Why are UFO's always brunt of such public ridicule in this country?

I still will never understand why continually when we have credible evidence concerning the validity of the UFO phenomenon it always winds up bieng ignored and turned into some kind of media joke? Its proven that UFO documentaries draw good ratings but when it comes to the major networks covering it, its usually laughed off...Any thoughts?

[edit on 27-11-2007 by luxor311]

I have hypothesis, people just don't care, otherwise it would have been take care off a long time ago. Just go out there and pull 100 people at random and ask the about Roswell and even if they know then follow up with a question to see if they know any specific details.

I do that sometime with my friends, they don't care. Where I come from UFO is a widely accepted phenomena and I think it is widely accepted in many many countries accross the world, is mainly here in the U.S. that is such a taboo and people are subject to ridicule.

Edit to add:

And to prove my hypothesis, pull 100 people at random and asked them who's Britney Spears?

[edit on 27-11-2007 by Bunch]

I guess the assumption is the general public thinks that UFOs belong to the lunatic fringe. That's why when the media report on UFOs they do it in a kind of non serious way so people don't think they've gone bonkers too. As a result the public remains ignorant of UFOs because they don't get quality coverage and the ridicule continues. It's a ridiculous situation. For example you'd think Buzz Aldrin talking about the UFO that followed Apollo 11 to the moon would be big news, but no, it just ends up on a cable channel and soon forgotten. When Dennis Kucinich mentioned he saw a UFO, some people in the audience immaturely laughed at him, then he had to back down and say it was a UFO because he couldn't identify it, not because it was alien. It's ridiculous they have to pussyfoot around the issue. They should just be bold and report what's going on. It all has to do with people knowing nothing about the facts behind UFOs.

Although complaints are fairly common, is there really that much ridicule of ufology in the media?

In a previous thread I sought specific high-profile examples, with very limited success - see "Only idiots believe in UFOs".

Kind Regards,

Isaac

reply to post by Bunch


Good post Bunch. I quess its the basic lack of interest and knowledge that make people just not care. I also think with alot of people there is a belief system that wont allow the thought of something like Roswell, to be plausible. I lived in Europe for a short while it was way more out in the open. I think people here in the U.S. can be brainwashed to a degree to just laugh off anything having to do with UFO's...look at the media. To them, reporting on O.J. Simpson is far more important than covering the realities of the war.

I think the majority of the public believes there is something to the ufo pheno. As for the media I think they joke about it as to not make themselves look like jack ass's or insane on national television. I for one know that if I was an anchor for a major media network, I would not be going off about ufo's too much, especially on air.

Anyways I think the situation is better now (then say 10-20 years ago) as more and more people seem to be taking the topic seriously.

I always thought this was strange and slightly nuts myself too.

Since we're talking about UFO's here - Unidentified Flying Objects - it's essentially impossible for them to not exist. Aliens aside it's been shown historically that the military/other organisations test 'black project' aircraft in secret, but everybody still finds it ridiculous when claims of UFO's come out today.

Additionally I think it could just be a long-term ratings issue or media problem. UFO's aren't covered, nor are confirmed factual world issues such as starvation, crimes against humanity, war, the list goes on.

In general the media cares more about Paris Hilton's purse-of-the-day than about thousands dying needlessly in another country. Given that this is the case, there is little hope of 'obscure/silly' UFO stories being picked up in the mainstream media.

Personally I think the public is becoming more acceptant. I can tell people what I think and usually they don't agree with me but at least now they listen respectfully. Back the Nineties, it was to be expected that I would be laughed at. The shows are drawing in top ratings-I think people are willing to start taking UFOs seriously now.

People are accepting of UFO's.

It's the media and nut-cases that
add "aliens" to the equation that
drive most to not caring.

If it could be kept at the UFO
level, I think it would be more
popular, in the mainstream.

Just a thought :

Have separate forum for UFO's
and "aliens".

Or, actually moderate the Aliens
and UFO forum.

Novel idea, I know.

Regards,
Lex

reply to post by Lexion


What exactly is your axe to grind against the concept that maybe, just maybe we are not alone!?! Sheesh...

because there's no evidence that isn't fuzzy or questionable. i think some of the fuzzy evidence might be legit, but that's not good enough.....and it's GOOD that that's not good enough. be Doubting Thomas. Demand to touch the wound. If you don't, you risk having the wool pulled over your eyes.

When you have people like Billy Meier and Steven Greer and others that fake ufo pictures and video's to make money off of it, well then that's why most people ridicule and laugh at ufo pictures, stories and video's. They really gave the ufo community a bad scar by doing this. And always remember that ufo's are unidentified flying objects and flying saucers are identified. Aliens, well I've not seen one of them yet.

[edit on 11/27/2007 by Solarskye]

The problem is we never actually get the smoking gun. Even stuff like implants, they always seem to get lost just like anything UFOish does too.

UFO believers tend to look at this jump from speculation and fuzzy pictures to actual undeniable physical proof as just a small step from where we are with it all now, but in reality it is really a huge leap, and until we get that gap closer together it will be not be treated as anything other than a hoax.

But I do disagree with your title for it is not really ridiculed as much as people find it fun and interesting to the point that TV does put much work into the whole speculation part of it.


