"Tin foil hat" - please explain the origin of this term

[Glenda]

Why "tin foil?"

[populistdriven]

1. you can thank paranoid schizophrenics that actually believe this

anyways here is what the WIKI says
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat

[OneBlueSky]

2. as far as I know, it comes from that M. Night Shyamalan movie . . .

"Signs" with Mel Gibson . . . didn't the whole family don tinfoil hats to ward off messages from the aliens? . . .

[Catch22Dem]

12. I believe it pre-dates Signs by many, many years.

But when Phoenix was doing that in the movie, I was crackin' up!

[NMDemDist2]

3. tin foil stops "them" from being able to read your mind, or stops "them"

from being able to beam waves into your brain to make you do "their" bidding.

it's a "must have" accessory for conspiracy theorists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinfoil_hat

[stillcool]

4. i always thought it was...

related to antennae...getting a signal from out there...

[louis-t]

5. I believe the term comes from

people who believe that if they line their hats with tinfoil, the aliens or big brother can't control their thoughts or brainwaves.

[cmdrxog]

15. It only works if

you ground the tinfoil; otherwise it just concentrates the signal, sort of like a satellite dish. The aliens planted the idea that the tinfoil would work in order to make their commands stronger, no really.
Next time you wrap your head be sure to ground the tinfoil, you'll get much better results.

[louis-t]

16. Rub yo' belly with linseed oil...

wrap yo' head in aluminum foil.

[ninkasi]

17. What's that from?

It sounds familiar. Mad Magazine? It's been years ago that I remember it from.

[louis-t]

19. A kid's show I think

Johnny Ginger (local Detroit guy), or Jerry Booth, maybe Sargent Sacto? Hosted cartoons on Saturday. Sound effects guys would play silly song snippets while he was talking to make him laugh. Another line was "Beat your brains in, flip your lid, what're you doin' you crazy kid." We're talkin' mid-sixties I think. My brothers and I have been singing that snippet for 40 years!

edit: Johnny Ginger's speedy sig line was "Mom, Dad, Patty and all (blows a kiss) Bye for now." Wow! The ginko biloba is working!

[Arugula Latte]

20. Heh heh -- Thanks for the tip!

And welcome to DU! :toast: :hi:

[trof]

6. Here ya go:

http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
The Official Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie website.

[immoderate]

18. Good advice from them:

It can't be stressed enough how important it is to have the shiny side pointing out. This is needed because the shiny side is most reflective to psychotronic radiation, while the dull side can actually, in certain environmental conditions, absorb it.

Again tin foil deflectors have been around for years because of their supposed ability to block all sorts of "psychotronic" waves. You wouldn't know that from the wearers though. It doesn't stop them from being at least worried, if not distressed.

Alas, tin foil hats, even in the mind of their proponents are not a real solution to anything.

--IMM

[creeksneakers2]

7. I first heard of it on NYPD Blue

An insane caller asked the receptionist what to do about aliens. She told him to line the inside of a hat with tinfoil and wear it whenever outside.

[MuseRider]

8. Go work in an ER

just one Friday night and you will have your answer. About 2AM the tin foilers start ambling in. They are usually homeless, off their meds all thanks to our wonderful mental health care system that was taken away from them. They line their hats with tin foil and wear everything they own, even in the summer. The often have all sorts of wires wrapped around them. It is all there to stop the alien voices who are trying to control them.

To add....to all of you who work tirelessly to help the homeless mentally ill I offer a huge thank you. It is one of the saddest things to witness. The system threw them on the streets and you do your best to help them, we in the ER offered them an ear and warmth in the winter for a short time but it was never enough.

[unrepuke]

11. I remember when Reaganomics tossed them out on their ears

this community was inundated with the walking wounded.

As for the mad tinfoil hatters - during the '70s there were alot of Pyramid junkies, believing the shape of the Egyptian pyramids made all sorts of magic = milk placed under a pyramid shape would not sour, razor blades would stay sharp forever - and resharpen themselves overnight -- and the ones I like the best were wearing pyramid hats - even covered in tin foil!

Where are they now? Did the aliens come for them anyway?

[Kolesar]

9. Laugh if you will...

...but no one wearing a tin foil hat ever had their brainwaves read.

[Glenda]

10. Are you speaking from experience?

:hi:

[Kolesar]

13. If I were to wear a tin foil hat, I would trim it to fit under my hat

so nobody would know I was wearing one.

[Orrex]

14. Lily Tomlin

My feeble at-home dialup connection is too slow for me to get better documentation, but I believe she played a one-woman show in which one of her characters was a crazy homeless person who wore a tinfoil hat to block out alien messages (rather than Republican messages, which are scarier).

I'll try to track down more info, but I think that the show ran in the mid- to late-eighties.