If there is one thing that has been constant through the ages, it is the fact that people are always susceptible to superstitions and they can believe anything at all as long as there is some level of mystery to it.
Many times, superstitions can arise as a result of someone spreading fake news for his own benefit, such news might turn out to become even more popular than the creator might have intended and soon people will start believing it as if there was an iota of truth in it. But then, there was no way they could tell otherwise because only the creator would have that information.
Like other forms of fake news, superstition has the ability and power to sow fear among people and spur them into action. Many times, the situation plays on human emotions and causes them to act out, the exact thing that the creators of the superstition might be after all.
And there are times when superstition just comes to be. There is no real explanation simply because those involved did not even know that what they were saying at that time was going to go down in history. But then, that is superstition for you. On its own, it is quite harmless, but once you add human emotions to the mix, it will become a different ballgame entirely.
Over the years, we have come to see some superstitions that really shook the world to its core. Maybe now when we think about them we feel that those who had believed in them had to be out of their minds to believe that. But then, you had to be present in that kind of society to know how it really felt. It is only then that you will be able to understand why the people of old believed in certain things. And when they were eventually proven to be false, there were still those who did not believe it.
One major example of that is the global Y2k scare. This was during the last days of the year 1999. The world was changing for centuries and a lot of people were feeling that there was no way the number could continue after 1999. They all believed that the world was coming to an end.
There were groups and communities that were created for sensitization of this information alone. People began to buy arms and also stock up on food, in anticipation of what was to come. The end of the world as they knew it.
But as it turned out, all that fuss was for nothing.
After the last day of December in 1999, the world moved on to the first day of January 2000. It took some time, but the world finally realized that the apocalypse was probably not as close as they had feared. Many theories came up as to why they had survived, seeing as many of them had actually believed the days of the world were numbered. But eventually, people moved on. They realized that there was no way the world could have stopped just because they came to the end of a millennium.
And eventually, that died down.
That is a perfect story of how superstition gripped the world and caused major responses throughout the world. But that is not the only story.
There is one more recent one that came while the world was still reeling from the shock of the Corona Virus Disease. And that is the 5G scare.
When 5G was first announced, people all over the world kicked against it. Protests were conducted to try and stop everything because they believed that it could cause cancer. People were warned to stay clear from anything that had to do with 5G if they wanted to live. But then, in time, the story became clear and they all realized that all it had been was much ado about nothing.
So you see? This is how powerful superstitions can be. And then, the further they spread the more credence they gain and the more people listen to it until it becomes a force on its own and nothing can be done to stop it.
So before you put something out there, read and reread it to be sure of what you are putting, you never know where that information might get to. And if it expresses you in a bad light, that might be you for a long time indeed. And it is not a happy place to be.
My dear friends, what do you think about this? There are people who think superstition has grounds in reality, but I don’t. Do you think I’m wrong? Do you know of any superstition that also traveled around the world and shook it? Feel free to share them in the comments section below, I would love to know your thoughts.
Thank you for reading. Till we meet in the next post.
