Extra-Terrestrial Believability

In the same way that everyone has their own range of acceptable balance of order vs. chaos, I've found that people have their own comfortable "depth" of how far they are willing to deviate from accepted public opinion with regard to new ideas. When examining reports or theories about UFOs some people are only comfortable considering the possibility that these craft are man-made products of top secret "black" projects, while some people are comfortable going as far-out as considering the UFO to have been produced and controlled by soul stealing inter-dimensional evil fallen angels.

For those who are willing to go as far as considering that our planet may indeed be subject to visitations by ETs, I have a question. Why does it seem like sometimes the type of ET reported has an impact on how believable the report is? For instance I've found that a lot of people seem to be comfortable considering a reported sighting or abduction involving a classic "gray" alien, however, if the report includes a "reptilian" alien suddenly they are somehow in a whole other ball park.

I personally do not see the difference whether the alien is reported to be a gray, reptilian, or flying spaghetti monster.

Thoughts?

DH

Isn't it obvious?

GRAY aliens are real.

All the other ones are posers.

reply to post by Defiant Human


Hi Defiant Human. Interesting post. I agree that stories of 'the grays' seem to be more easily accepted than stories of 'reptilians' or any other types. I think it may be as simple as, reports of gray aliens are the most common whenever specific alien details are given. I think we've all become used to thier description. I hear reports of reptilians and whatever other types, much less frequantly. Just my 2 cents.

Another thing we must take into account is that the greys may just be something cooked up in the lab also for that matter so may we be. For instance when you have a pet it is beyond its realm of understanding that it is your property, we may also be in the same situation. An animal has no idea of the outside world or its happening, as we do not of the area beyond the reach of our senses and of our ability to take, synthesize and transmit information. there may be more going on that we are not aware of and possibly that we could not understand. Luckily in our society some animals deemed worthy of certain species are given protection from cruelty, although resources are limited in this endeavor. We as humans may also be granted some "pet" status, but perhaps not as a whole and perhaps deemed grantable on our usefulness.

It just seems strange because we have so little concrete evidence about alien entities. Yet some people have unconsciously set up certain parameters for when a report of an alien encounter is "not fit for consideration" based solely on the reported entities physical form.

Originally posted by Defiant Human
Why does it seem like sometimes the type of ET reported has an impact on how believable the report is?

Culturally, we like our aliens to be nice and human-like. There's a kind of "proof by association with other lousy evidence" that goes on, too, where we are generally less likely to believe alien descriptions that don't match up too well with the currently popular little grey folks. In the 1950's we liked our aliens to be basically human.

That's why I personally like the weird, super oddball descriptions of aliens found in cases like the Flatwoods Monster case, the Hickson/Parker abduction, and the Hopkinsville attack, among others. I think that considering the incredible range of potential alien types out there in the universe, the whole idea of little grey dudes as aliens shows a huge lack of imagination. Greys always struck me more as evolved human time travelers.

Until we shoot one, though, I guess we'll never know. Although, just because we get our hands on one alien, doesn't mean they're all like that, or that every UFO is piloted by aliens. One case at a time.

reply to post by Nohup


Very well said Nohup. I have to think that in a universe teeming with life we will discover people/aliens of all shapes and sizes.

Well, consider this.

Suppose I came along and said I saw a green and purple flying snake. Seems a bit unlikely, doesn't it? You might wonder what mind-altering chemical I had taken.

Now suppose that, over the course of a week or so, 10 different people came to you and described the exact same green and purple flying snake. Are you now thinking that maybe I did see what I said I saw? If so, why? Because other people saw the exact same thing without knowing what I claim to have seen, perhaps? The more people who see something incredible and describe it exactly the same, the easier it is to consider the possibility that it's real.

Now you meet some guy in a bar who claims to have seen a flying pig that was bright blue. You ask around, but no one else has ever seen a bright blue flying pig. Hmm.

Objectively there is no real difference in probability between the potential reality of a green and purple flying snake and a bright blue flying pig. Except that 11 people saw the snake, only one saw the pig.

