UFO stigma, alien 'conspiracy theories' are relics of Cold War paranoia

[left-of-center2012]

Shortly after the development of nuclear weapons, waves of UFO sightings began sweeping the United States. At first, military and intelligence officials took such reports seriously. According to a declassified Air Force document, the sheer volume and geographic distribution of sightings meant that the UFO phenomenon “cannot be disregarded.” A 1947 memo from a top Air Force general noted that UFOs are “real and not visionary or fictitious.”

According to the CIA, UFOs “are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles.” Moreover, they were observed “at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations.” A 1952 FBI memo notes that analysts were “fairly certain that [UFOs] are not ships or missiles from another nation in this world.” Mirroring frequent reports of UFOs evading nearby aircraft, the FBI learned that “when the pilot in [an intercepting] jet approaches the object it invariably fades from view.”

A FBI memo states that the Air Force – like Swedish air intelligence – entertained the extraordinary possibility that UFOs may “be ships from another planet.” Another FBI memo notes that after years of Air Force study, “a small percentage of extremely creditable [sic] sightings have been unexplainable.” As a result, “some military officials are seriously considering the possibility of interplanetary ships.”

Largely unknown is that the UFO taboo – and an array of outlandish alien conspiracy theories – are vestiges of Cold War paranoia. Amid intensifying Cold War hostilities, America’s spies and defense planners worried that mass UFO sightings could again overwhelm emergency reporting channels, giving the Soviet Union “a surprise advantage in any nuclear attack.” Officials also feared that the Soviets would use “UFOs as a psychological warfare tool” to sow “mass hysteria and panic.” Reducing the volume of UFO reports, these officials reasoned, would minimize such vulnerabilities. And so the CIA set out to quash growing public interest in UFOs.

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/566963-ufo-stigma-alien-conspiracy-theories-are-relics-of-cold-war

[Archae]

1. The evolution of UFO's...

People see odd things in the sky, and just about all can be shown to be clouds, birds, Venus, the proverbial "swamp gas" (which is methane, and is generated by rotting plants,).

In ancient days they were said to be omens or signs from the deity or deities.

In the Middle Ages, and even in Victorian England, those sightings were said to be fairies.

Around that time people had been experimenting with large blimps and dirigibles, and the UFO's became dirigibles and cigar-shaped.

During WW2, they were called "Foo Fighters," named after a running gag in the "Smokey Stover" comic strip.

Cue in the post WW2 and Cold War, and a pilot saw what is pretty much known to be geese, seen at an odd angle, which made them look like chevrons.
The pilot said they flew (in his viewpoint,) like a "saucer skipped over water."
The press went with that, and "Flying Saucers" were born.

Since then, a lot of fakes have been shown, and even today, with all we know about what it really is like on Venus, the people still believe in what George Adamski said about the "men from Venus."
"Alien abductees" are still believed, even decades after their money-making schemes are exposed.

Pranks like "crop circles" are still said to be "real alien signs."

[Champp]

3. You've got it all figured out!

[elevator]

5. Quit with the tried and true pablum. Yes, maybe 95% of sightings are prosaic.

But, since there are tens of thousands reports a year from all over the globe that leaves an awful big number of unexplained sightings. Thousands of these are from credible witnesses and involve metallic craft of various shapes and sizes. There is no doubt whatsoever that there are vehicles navigating our atmosphere, doing things that defy the laws of physics as we understand them. Who, or what is responsible for the genesis of these craft is unknown. One plausible theory is extraterrestrial. Like it or not.

[rustydog]

21. UFO doesn't mean space ship...It means UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT!

Right?

[elevator]

26. Wow, what a newsflash.

Most serious people don't claim they are spaceships.

[left-of-center2012]

15. There will always be deniers

Thus the 'Flat Earth' folks.

[lagomorph777]

2. The calls are coming from inside the house. The military can no longer pretend nothing's happening.

Whatever they are, they are something that shows up on multiple sensors simultaneously, and they have capabilities far beyond our own. Anybody who pretends they couldn't be a threat is dangerously naïve.

[brooklynite]

4. They've been reported for more than half a century; no danger so far.

[elevator]

6. And you know this how? Because you haven't had any bad experiences.

There are a number of cases over the past seventy years of civilian and military aircraft engaging with UFOs and crashing or disappearing.

There are many ways aliens could cause unseen problems for humanity.
They have hovered over nuclear facilities in the US and the former USSR and more than once caused near launch sequences to initiate. At other times they shut down the missile sites. Pretty dangerous in my book.

[brooklynite]

7. Name a verified case of a plane colliding or disappearing with a UFO...

...and the Bermuda Triangle et al don't count.

As for "aliens", this is where I have the real problem. I have every confidence that there are other civilizations in the galaxy. What people don't appreciate is the immense size of the galaxy and the likely distances to be be traveled. It is a MINIMUM of 4+ Light Years to Alpha Centari, and substantially further to other potential live supporting planetary systems (the Drake equation estimates 10,000 civilization in a galaxy 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km across). This supposed travel is being done in craft the apparent size of a 747; far too small for the kind of crew carrying aliens across the depths of space. And if you assume a transcendentally advanced civilization that has achieved FTL travel (which still makes 90% of the galaxy impractically distant), you have to wonder why they haven''t mastered stealth capability.

[csziggy]

14. Plus the Drake equation posits those 10,000 civilizations across how many billions of years

Since the universe and this galaxy were formed?

