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Disclaimer: this is a highly charged and controversial opinion, forged after decades of interest in the subject both laterally [0] and in terms of consumption o

by aa-jv 1y ago

Disclaimer: this is a highly charged and controversial opinion, forged after decades of interest in the subject both laterally [0] and in terms of consumption of science-fiction (speculative fiction) - but it is my personal theory that the entire UFO subject is just crypto-racism. You can't be an out-and-out racist any more - so an analog is substituted, instead, to give actual racists a means of expressing their frustrations by projecting the internal turmoil (both personal and social) into a manifestation that is a 'socially acceptable' form of expression, no matter how weird or batshit. [1] But then again, it is actually racism to compare humans as a race along with all our multi-variate foibles and accomplishments, with 'some ethereal other, whose capabilities are beyond our comprehension' and instill fear and loathing. I don't have any reliable means of 'proving' this, other than to observe that the rise in UFO'ology parallels the civil rights movement, and I am fairly certain that the CIA/Pentagons psychologists [2a/2b] also identified this phenomenon in the post-war, factually very, very racist and intolerant period of Western society, and so decided to exploit it - as a means of blowing off the racist steam in their socities, but also as a handle for controlling it and directing it, as they see fit, for their own fundamentalist, racist intentions. The powers within the US empire have demonstrated, for decades, their own desire to manifest a rigid and technologically-biased hierarchy over cultures they have deemed inferior, and thus ripe for subversion/destruction - and the whole UFO phenomenon is, in my opinion, an harmonic of this factor within western society. To many around the world, the arrival of, say, an F35 in their skies is just as terrifying as a tictac or two. But then again, maybe we really do share the planet with a race that is vastly superior to our own in so many ways, and maybe there are races on this planet which covet the wealth and resources of lesser, inferior forms of the species. Either way, until they actually show up and either invite us to party in the galactic core, or start the harvest/rapture, the fact of existence of higher life forms is about as useful as the fact of our own species, literally killing itself - which is to say, its just not of any use, whatsoever, to speculate on ones own position. I do predict, though, that as soon as we get invited to the galactic core, the people of Earth are going to become as racist as fuck .. at least until we catch up with the rest of the galaxy, technology-wise. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism_(book) [1] - https://archive.org/details/lureofedgescient0000bren https://archive.org/details/lureofedgescient0000bren [2a] - https://ia800203.us.archive.org/17/items/MessengersOfDeceptionUFOContactsAndCultsJacquesValle1979/Messengers%20of%20Deception%20UFO%20Contacts%20and%20Cults%2C%20Jacques%20Vallée%20%281979%29.pdf https://ia800203.us.archive.org/17/items/MessengersOfDecepti... [2b] - https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/biases/Experiments%20inIntergroup%20Discrimination%20Tajfel%201970001.pdf https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/biases/Experime... [3] - See, also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wretched_of_the_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wretched_of_the_Earth

krapp 1y ago
This is definitely a new one, but you aren't entirely wrong. A lot of alien lore has racist elements and origins. David Icke's reptilian lore includes antisemitic elements and references the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The core of ancient alien theory is the belief that non-white races are incapable of complex feats of engineering and civilization (and this is spelled out by Chariots of the Gods author Erik Von Daniken.) And there's a reason the "Nordic" alien race is literally just "white people from space." Dig deep enough under a lot of the folklore, especially where it overlaps with neo-Christian/New World Order stuff and eventually you'll get to the Nazis. Also, you're unfortunately wrong about racism - you absolutely can be an out-and-out racist now. People are more openly and proudly racist now than they have been at any point in my own living memory.
- aa-jv 1y ago
  Thanks for looking at this objectively. I was expecting to be launched deep into the grey zone on this statement, and it has indeed begun - but I'd really rather talk it out than just get downvoted into oblivion. >A lot of alien lore has racist elements and origins. Inasmuch as most of this lore deals directly with the inferiority/superiority of literal races, I think all of alien lore is about racism. >Also, you're unfortunately wrong about racism - you absolutely can be an out-and-out racist now. People are more openly and proudly racist now than they have been at any point in my own living memory. Oh, I don't think this is the case - at least, not outside the borders of the USA, anyway. Things were far, far more racist in Europe prior to WW2 - which is not to say that racism has been eradicated, just that it was tempered by the need to acknowledge its ultimate product, in the form of ruined cities that had to be rebuilt. Meanwhile, the U.S. has used technological superiority to assert dominance globally, often over non-Western cultures, as seen in interventions in Iraq or Afghanistan. UFOs, as symbols of advanced technology, could resonate with this imperialist mindset, reinforcing hierarchies. For sure, there is a rise in racism within certain states of the Western hemisphere - but there has been a rise in UFO'ism, too - which in my opinion, has allowed for the covert justification of racism, without social retribution, to occur. Leading eventually of course, to more overt racist expression.
  - 1y ago

by aa-jv 1y ago

krapp 1y ago

This is definitely a new one, but you aren't entirely wrong. A lot of alien lore has racist elements and origins. David Icke's reptilian lore includes antisemitic elements and references the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The core of ancient alien theory is the belief that non-white races are incapable of complex feats of engineering and civilization (and this is spelled out by Chariots of the Gods author Erik Von Daniken.) And there's a reason the "Nordic" alien race is literally just "white people from space." Dig deep enough under a lot of the folklore, especially where it overlaps with neo-Christian/New World Order stuff and eventually you'll get to the Nazis. Also, you're unfortunately wrong about racism - you absolutely can be an out-and-out racist now. People are more openly and proudly racist now than they have been at any point in my own living memory.

aa-jv 1y ago
Thanks for looking at this objectively. I was expecting to be launched deep into the grey zone on this statement, and it has indeed begun - but I'd really rather talk it out than just get downvoted into oblivion. >A lot of alien lore has racist elements and origins. Inasmuch as most of this lore deals directly with the inferiority/superiority of literal races, I think all of alien lore is about racism. >Also, you're unfortunately wrong about racism - you absolutely can be an out-and-out racist now. People are more openly and proudly racist now than they have been at any point in my own living memory. Oh, I don't think this is the case - at least, not outside the borders of the USA, anyway. Things were far, far more racist in Europe prior to WW2 - which is not to say that racism has been eradicated, just that it was tempered by the need to acknowledge its ultimate product, in the form of ruined cities that had to be rebuilt. Meanwhile, the U.S. has used technological superiority to assert dominance globally, often over non-Western cultures, as seen in interventions in Iraq or Afghanistan. UFOs, as symbols of advanced technology, could resonate with this imperialist mindset, reinforcing hierarchies. For sure, there is a rise in racism within certain states of the Western hemisphere - but there has been a rise in UFO'ism, too - which in my opinion, has allowed for the covert justification of racism, without social retribution, to occur. Leading eventually of course, to more overt racist expression.
- 1y ago