The hot phrase on DU this week is "tin foil hat" -- but who said it first?

flowomo

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Fri May-14-04 06:54 PM
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The hot phrase on DU this week is "tin foil hat" -- but who said it first?

Half the posts in GD on the Berg issue use this phrase and I've been crawling the web today trying to find a first, or even an EARLY use it. Sure, I know what it means, but that's not my question -- which is: who first used it and when? Does it go back to the 1950s or the 1930s or what?

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drfemoe

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Fri May-14-04 07:11 PM
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1. Don't know for sure

But I've *assumed* it may have originated from the work of Wilhelm Reich (Willheim Reich), who 'discovered' orgone. His orgone machine used aluminum foil to generate 'orgone'. It was "debunked" by the US Govt, and he spent his last days locked up in a federal prison, because one of his associates had kept the banned orgone machine (Reich got rid of his). All his research materials and machines were confiscated by the feds . . . etc ... :tinfoilhat: .. If that's not the origin of the term, I would like to find out too.

http://www.orgone.org

http://www.wilhelmreichmuseum.org

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Speck Tater

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Fri May-14-04 07:25 PM
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2. It goes back a long ways, but how far I don't know.

Paranoids who think their minds are being read by aliens or CIA mind control machines often wear tinfoil hats to "protect" themselves from the dangerous "mind control rays." (Remember the tinfoil hats in the movie Signs?)

Here's how to make your own AFDB (Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie) http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html

Also check http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TinFoilHat and http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000609.html for some good info

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