Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports...Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph's ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.
Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier's house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.
Skepticism: preserving your sight since the Enlightenment.
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The stupid, it burns (your retinas).
This is just a Darwin-award for eyeballs if it's all adults, but if there were any kids involved....
Posted by: Jason Failes | July 31, 2008 9:48 AM
50 people lose their site....It's a holy miracle...
Hey, no-one said miracles had to be nice.
Posted by: Richard Eis | July 31, 2008 10:00 AM
They're doing it wrong. Don't they realize they're supposed to hysterically proclaim that they saw her a few seconds after they arrive, then begin handing out prophesies that the virgin has revealed to them? That's fifty people who just missed the gravy train to Saintsville.
Posted by: Julian | July 31, 2008 10:02 AM
Because, deep down, even the clergy realize all this miracle talk is bullshit, and can be disowned when reality intrudes.
But, ya know, if the clergy weren't constantly encouraging people to see miracles everywhere, maybe people would be less inclined to behave so uncritically. Maybe if the clergy would disown miracles before the damage is done, rather than after...but I'm being too optimistic.
Posted by: Wes | July 31, 2008 10:04 AM
"All our patients have similar history and symptoms"
Stupidity??
Posted by: DavidR | July 31, 2008 10:18 AM
This is natural selection in action.
Posted by: Bill Poser | July 31, 2008 10:31 AM
At one point a lump was discovered on one of my testicles. Fearing it may be cancer I had x-rays taken. What showed up there turned out not to be a tumor, but the face of Jesus! Hallelujah!! All you male true believers should go have your testicles x-rayed immediately. If the miracle doesn't happen for you the first time, pray then try again and again until it does. Women, I don't know if Jesus loves female reproductive organs or just men's, but you may want to try the same thing with your ovaries.
Posted by: Abby Normal | July 31, 2008 10:45 AM
I think after the nth x-ray, all sorts of things might be growing out of the poor guys testicles.
Posted by: Richard Eis | July 31, 2008 10:59 AM
This will have made medical history as up till now there has not been a recorded case of someone permanently loosing their sight through looking at the sun, unless they have used a telescope or binoculars. That said there can be short-term damage but it heals.
Posted by: John Doe | July 31, 2008 11:30 AM
John Doe, can you justify your claim? Google "solar retinopathy", or "observing the sun in safety" and you will find pages of links to medical and astronomy sites warning of the dangers of unprotected naked-eye observations.
Posted by: David Ratnasabapathy | July 31, 2008 12:02 PM
I'm reminded of the '60s hoax about LSD-using hippies going blind after staring at the sun... just for humanity's sake, I hope this is a similar case.
Even my overworked irony meter twitched at the news that the victims in this episode have been taken to "St. Joseph's" hospital. Back in Joe's day, most men did not look kindly upon others who stared intently at their wives for long intervals.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | July 31, 2008 12:16 PM
DavidR - "All our patients have similar history and symptoms"
That would be severe mental illness or defect I would imagine. -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | July 31, 2008 12:32 PM
"It's a trap!"
Posted by: John H. | July 31, 2008 12:51 PM
i'm reminded of march 2008... oh wait. :-P
Posted by: sdg | July 31, 2008 1:02 PM
At least now they know that evolution doesn't, in fact, violate the second law of thermodynamics.
Posted by: pough | July 31, 2008 1:09 PM
Everyone on earth stupid enough to believe that there might be an image of the virgin mary in the sun, please stare at the sun as long as you can possibly stand it. OK. Now, do you hear that sound of passing traffic? Start walking toward it. Leave your kids here, we'll take care of them.
Posted by: ben | July 31, 2008 2:03 PM
What is it the comics sometimes say, "You can't make this shit up!". Sufferin' succotash, what a bunch of maroons.
Posted by: democommie | July 31, 2008 3:08 PM
The hotelier, who has since moved, had claimed that statues of the Virgin Mary in his house have been crying honey and bleeding oils and perfumes.
Wait, what? The hotelier moved AWAY from miracles that would have made his place a perfect tourist-trap for another generation? He could have retired on the overpriced honey alone! Whassup widdat?
