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This wouldn't even be the first time the CIA has done something like this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230611032246/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/03/us/cia-

by ezekg 3y ago

This wouldn't even be the first time the CIA has done something like this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230611032246/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/03/us/cia-admits-government-lied-about-ufo-sightings.html https://web.archive.org/web/20230611032246/https://www.nytim...

heavyset_go 3y ago
From the NY Times article: > "Over half of all U.F.O. reports from the late 1950's through the 1960's were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights" over the United States, the C.I.A. study says. "This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security project." This is exactly what happened with the people and incidents that were exposed in the Mirage Men[1] documentary that covers how the government uses UFO and alien conspiracy theories to coverup information that they don't want the public to know. Well-meaning people stumbled upon classified projects, did the right thing by reporting them to the government, and then the government went out of its way to construct situations and fake evidence to convince them that what they saw were really aliens. In one incident, the government constructed a fake "alien crash landing" site in the mountains, and flew one of their victims to it and let them investigate it themselves in order to convince them that what they really saw were aliens. In the process of deceiving these people, the government even significantly contributed to a veteran's mental breakdown and paranoia via agents' lies and extensive surveillance of the victim's life. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srtrRbt77AE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srtrRbt77AE
- esbranson 3y ago
  Every witness says there's not a chance in Hell that UFOs are human. But no one reports seeing aliens except abductees. People desperately want to believe aliens aren't real, and some real mental gymnastics to get there. Like believing "debunking" videos from crackpots and videogame programmers (which real pilots say are nonsensical), or "this one time in the 60s the CIA".
  - mitchdoogle 3y ago
    I think you have it backwards. I think anybody who is remotely interested in this topic would love for proof of aliens to come out. It's just such an extraordinary claim, that their skepticism demands extraordinary proof. Eyewitness reports and low-res grainy videos are just never going to be enough, no matter who they come from. And that's how it should be. If there is real proof of aliens, it will be on the front page of every newspaper in the world, because it would be the most important discovery of all human history. It will be corroborated with physical evidence that has been examined by multiple experts and professionals. Until that happens, most people are going to be skeptical, and rightly so.
    - esbranson 3y ago
      > extraordinary proof Anti-vaxxers show us there is no such thing.
    - nobody9999 3y ago
      > think you have it backwards. I think anybody who is remotely interested in this topic would love for proof of aliens to come out. It's just such an extraordinary claim, that their skepticism demands extraordinary proof. Eyewitness reports and low-res grainy videos are just never going to be enough, no matter who they come from. And that's how it should be. If there is real proof of aliens, it will be on the front page of every newspaper in the world, because it would be the most important discovery of all human history. It will be corroborated with physical evidence that has been examined by multiple experts and professionals. Until that happens, most people are going to be skeptical, and rightly so. Exactly. I firmly believe that extraterrestrial life exists. My belief comes from the abundance of CHON (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen) in the universe, combined with extremely long time scales and basic chemistry. Simple/single-celled (or some analog) extraterrestrial life seems almost inevitable based on our understanding of how the universe works. That said, such a belief doesn't include intelligent extraterrestrial life with technological civilizations that might create interstellar spacecraft which regularly visit our little corner of the galaxy. For me to believe that, I'd need a "Klaatu barads nicto"[0] moment. I could be wrong, but there's no compelling evidence that I am. To channel Carl Sagan: "Claims require evidence and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still

by ezekg 3y ago

heavyset_go 3y ago

From the NY Times article: > "Over half of all U.F.O. reports from the late 1950's through the 1960's were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights" over the United States, the C.I.A. study says. "This led the Air Force to make misleading and deceptive statements to the public in order to allay public fears and to protect an extraordinarily sensitive national security project." This is exactly what happened with the people and incidents that were exposed in the Mirage Men[1] documentary that covers how the government uses UFO and alien conspiracy theories to coverup information that they don't want the public to know. Well-meaning people stumbled upon classified projects, did the right thing by reporting them to the government, and then the government went out of its way to construct situations and fake evidence to convince them that what they saw were really aliens. In one incident, the government constructed a fake "alien crash landing" site in the mountains, and flew one of their victims to it and let them investigate it themselves in order to convince them that what they really saw were aliens. In the process of deceiving these people, the government even significantly contributed to a veteran's mental breakdown and paranoia via agents' lies and extensive surveillance of the victim's life. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srtrRbt77AE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srtrRbt77AE

esbranson 3y ago
Every witness says there's not a chance in Hell that UFOs are human. But no one reports seeing aliens except abductees. People desperately want to believe aliens aren't real, and some real mental gymnastics to get there. Like believing "debunking" videos from crackpots and videogame programmers (which real pilots say are nonsensical), or "this one time in the 60s the CIA".
- mitchdoogle 3y ago
  I think you have it backwards. I think anybody who is remotely interested in this topic would love for proof of aliens to come out. It's just such an extraordinary claim, that their skepticism demands extraordinary proof. Eyewitness reports and low-res grainy videos are just never going to be enough, no matter who they come from. And that's how it should be. If there is real proof of aliens, it will be on the front page of every newspaper in the world, because it would be the most important discovery of all human history. It will be corroborated with physical evidence that has been examined by multiple experts and professionals. Until that happens, most people are going to be skeptical, and rightly so.
  - esbranson 3y ago
    > extraordinary proof Anti-vaxxers show us there is no such thing.
  - nobody9999 3y ago
    > think you have it backwards. I think anybody who is remotely interested in this topic would love for proof of aliens to come out. It's just such an extraordinary claim, that their skepticism demands extraordinary proof. Eyewitness reports and low-res grainy videos are just never going to be enough, no matter who they come from. And that's how it should be. If there is real proof of aliens, it will be on the front page of every newspaper in the world, because it would be the most important discovery of all human history. It will be corroborated with physical evidence that has been examined by multiple experts and professionals. Until that happens, most people are going to be skeptical, and rightly so. Exactly. I firmly believe that extraterrestrial life exists. My belief comes from the abundance of CHON (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen) in the universe, combined with extremely long time scales and basic chemistry. Simple/single-celled (or some analog) extraterrestrial life seems almost inevitable based on our understanding of how the universe works. That said, such a belief doesn't include intelligent extraterrestrial life with technological civilizations that might create interstellar spacecraft which regularly visit our little corner of the galaxy. For me to believe that, I'd need a "Klaatu barads nicto"[0] moment. I could be wrong, but there's no compelling evidence that I am. To channel Carl Sagan: "Claims require evidence and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still