/sci/ - Science & Math

In the late 1880s, when electrical lighting was just beginning to hit the mainstream, people were fucking TERRIFIED of these newfangled electrical things. Why? Part because it's new, part because electricity had been portrayed as some wild, almost magical, unpredictable mystery element (see Frankenstein).

Fears of being electrocuted were so common, daring individuals were actually hired to PUSH THE LIGHT SWITCHES in large mansions and buildings, so the owners, homeowners, working staff, etc wouldn't have to risk a bolt of electricity from magically jumping through the switch and frying them, or worse, turning them into some kind of subhuman monster.

Same deal here. Public just hasn't moved past the 1950's "radioactivity is the new magic, holocausts and spiderman" phase, and ignorance plus fear equals pitchforks.