Oh No! A Solar Eclipse!

So… we’re going to have a Solar Eclipse on April 8. What a bunch of ridiculous conspiracy theories and misinformation springing up ahead of this event.

The above meme and similar ones are popping up on social media, accompanied by every kind of alarmist drivel people can dream up. Does nobody read past the headlines, or try to confirm the truth of a matter? I just asked a dumb question. People don’t.

Yes, authorities are advising residents who are in the path of the eclipse to be prepared. But if alarmists would bother to find out why- it has ZERO to do with the eclipse itself. The eclipse is a shadow! Talk about giving new meaning to “being scared of shadows”. Sheesh.

The reason residents in the path need to be prepared is because of the massive crowds expected to invade the rural areas. Think about it; if 30,000 people were to descend on a town of 400, it would be sheer chaos. Residents do indeed need to hunker down and be prepared to stay indoors. The reason 3 days food is recommended? THINK, PEOPLE, THINK! That many visitors hitting a small grocery store is going to wipe the shelves clean! And the partying likely to occur! The situation could get out of hand in a hurry! The potential for violent incidents is real.

People not in the path of the eclipse have no need to be prepared. Yet, I see posts by people all over the country who are buying into the unfounded hysteria and plan to be ready. Good grief.

Here are actual conspiracies, misinformation, and fears I’ve seen going around, concerning this upcoming eclipse:

Some preppers are planning to place their electronics in a Faraday cage. Why? Do they think a shadow is going to cause an EMP?

The sun is going to be dark for three days. Say what? Where did that even come from? The eclipse is going to last a few minutes, like eclipses generally do.

A comet, (nicknamed the Devil’s comet), is going to crash into the sun at the same time as the eclipse. It’s a sign of the apocalypse! Or something bad is going to happen. The people spreading this nonsense aren’t being clear about what they think is going to happen.

So about that comet:

1: It’s not going to crash into the sun. It’s one of those comets that comes around every so often.

2. If it did crash into the sun- so what? Comets and asteroids crash into the sun all the time. People worried about this one comet crashing into the sun are not comprehending how BIG the sun is. That comet would have as much effect on the sun as a single popcorn kernel would have on a forest fire.

I’ve also seen a lot of posts saying many towns named Nineveh are in the eclipse path, which has Biblical significance. The list of towns is in: Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York in the United States, and Nova Scotia in Canada.

The only two Ninevehs in the path are the ones in Indiana and Ohio. Texas is close, but not quite there. None of the state of Virginia is in the path, so why is Nineveh, Virginia in the list at all? Only a tiny corner of Nova Scotia is in the path, and Nineveh, NS is nowhere near it.

Before someone says something silly like, the other Ninevehs will get a partial eclipse, well duh, it’s because almost the entirety of the 48 contiguous states will. Any town you can name will be getting at least a partial blackout.

The US map is too big for this page, so CLICK HERE to see it. I have each Nineveh location marked with a yellow star.

And here is Nova Scotia:

There’s a chart HERE showing towns in the path. And another useful page HERE showing each individual state.

Fortunately, the vast majority of people are sensible and not buying into the false hype. Alarmists and conspiracists are a small minority, but they’re noticeable because they’re vocal. This is just such an interesting sociological observation, seeing how a conspiracy theory can get started.

Once April 8 has come and gone without the world blowing up or something, the alarmists will forget all about that one, but they’ll be looking for the next end-of-the-world event. It never ends.