Man was not meant to know...

[seawasp]

Question-boosting for James Nicoll, because I find his question very interesting:

Where does "we cannot tell the public about (something) because it would
trigger mass panic", where 'something' = something that either affected
the public profoundly or could affect the public profoundly, come from?
Not the "An Enemy of the People" variation, where it's just people
covering their ass at public expense, but where it's sympathetic
protagonists choosing to keep vital, need to know information from the
public?

It's a good question, and a meme that's essentially universally known -- to the point that I often have heard people using this meme as fact ("the government wouldn't tell us about aliens landing because it would cause a panic!"). But I admit that while (as others have already mentioned) there are similar comments in various stories like those of HPL back to the 30s, I have no idea where it originally came from, or if it has ever really been used in a real-world context.

Comments

[melchar.livejournal.com]

I know it's mentioned in 'Hitchhiker's Guide' - but then it's also one of the themes of Heller's 'Catch 22' ['where are the Snowdens of yesterday?'].

However, it was also addressed in 1841 in MacCay's 'Extraordinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'. This was in the context of trying to limit the 'bubbles' and panics that hit capitalistic markets periodically. [And if you don't have a copy of this, you should. It's a fascinating read.]

[lwe.livejournal.com]

Okay, 1841 beats me -- I was going to point to Balmer & Wylie's When Worlds Collide as the big early example in science fiction.

[elainegrey.livejournal.com]

What this makes me think of is the Protestant reformation and the translation of the Bible into common languages. Not that access to the information in the Bible would cause a panic, but the claim that the trained and educated interpretation was needed to keep the common person from becoming misguided and falling into error.

The power and politics in England around the religious debates of the 1500s & 1600s has created political and social tensions that have significantly affected the US social structure; i can easily believe this meme would still be in our cultural DNA.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

If it had ever been used _successfully_ in the real world, then of course you wouldn't have any idea. :-)

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Knowledge is power and few people give up power willingly.

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

I vaguely recall reading somewhere a study that said people are more likely to panic if information is withheld, and less likely to panic and more apt to make sensible decisions if given complete information about a situation, no matter how bad.

So withholding info on the grounds that "the public will panic" is actually a bad idea, because when the crap hits the fan and it's obvious something is going on, rumors will assume the worst and people will be impossible to reassure because they already know the authorities lied to them and are probably still lying.

Now, after witnessing Hurricane Katrina up-close and personal, I can see an argument for withholding live TV views of public officials panicking like idiots, but never basic information.