Even the idea that we could pick up emanations from other civilizations does not take into account those immense distances or the short amount of time that our civilization has been able to receive the odds of this planet to have gotten and interpret a signal from an alien civilization are very close to zero.

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. 13.8 billion, but a large number of those 10,000 would co-exist in time

because metal-rich "Population I" stars and planets capable of supporting life didn't come along until much later in the life of the universe after the formation of heavy metals from supernovae. Most Earth-like planets will be about the same age as ours, give or take a few billion years.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. It's The Stealth Thing, For Me

Plus, I'd think an FTL civilization would have sensor technology that would allow monitoring from great distances.
It's just not logical to engage in low altitude, atmospheric reconnaissance.

[elevator]

23. You're bringing nothing new.

Last edited Tue Aug 10, 2021, 01:18 AM - Edit history (2)

Anyone who has seriously considered the alien visitation hypothesis is well aware of the incredible distances involved with space travel. FTL travel is certainly within the realm of possibility and there are many theories on how that could be accomplished and what it would mean as far as how far away beings could come from. Depending on their life spans, and traveling at those speeds slows time for the travelers, they could voyage for many years, and with sufficient technology could create an environment that allowed for multi-generational travel.

Other theories of overcoming the speed of light allow for nearly instantaneous travel anywhere.

Nobody says the craft that are traveling from other places are the size of a 747. Some craft that are observed are much smaller, some much larger. It is certainly feasible that "mother ships" of incredible proportion are orbiting in space close enough to allow smaller craft to make shorter forays.

As for stealth, maybe they are as stealthy as the wish to be. Being observed at times may not interfere with their objectives in the least.

Most serious people have studied the subject with more than a cursory
approach understand that the alien hypothesis for this phenomenon is just one of several, but is increasingly likely the more that the true history of UFOs is revealed.

Do some research and you will find many of the cases I spoke of regarding aircraft. US Airforce incident Nov. 23 1953.

[lagomorph777]

9. The Soviets never dropped a nuke on us. We still considered their nukes a threat.

Anything that can invade our airspace with impunity is, by default, a threat.

And if we don't know what it is, even more so.

At this point it doesn't really matter if it's aliens or some kind of Chinese hologram. We have to get to the bottom of it.

[brooklynite]

10. The soviets HAVE dropped nukes.

We have pictures of nukes.

We can identify nukes.

So far, I'm still seeing blurry images of UFOs.

[lagomorph777]

11. The Official US military report says they have hundreds of multi-sensor events.

Just in the past two years.

When they declassify that stuff, it'll make your head spin. Then again, probably not. You'll ignore it.

[brooklynite]

12. I'm always open to evidence.

I'm also open to thoughtful consideration of the meaning of the evidence.

Personally, I have every confidence that what the military will release will indicate that the events are (dramatic pause.....) "unidentified".

[lagomorph777]

13. They've already told us that much.

I am more or less on the same page as far as probabilities. I am confident there are numerous advanced species in our galaxy. I am far less confident they would have the ability and the interest to come and visit us. We would be about as interesting as insects to a truly galactic civilization.

However, whatever these things are, I am confident we will find it extremely interesting when we figure it out.

[USALiberal]

19. Millions of Camera phones all over the world and not one video worth looking at

[brooklynite]

33. That of course is their secret technology...

They can't hide from radar, but they can blur cellphone cameras.

[elevator]

35. They can hide from radar.

There are many cases of pilots reporting sighting ufos flying alongside their planes and radar does not pick them up.

[USALiberal]

38. Nothing at all says there are alien ships!!! Nt

[USALiberal]

37. Lol! +10000

[USALiberal]

18. If it's anything it's Russia or China, but not aliens! Nt

[lagomorph777]

22. Did you read my post? I didn't mention aliens.

You seem nervous about this topic.

[Elessar Zappa]

8. Interesting!

I’ve always been a skeptic but I’ll admit that some of the stuff seen by the military recently makes me seriously question my position.

[USALiberal]

17. Aliens are not visiting earth! I can't believe people fall for this shit. Nt

[brooklynite]

20. The distressing response is "what else could it be?"

I don't buy that in religion and I don't buy it here.

[elevator]

24. Aliens visited Mars only several weeks ago.

Remember?

[LeftInTX]

29. Gotta picture of aliens visiting Mars?

I missed that news story...

[elevator]

34. The US States sent the rover to Mars along with a drone/helicopter.

It was all over the news. Oh, I see, you think we are native Martians.

[Victor_c3]

36. The aliens are us

We’re not native to Mars, making us alien to Mars. Our probes and robots are the aliens on Mars.

[elevator]

25. I know right. People even believed man would fly one day, or land o the moon

or Mars. Or that voices could travel over small wires. Shit like that.

[USALiberal]

30. Lol, pure silly! Nt

[elevator]

32. That is what I was striving for to match your pure silliness. Duh.

Comprende ahora?

[Xolodno]

27. Any FTL civilization...

...wouldn't need to visit if they have that kind of technology. They could observe us from afar rather easily. And if they did send some sort of probe....probably could easily have enough stealth that none of our systems could ever pick up, at best, a minor meteor blip...nothing to see here, move along.

Let's call it for what it really is, black box military operations/testing. The UFO stuff provides a good cover story, because if they go out and say, "Oh, that's just one our secret project"....everyone and their mother is going to try to search for more and dissect the capabilities. Then they'll be doing the FSB's job for them.

[Kid Berwyn]

31. Serious scientists, and serious people in general, always are learning.

The less-informed already know everything. Great article, left-of-center2012!