Reading about alien hunters that claim to have found evidence of life on Mars I came across this sentence:
But let's not trade our tin foil hats for helmets and prepare for Mars to attack just yet
which really has thrown me for a loop.
I know that our tin foil hats refer to our paranoia but trading them for helmets, would metaphorically mean to exacerbate our paranoia? That's what I understand from the context but I'm not completely sure.
Best Answer
The definition of tin foil hats you have is fine but I think the more literal meaning is more appropriate here... essentially, people who wear tin foil hats generally believe that aliens (or "the government") are messing with our brains:
So, people wearing tin foil hats are expecting mental attacks by aliens/Martians.
Someone wearing an actual helmet would be expecting a physical attack from Mars.
The implication is that, for some reason, now that we "know" Martians exist, they will attack us.
But, the sentence after this one in the article explains why the trade of hats is likely unnecessary:
It then goes on to describe scientific explanations for all of the "alien" objects.