Idiots Begin Attacking US 5G Cell Towers Because, Idiots

[ancianita]

On one end, you've got wireless carriers claiming that 5G is some type of cancer-curing miracle (it's not). On the other hand, we have oodles of conspiracy theorists, celebrities, and various grifters trying to claim 5G is some kind of rampant health menace (it's not). In reality, 5G's not actually interesting enough to warrant either position, but that's clearly not stopping anybody in the post-truth era.

Baseless conspiracy theories about the health impact of 5G have gone next level during the pandemic. To the point where facts-optional nitwits are not only burning down cell towers in the UK, but putting razor blades and needles underneath protest posters on telephone poles (apparently you solve public health risks by... putting peoples' health at risk?).

Now the Department of Homeland Security has had to issue warnings here in the States after several similar attacks were launched against US telecom infrastructure over the last few months:

"Since December 2019, unidentified actors conducted at least five arson incidents targeting cell towers in Memphis, Tenn., that resulted in more than $100,000 in damages,” the DHS reports say. “Additionally, 14 cell towers in western Tennessee, between February and April, were purposely turned off by way of disabling their electrical breakers," according to separate DHS field intelligence reporting. In April, arsonists set fire to a major cell tower in Portland, Ore., damaging electrical components at the base of the structure."

The overwhelming scientific evidence currently available indicates that not only is 5G not a serious risk to human health, but some aspects of 5G (especially millimeter wave deployments) are, in many instances, less powerful that existing 4G signals. 95% of the time when you see somebody insisting 5G hurts your health, they're badly misinterpreting existing studies or this decades old chart. Assuming they're even pantomiming any respect for science in the first place.

The DHS intelligence report states that it's very likely that these attacks will be increasing throughout the year, as a growing crop of nitwits "learn" about the technology online. Sometimes from ordinary domestic crackpots and grifters, but also via foreign governments (Iran, China, Russia) hoping to accelerate the US' descent down the conspiracy idiot rabbit hole:

"Violent extremists have drawn from misinformation campaigns online that claim wireless infrastructure is deleterious to human health and helps spread COVID-19 ...

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200518/11042544521/idiots-begin-attacking-us-5g-cell-towers-because-idiots.shtml?fbclid=IwAR3rmUMHE6awETzKs7nLnip7paqtYqHvx1TGlQ4IFNG1XLQDRJaKZsOQb18

[octoberlib]

1. They've been doing this in the UK as well

https://www.businessinsider.com/attacks-cellphone-towers-coronavirus-5g-conspiracy-2020-4


An online conspiracy theory blaming 5G for the coronavirus pandemic has led to arson attacks on approximately 50 phone masts in the UK.

Mobile UK, an organization that represents Britain's four mobile operators, confirmed the estimate to Business Insider.

A handful of attacks on phone masts took place in early April, but the Easter bank holiday weekend (April 10 to 13) saw a fresh burst of attacks.

Vodafone, EE, and BT also confirmed over the weekend that phone masts had been attacked, placing the blame firmly on 5G conspiracy theorists.

[ancianita]

2. Which adds to the likelihood that disinfo campaigns from Russia/China could be behind it.

The West, in my view, is suffering from the rock-and-hard-place vise grip between Russia and China.

It could be time for our Intelligence Agencies to trust the American people to help them out in the vigilance department, so that a bunch of Americans aren't manipulated into distrust, into looking like dupes; who can instead join the goal of keeping this country safe in our cyber communications.

There are countries that can manage this but I've yet to find any that are not authoritarian.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. This conspiracy targets left and right

Last year I spent a good bit of time debating a bunch of far left friends on Facebook about 5G, they were convinced they had conclusive evidence of its negative health effects. That it changes the "vibrating" frequency of human cells causing all types of health issues. Their data was from junk science and selectively taking paragraph fragments from real studies that actually showed there is no evidence 5G is harmful in any way.

Really frustrating, these were educated people for the most part who were easily duped.

[ancianita]

4. Right. So it's not a matter of people being idiots by nature, but an issue of what info they expose

to, and how predisposed they are to buy it.

Which is somewhat emotionally based, I think. Because of a lack of factual information by design.

It's smart to think that "just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you." Yet the problem of knowing, or even being able to find out who "they" are -- especially because 16 three-letter agencies don't trust that Americans can handle the truth -- can make dupes of both sides of the political spectrum.

[crickets]

5. 5G is potentially problematic for weather forecasting

There are issues with 5G, but not the conspiracy theory "gonna kill you!" kind, and those in the know are working on ways to keep weather forecast accuracy from being compromised.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/22/global-g-deal-poses-significant-threat-weather-forecast-accuracy-experts-warn/

Studies completed before the negotiations by U.S. government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the Navy had warned that 5G equipment operating in the 24-gigahertz frequency band could interfere with transmissions from polar-orbiting satellites used to gather weather data. This could make forecasts much less reliable, the reports found.

[Weather forecast accuracy is at risk from 5G wireless technology, key lawmaker warns FCC, seeking documents]

Specifically, these highly technical analyses concluded that if deployed widely and without adequate constraints, telecommunications equipment operating in the 24 GHz frequency band would bleed into the frequencies that NOAA and NASA satellite sensors also use to sense the presence and properties of water vapor in the atmosphere, significantly interfering with the collection and transmission of critical weather data.

https://spacenews.com/passive-microwave-5g-ams-2020/

In the last 20 years, passive microwave sensors on weather satellites have detected faint signals emitted by water vapor in the atmosphere from 23.6 to 24 GHz. Data drawn from those sensors “is the most significant contributor to reduced forecast error,” according to Developing a Sustainable Spectrum Approach to Deliver 5G Services, a paper released Jan. 13 by the Aerospace Corp.’s Civil Spectrum Management Group.

Those signals are “absolutely key to knowing what is going on in the atmosphere,” said David Lavers, a European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts scientist.

World Radiocommunication Conference delegates agreed to allow 5G technologies to operate from 24.25-27.5 GHz as long as equipment limits the strength of signals spilling over into the adjacent band.

Meteorologists, who say the limits do not go far enough to protect weather observations, are calling for further dialogue between the weather and telecommunications communities.

[ancianita]

6. Thank you! This is the kind of info that should get news headlines across platforms.

"Those in the know" should enlist the help of the public, who also have a vested interest in weather forecast accuracy.

Info that idiots could weigh the probable truth of of against the hearsay and junk science they get.

Science is hard enough for the general population to take extended interest in, so it should at least have regular and easy access exposure to these kinds of reports by science organizations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Radiocommunication_Conference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceNews

I usually get posts from NASA, NOAA and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in my Facebook feed along with tech and legal organizations, because so much factually important news and issues doesn't get into mainstream news.

That factually important news and issues don't get into mainstream news, and because orgs that care about such things don't put themselves out there enough, is why hostile nations can so easily fill that void with fearmongering conspiracy campaigns.

Then we call each other idiots. Which doesn't help anyone.