Most people at this point would find it much easier to believe in the snake than in the pig, simply because more people saw and described it the same independently of each other.

The same is true of aliens. When hundreds of people have encountered and described the little 'grey' big-eyed, big-headed dudes with no hair, it is easier to concede that they might exist. On the other hand, the 2 poor guys who saw a 10-foot tall ostrich man wearing a lime-green space suit and helmet (I made that up) are probably out of luck, unless some other people also see ostrich man in fairly short order.

Take another quick example. If 15 people claim to have been mugged and 14 of them describe a tall white dude with blonde hair and one says it was a short dark-skinned dude with black hair, which description are you going to put in the paper?

I think the things attributed to reptilians (blatant rape, for instance) and the fact that David Icke was throwing darts at a board and claiming that whoever it landed on was a shape-shifting reptilian AND the fact that that's been used as a slight against Jews...makes reptilians unappealing.

But if you factor in the landing and giant alien thing that got out in Russia in front of all the school children--that's generally accepted as a real case and it doesn't involve grays. More like the spaghetti monster.

Heike- very good explanation.. In a field as muddy as UFOlogy it does make a certain amount of sense to follow the consistencies.

However, I think it wise to keep an open mind considering the overall variety of entities reported. The fact that the overwhelming majority of sightings involve "grays" could possibly just be an indicator that "grays" interact with humans more than the other ET types.

Jeremy_Vaeni- do you have a link to an article about that Russian sighting you mentioned?

From my personal view there are so many different types of aliens, however the most common that walk among us are able to change form to fit the comfort zones of how people want aliens to appear.

I figure people such as Hollywood writers have for the most part steered the general acceptable limits as to what type people want to see and know about. It is the media that has swayed public hysteria and created an us and them scenario from the begining.

I personally feel uncomfortable with the generalizations made about any being without first deciding for yourself and we are just not there yet.

If you trust propaganda, if you trust the ones steering the general concensus, then trust that the greys are evil doers bent on human dominance and our ultimate demise. Have you ever considered that it may be the opposite?

If you trust your own good judgements than reserve your true and deepest oppinions until you meet the various types of aliens first hand.
And we are not there yet.

If there is any truth to the alien phenomena, than why would our governements want to keep it quiet? Why would they do their best to keep us seperate from them? Not to protect us certainly, they do a horrible job of protecting earthlings already.

They have the corner on control, and until such time as we evolve and take back control, take our shared existence on this water world, this potential paradise, into our own hands and destinies, we need not even contemplate which aliens are friendly or not, we are just not there yet, we cannot even get along with each other because of misunderstanding, greed and difference.

Ps sorry no spell ck today...

Originally posted by Defiant Human

However, I think it wise to keep an open mind considering the overall variety of entities reported. The fact that the overwhelming majority of sightings involve "grays" could possibly just be an indicator that "grays" interact with humans more than the other ET types.

Oh, I agree with you. I find the reports of atypical aliens to be much more interesting and intriguing than the standard gray encounter or abduction, and I personally don't find it any more or less difficult to believe the unusual ones.

I was attempting to present an explanation - or perhaps a hypothesis - for why most people seem to find it easier to believe in grays than in the more unique or less commonly encountered aliens.

If there is any truth to the alien phenomena, than why would our governements want to keep it quiet? Why would they do their best to keep us seperate from them? Not to protect us certainly, they do a horrible job of protecting earthlings already.

I personally suspect it is because they have done something bad enough that they know we are going to be REALLY mad when we find out about it. Suppose, for example, that what I have read in a few places, that they have an agreement (a contract if you will) with the aliens that allows a certain number of human abductions in return for advanced technology. What kind of outrage do you think there would be when people realize that our government has allowed their loved ones and their children to be experimented on by aliens? Of course that's not the only possibility, but as I said I suspect they've done something that they know is going to infuriate the public and cause a lot of trouble.


[edit on 25-7-2008 by Heike]