In late 1996, Comet Hale-Bopp was approaching Earth, becoming one of the most widely observed comets in human history. Around the same time, an amateur astronomer posted an image online claiming to show a mysterious, bright companion object following the comet.
Astronomers quickly identified the object as simply a background star (SAO 141894) that appeared blurry due to camera settings. Despite the immediate debunking, the rumor spread rapidly across late-1990s internet forums and paranormal radio programs.
An influencer, Marshall Applewhite started a campaign called “Heaven’s Gate”. As soon as the news of the supposed object behind Hale-Bopp reached Applewhite, he integrated it into their theology. He convinced followers that the alien spacecraft was arriving to collect their souls before Earth’s destruction and take to Heaven’s Gate
As anticipation built, members of Heaven’s Gate rushed to local stores to buy a modern and expensive $3,600 telescope to see the alien ship for themselves. They expected presence of a spacecraft trailing the comet. But to their disappointment, They only saw the comet—no trailing vessel.
Rather than recognizing that the spacecraft did not exist, their psychological commitment to the belief system was too deep to break. They returned the telescope to the store for a full refund, telling the clerk that the telescope was faulty.
It’s surprising when incentives push you toward extreme directions.
In 2009, Jon Stewart interviewed investor and CNBC host Jim Cramer. When pressed on CNBC content that ranged from contradictory to inane, Cramer said, “Look, we’ve got seventeen hours of live TV a day to do. If you’re in the TV business, you can’t cut down on business”
At Shalibhadra, we have been saying this all these since many years. It is becoming evident that investors are continuously consuming variety of information from media sources. Investors getting influenced by this information, taking untimely investment decisions. And the beauty is these influencers are so confident to convince anyone with their theory.
Beware… before getting consumed by someone’s very convincing theory.
Nishit Siddharth Shah