[edit on 27-11-2007 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by jamesder
because there's no evidence that isn't fuzzy or questionable. i think some of the fuzzy evidence might be legit, but that's not good enough.....and it's GOOD that that's not good enough. be Doubting Thomas. Demand to touch the wound. If you don't, you risk having the wool pulled over your eyes.

I think jamesder makes a good point here. It is irritating and confusing to see such a lack of quality evidence. Why does every UFO video have to be so fuzzy, shakey, dark etc?

We're in a time when almost everyone has a camera in their phone, many of high quality. The proper digital cameras available capture images of an incredible quality, yet nobody can take a decent video of anything. We've eliminated the chance of film development issues with the advent of digital photography too.

Anyway I don't want to get onto a rant about it but this does annoy me a lot. I think UFO's (UFO's being seperate from alien spacecraft) exist but I do wonder why nobody can photograph them properly...

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken

First, sorry I don't do the fancy
"reply to".

What exactly is your axe to grind against the concept that maybe, just maybe we are not alone!?! Sheesh...

I have no axe. I believe in the
Drake Equation.

I do not believe we are, or ever have
been "visited".

If someone states either, I'd like proof.

Why is that having an axe to grind ?

Priorities, my friend. Find some.

Regards,
Lex

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
What exactly is your axe to grind against the concept that maybe, just maybe we are not alone!?! Sheesh...

That concept is not a simple one, and here is why...

1. If you believe that god put man on the earth than it is likely he seeded the universe too, and so intelligent aliens are very likely too.

2. If you believe that some ancient race after a billion years of unique evolution spent a few billion years seeding the universe then there is also an abundance of alien life out there.

3. If you believe we evolved on earth by evolution without any help then the chances for other intelligent alien life that is also space faring is slim to none.

The first two need many things that are also unknowing to make them happen, and so they kind of drift off. The third one has us as a very rare occurrence.

We do not know how life actually started on this planet, and for nature to create life from non-living chemicals that is an extremely rare event. For this simple life to evolve into an intelligent spices is once again another unique event that borders on the impossibility. For this intelligent life to be physically and mentally capable to advance into a space faring race once again we push the improbable envelope.

Now with all that said, to put forth the question, are we alone? One would just see that a universe in the vision of a Star Trek scenario is just not there, and even one alien visitation to earth is extremely unlikely.

But hey, throw in God or some super race into the equation and we are rockin.

I've pondered this question myself. Why is it that a large majority of the population can hold such strong faith in a mystic force they've never seen any real evidence of (beyond any of their personal experiences), and if someone claims they've been visited by an angel, it's a miracle? But if someone claims they were abducted, they're a raving lunatic?

My conclusion is that certain people take it way too far - i.e. suggesting moon atmospheres and reptilians shapeshifting among us - and those people are far more vocal supports of their ideas about ET life than the "more mundane" ones. For example, David Icke is far more well known than John down the street who says dem grays took him away.

You cant toss out the overwhelming evidence that the UFO phenomenon exists. The eyewitness testimony by credible witnesses is way too much to be ignored. From astronauts to air force pilots, commercial pilots, civilians and so forth. The US military involvement with the UFO issue dates back to the late 1930's, remember I am talking about UFO's not aliens or alien abductions.

Its the physical evidence that lacks. I think there could be explanations for that e.g., the military through the years have conveniently investigated numerous cases even after operation blue book and most likely on there end seized any solid evidence.

I agree lexicon. I think when you confuse the "alien" abduction stuff in there thats when it becomes much more speculative and public opinion fades.

Lets face it if there are races that are thousands of not hundreds of thousands years ahead of us, they would be in charge of just what exactly we see and what we dont see through our little video cameras.

In theory I am sure they know exactly how much they want us to see. Im sure they wont be landing on the white house lawn soon...for fear of being labeled as "terrorists".

[edit on 27-11-2007 by luxor311]

Originally posted by luxor311
You cant toss out the overwhelming evidence that the UFO phenomenon exists. The eyewitness testimony by credible witnesses is way too much to be ignored.

Well yes there are 1000s of witnesses, but other than that there is no overwhelming evidence. This overwhelming evidence you are talking about is only for UFOs, but to jump as what you think is a small gap that these UFOs are also intelligent Aliens, as I have said, is a very huge leap that at this point just can not be done.

You have labeled it well in calling it a phenomena, but it is hard to tell if it is based on truly unbiased observations or influenced more by power of suggestion.

Back in school, we pretty much had to tow-the-line, do what the big kids did, laugh at what they laughed at, turn a blind eye to bullying, etc.

That's what's going on here. We don't want to be ostracized from the in crowd. And even now I’m 37 I still see people doing what their friends do, listening to the same music they listen to. No matter what background we come from we all have some sense of ‘keeping-it-real’ forced upon us, get called ‘class-traitor’ or whatever other pathetic excuse the masses want to use to excuse their own lack of personal growth.

People laugh at UFO stories because other people do. This time the big kids – the bullies, even – are the government organizations who have educated us that there’s no such thing and they’re much more intelligent and better informed than we are, anyway.

For this reason (not to mention any religious implications) we still have a long, long way to go.