxes (never mind they’ve not paid more than fifteen bucks in ten years). It’s not their fault they can’t get a job - it’s those mexicans stealing all the jobs (never mind that they were fired for drinking on the job). It’s not their fault their wife left them - it’s those gays and lesbians, destroying marriage (never mind they beat her unconscious multiple times). It’s not their fault they’re in jail - it’s the corrupt police and justice system (I’ll let you figure that one out). Its. Not. Their. Fault.

Those pesky police, haven’t they got anything better to do than catch criminals? 😉

Mr R - 04 February 2014 12:55 AM

Those pesky police, haven’t they got anything better to do than catch criminals? 😉

Nono.. It’s ‘Hasslin’ people who ain’t even doin’ nothin’, man.’ Many petty criminals seem to feel that anything les than armed bank robbery isn’t ‘really’ a crime, especially where they are personally concerned.

There are a couple of guys in my veterans group that are paranoid to say the least.  This “fake snow” was one of the things they were talking about at our last get together.  They were both convince to the hilt that it was more than snow and quoted the same reasons that Robin alluded to in the original posting.  I would have thought that living up here would give you an idea of what snow is and how it acts.  I know for a fact the one guy is actually buying a quarter section of land in a remote area of northern BC where he is going to settle down and live off the grid so the gubmint and security agencies won’t be able to spy on him.  Of course he plans on stocking his reserve with number firearms and and a huge amount of ammunition to prevent looters when society breaks down in a couple of years.