So… were people just stupid back then, or what?
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gallant-girl9 — 17 years ago(May 11, 2008 07:30 AM)
Okay I know what you mean, but oh no people back then were not stupid, maybe a bit more innocent then now, and I know which people I prefer, to be honest as a child I thought there were fairies, never saw them.But it is more wanting to believe then anything..
I would think that horrendous WW1 had a lot to do with it. Some people wanted to believe in something beautiful and good! Can you really blame them?. -
AngelRedhead — 14 years ago(January 29, 2012 09:15 AM)
I was a little girl in the 1960's and was shown these photos by my mother. Back in the 60's everyone still believed the photos to be genuine as the girls didn't admit they were fakes until the 1980's. I believed in the 60's that fairies existed & even when it was revealed in the 80's (when I was in my 20's) that they were fake I still like to believe that they weren't. And I am not a stupid person!
"I cannot live without my life! I cannot die without my soul". Heathcliff -
Spiny_Norman — 14 years ago(January 30, 2012 12:43 PM)
I always thought it was odd that no one commented (at the time) on the fact that the fairies had contemporary (to the time) clothes, hair styles, make-up and even tiny jewellery.
"Everybody in the WORLD, is bent" -
Spiny_Norman — 14 years ago(January 30, 2012 12:47 PM)
Or indeed the fact that in the photos the wind is quite clearly blowing foliage about, causing slight blurring, yet the fairies tiny LIGHTWEIGHT clothes, wings and hair remained stock-still and pin-sharp.
"Everybody in the WORLD, is bent" -
nbreyfogle-1 — 13 years ago(January 05, 2013 12:02 PM)
People are stupid TODAY.
One of the most consistently demonstrated qualities of the human mind throughout all of human history is that of self-deception; delusion. People still exhibit massive stupidity today. Some still insist today that these obviously faked fairies were real, for instance.
Such stupidity boggles the rational mind, but it does exist, and in high numbers of childish adults. -
molly-31 — 11 years ago(October 11, 2014 05:20 PM)
It's a popular notion to believe that people in former times were "stupid" or "gullible". Actually, most people were just as intelligent, even cynical, as they are today, but they had to go with the information they had.
This film gives the impression that people flocked to Cottlingley by the thousands and that millions more succumbed to total brain-dead belief. It would be more accurate to say that for the general public, their reaction to the photographs might have been dismissal or curiosity, but for the most part it was not a matter of supreme importance. Most people would have looked at the hair styles and clothing and immediately recognized them as paper cutouts. (I certainly did, when I was twelve, and I
believe
in fairies, I just don't think they look anything like anyone thinks.)
Even most believers would have treated it like Catholics first hearing about the visitations at Lourdes; well, if it's real, we will find out in time.
Not even every member of the Theosophical Society (the metaphysical study group shown in the film) believed the photos were real. It is true that at the time the Modern Spiritualists were experimenting with telegraph, photography and other relatively recent inventions, to see if it were possible to contact the next world. They believed it might be done, without necessarily believing anyone had actually done it. These groups had more of an experimental motive, not blind faith.
You've got me?! Who's got
you?!