Posted by: Raging Bee | July 31, 2008 3:38 PM
A fool and his vision are soon parted...
Posted by: Mike Austin | July 31, 2008 5:10 PM
The stupidity of these people is beyond all reason. Is their sky daddy or the so called virgin going to now heal their eyes
Posted by: Ex Partiate | August 1, 2008 5:55 AM
David Ratnasabapathy: Phil Plait said so in his book "Bad Astronomy". He cites a couple of doctors who treat such injuries, who apparently do say that most cases of damage to the retina heal with proper treatment.
It would be fallacious, though, to claim that this means you can stare at the sun as much as you want becase there will always be someone who can fix your eyes for you. That would be like noticing that a cut on your skin heals, and deciding that you can keep cutting yourself day in day out and expect nothing to happen.
Therefore, it still is best to trust your senses and not keep doing something that hurts.
Posted by: Valhar2000 | August 1, 2008 7:22 AM
I think a lot of the advice about 'permanent' sight loss is cautionary.
I mean, nobody's stupid enough to...
...oh. Sorry.
Posted by: eddie | August 1, 2008 8:25 AM
This has happened in Kerala that is India's most literate state and allegedly its most "progressive", "rational" etc. In reality three religious groups - one non-Abrahamic, the other two Abrahamic - are in rough balance, with the latter two together almost outnumbering the former. The non-Abrahamics have as a rule split their votes between the commies (yes, Kerala is the first place in the world where the commies came to power thru elections) and the Congress - 125 year old party that has been controlled by powerful families for over 50 years now. For the Congress to win it relies on the votes of Abrahamic group A. As Abrahamic Group B is represented by its own religious party. There are thus two political alliances. One the Left Democratic Front, and two the United Democratic Front. Both alliances pander to the Abrahamic groups A and B, but the Congress-led UDF has been plumbing the depths for some time now. Despite a highly educated workforce and excellent health indicators, Kerala is a monotonous place for the educated unemployed who lack the smarts to move out - Kerala, you see, is India's Ireland. It suffers from the highest incidence of suicides in India, and obscure, extremist belief runs riot. Every denomincation in the world is to be found in Kerala, and some of these are pretty kooky in their beliefs. There is also the game of catch up going on among the Abrahamic groups. Kerala is home to a v.v.v. popular non-Abrahamic shrine, that attracts millions during Nov-Jan - (we will come to that phenomenon some other time) and is such a powerful draw that leaves some worried. There's no telling what happens when religions get together! So everyone gets into a competitive game of miracles, and rapture. sadly it is the gullible like these people who lost their sight who suffer. Check out the works of Sanal Edamaruku who is from Kerala and is one of India's best known rationalist-atheists.
Posted by: rimpal | August 1, 2008 10:40 AM
rimpal: off topic but... Abraham Kovoor, rationalist, was born and grew up in Kerala. His books are wonderful reading.
Posted by: David Ratnasabapathy | August 1, 2008 11:52 AM
Valhar2000:
Phil Plait does say that glancing at the Sun is harmless for most people. For the average person, the pupil contracts and shields the retina from damage. He quote physicians at an eye hospital in London, who "...report that half of their patients with eye injury recover completely..." and [still quoting them] "...never has anyone had a total loss of vision from solar retinopathy." (p120)
So fair enough, a look at the Sun is not dangerous. But those demented believers presumably didn't just look: they stared directly at it. The physicians Plait was quoting warn: "...10 percent suffer permanent vision loss,..." so while total blindness doesn't happen, and damage is rare, it does happen.
Plait explicitly warns against naked-eye viewing an eclipse. The pupil expands during an eclipse. The sudden reappearance of the Sun will then damage the retina; and while the eclipse is in progress the visible parts of the Sun can also leak damaging light into the eye.
Posted by: David Ratnasabapathy | August 1, 2008 1:11 PM
I wonder if the perfumes might be Aqua Velva...that stuff has chin chillers and skin tighteners. For me to be happy, my after-shave MUST have chin chillers. My only question: Original, or Ice Blue?
Too bad the BVM didn't bleed ClearEyes...
Posted by: BobbyEarle | August 3, 2008 9:15 PM