Comments on: Aliens Are, Like, Sooo Nineties!

By: alistair

alistair — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 00:39:46 +0000

raymond fowler wrote a book called the andreasson legacy, about a family who experienced ongoing alien abduction experiences. in the book he quotes a comparitive analysis study by dr. thomas bullard of several hundred abduction cases that shared at least two of eight distinct parts of the abduction experience.
the parts are as follows;
1.capture.
2.examination.
3.conversation with aliens.
4.tour of craft.
5.otherworldly journey.
6.religious experience. (theophany.)
7.return to earth
8.aftereffects and unusual phenomina.
what i have seen recently is an emerging environmental message from aliens which, to me, is suspicious of an entirely human concern imprinted onto the abduction tale. there are some contradictions in logic that suggest that some of the alien abduction experience is a fabrication, whether conscious, from the reporter`s standpoint.
the sheer volume of reports suggests a background of validity to the experience with the opportunity for the all too human desire to manipulate added.the effect being that it is hard to sort the data from the noise, which maybe why researchers are losing interest.

By: Error 404

Error 404 — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:27:09 +0000

There are two seperate UFO things, I think. There is the possiblity of contact with something out there and phenomena that are fairly solid and subjective, like lights and objects. And then there is the Greys and abductions and all that.

I noticed, back in the ’90s, two changes in ideas on UFOs from the ’70s. One, there was a much sharper divide between the beleivers and the scoffers and far fewer real skeptics - people who knew they didn’t know even if they see the possiblity as too low to bother exploring. The other is that the aliens became far more specific in appearance. The first UFO thing was in decline and the second ascendant. There are lots of people now who know for sure there are UFOs (and know exactly what they are all about) and lots who know for sure there aren’t, and it doesn’t surprise me that one result could be fewer people investigating.

It seems to me that there is a thing that happens to human experience that is experienced according to the mythology of the person experiencing it. I don’t know what the thing is, I suspect that it is a seizure-type event with little or no connection to outside reality. There is a kind of reality tag that people apply to what goes through their heads, which usualy gets applied to things like normal sensory perceptions and usualy not to emotions and fantasies and stories. In a religious experience, that tag gets applied to emotions or ideas that it usualy doesn’t. And it definitely gets applied to the experience we are talking about here, perhaps even more than to normal expereiences. Or maybe there actualy are actual physical entities involved. I’m a Pragmatist, so I don’t care much about the nature of the aliens themselves (the recipies for life are the same ither way) but what happens to the people involved is far more relevant.

Anyway, whatever it is, seizure-related altered state or encounter with something outside normal experience, is an elf or an alien or something else depending on your culture.

This is one of many practical implications of having a crappy mythic structure: you run a very real risk of being probed by ugly gray aliens when you could have been forced to enjoy a supernaturaly beautiful being to the point of exaustion and/or insanity. Whether there actualy are other physical entities involved or not, the experience is, by all accounts, at least as real as a trip to Las Vegas, and has long term effects on the person involved.

By: alistair

alistair — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:31:50 +0000

there is no value in believing anything. we are working towards knowledge by examining the evidence of alien encounters. belief takes over when the facts run out. there are some entirely disengenuous types out there who will spin tales for fun and profit. this behaviour confuses the genuine inquirer who is after facts. one can become disenchanted and frustrated by the cartoonish presentation that the “roswell” industry has taken on. this doesn`t discount the reports of bizzare experiences reported by hundreds of thousands of people who are reporting encounters or events such as the phoenix lights which defy explaination to this day.
it depends how you approach the whole alien phenominon. if it`s merely for entertainment then it could easily be so “nineties”, but if it`s knowledge one is after, then inquiry continues.

By: Chris Balow

Chris Balow — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:25:10 +0000

Reply to Rachel:

Consider the possibility that the lines you’ve drawn are arbitrary. You seem to believe that a clear divide exists between things like ghosts and UFOs. Why is that? To me, the phenomenon is given a misnomer by being termed “alien” or “extraterrestrial,” it seems to be just another manifestation of the more “interesting” phenomena you mention.

Of course, I may be wrong. But, to answer your question, I don’t think any value exists in believing that aliens have come to collect sperm samples–as that would merely be an unproven assumption. Though, to look at the various UFO events have taken place over the years, and will continue to take place, and to recognize the fact that–in each one of them–something incredibly important is going on . . . well, I see quite a bit of value in that.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 08:43:51 +0000

I actually don’t totally disagree with Kern’s conclusion. I mean, I totally hear your point about the value of myth, and of believing that impossible things are possible. I’m a big skeptic of everything, but I still like to think about things like ghosts, God, the afterlife, magic, “souls”, and other metaphysical phenomena… that’s why I like to read this site. But aliens? I’ve always felt a little “so what?” about aliens. Maybe alien stories seem more easily debunked than other stories of contact with the “invisible world”, or maybe I just find them less interesting… but where’s the real value in believing that aliens come to earth to collect sperm samples?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 06:52:22 +0000

UFO’S, are so NINETIES?
Suddenly, i feel old.

By: alistair

alistair — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 03:57:55 +0000

the collective unconcious is busy manifesting google right now. please call back later.

By: Gnome Chump-Ski

Gnome Chump-Ski — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 03:38:51 +0000

What did Carl Jung say about space ships? Maybe it is time the collective unconscious starts manifesting some new images. I’d like to see more fairies and elves personally or even inexplicable surrealist imagery floating in the sky.

By: The Don Wood Files

The Don Wood Files — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 00:33:50 +0000

Interest has not waned, it is simply diffused. Whereas before we needed Art Bell and UFO magazine and Saucer Smear to annouce the news, now, a thiunsamd flowers are blooming. All the more reason to encourage colleges to start offering degrees in UFO-ology.

http://dw-links.blogspot.com/2005/11/u...elieve-first-ask-questions-later.html