How do you kill an alien zombie? [Edit to add : This title involves a metaphor explained in the OP]

Some photos of "aliens" and "ufos" are like zombies.

They can be the subject of detailed and devasting revelations - up to and including an admission of a hoax, with details of how the hoax was performed.

And yet they live on.

The photos stagger from website to website, accompanied by a wailing noise and the gnashing of teeth (from some researchers that would like to see ufology become a more respectable hobby).

Such photos are rarely accompanied by any explanation of their source, or indeed any text at all, making it difficult to identify key-words which can be used to search for relevant information. So, the viewing public remains ignorant of the fact that any hope that the the image showed anything real died long ago.

So, it is possible to kill such an alien zombie?

Is there a silver bullet which can finally finish off some of the more infamous photos (and videos) of "aliens" and "ufos" for once and for all?

Some partial solutions have been adopted on ATS, for example:

(a) discussion of known hoaxes are already moved into a separate area of ATS. Browsing through that forum helps identify some of the known hoaxes. But the sheer number of relevant threads makes it difficult for someone new to ATS/ufology to try to find the background to the more infamous and commonly recurring discredited videos/images/cases.

(b) Probably more usefully as a reference guide, some threads on ATS (and elsewhere) try to list known hoaxes, but those threads have generally died off fairly quickly and (more importantly) rarely include any analysis of the relevant images or references which provided the best evidence of a hoax. See, for example:
CGI UFOs | Some of the best ones
Compilation list of CGI, known hoaxes and disproved(videos and photos)


What more can be done?

I'm not sure, but surely it is worth a bit of effort to try and achieve this objective?

Perhaps a few leading researchers or UFO groups could agree a list of discredited images/cases. Would this have any real effect?, Would some people will view it merely as an "appeal to authority" (a well-known logical fallacy) and ignore any such initiative?

Perhaps such a panel could be more proactive and seek out websites displaying relevant images/cases and give the relevant webmaster a reference to discussions highlighting why that image/case is generally viewed as discredited with a request that they post some of that information or a link on their website? Or would this be viewed as spam and/or a potentially suspicious "debunking" initiative?

Any other ideas?

All the best,

Isaac

[edit on 9-7-2010 by IsaacKoi]

Interesting thread, I think particularly relevant at the moment - I also think this applies to most predictions.

I see them more as ghosts that only gain power when they get paid attention. Maybe not ghosts actually - Trolls.

Edit to add because it's too hot and my brain is frying:

I don't think they'll ever go away, one attention-seeking ghost dies another one takes its place - it's down to us to get smarter and not feed them.

[edit on 9/7/1010 by jokei]

Though shall wish the alien zombie away!

If this is a nightmare situation then hope that the alarm is set.
This is a nightmare situation.
Hope the alarm is set.

You don't, thats how you kill it.
2nd line

You pull the plug out the play station i would guess but now i've answered that one then how do you kill GW-Bush after he's dead and has stolen a car and driven to the moon to see his freind Elvis or is that a leading question too.







[edit on 9-7-2010 by LieBuster]

Simple

You go back on your medication

Two words.
Alligator Gun.

Actually OP, those who want to believe blindly will never agree with the folks that proved those photos fake. Even if there were a central website database listing from A to Z the known hoaxes those who won't see reason wouldn't use it anyway. They don't want to know if/how it's faked. The only people who would use it are those who honestly want to know the truth and actively search for it.

Sadly, there is no silver bullet for the UFO or Alien Zombies.

reply to post by IsaacKoi


The only thing I can think of is to start a web site dedicated to registering hoaxes. Perhaps a comprehensive keyword search facility that can allow us to track down photos based on a certain appearance criteria. You could also use descriptions of the surrounding landscape in the keyword searches. Basically anything on the image you can attribute a description to.

I would also watermark all the images on the site so they cannot be re-used without being easily unmasked.

IRM

[edit on 9/7/10 by InfaRedMan]

reply to post by IsaacKoi


You say zombie yet zombies are just a figment of human imagination so with that in mind the real question is how does one kill an alien?
Firstly you are assuming they have visited us to cause harm and for that reason they have to be naturalised. That could be very dangerous as it may inadvertently lead to a conflict we would much rather avoid. If however they are or did turn hostile I think the question of how we would kill them is entirely hypothetical as such the answer is pure speculation. If we imagine that they are humanoid in appearance only more advanced, then we could adapt our current methods to kill them. If however they are say advanced machines, or beings who are so advanced it is beyond our comprehension then we cannot kill them for we do not understand them.

In truth however we can only speculate no one on ATS can say to you this is how you kill a alien because (regardless of some imaginative claims) none of us know what they look like or how they work. We cannot truly answer the question “how do you kill a alien?” until we have been visited by them and they pose a hostile threat. We are basing all assumptions on how we would kill them using our earthly weapons which may not mach their defences, they could be totally useless ageist ET. So all these assumptions about how we would do it might not even work and thus this exercise may be futile.


I however do not believe this will never happen in my lifetime actually i think it is feasible to say that humanity will destroy itself before we have to start worrying about the question you have put forward.


[edit on 9-7-2010 by kevinunknown]

I think the fact that you had to change the title to specify that Alien Zombie was a metaphor kind of proves that UFO hoaxes, and other hoaxes will always thrive whilst basic comprehension skills, critical thinking and all the other stuff fade into the sunset...

Good thread as always Isaac.

reply to post by kevinunknown

I think you skimmed the OP rather than actually read it. The question wasn't how to kill a zombie, alien or UFO. It was how to permanently kill the known hoaxes that never die - just like a zombie.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Ah yeah sorry about that ma bad. one of the mods might just remove it.

Originally posted by SeenMyShare
(snip)
Sadly, there is no silver bullet for the UFO or Alien Zombies.

Hi SeenMyShare,

I fear you are right, but I sometimes get a bit, well, frustrated with the amount of times I see certain images/cases crop up again and again on the Internet despite the fact that they have been repeatedly dismissed on extremely good grounds.

It's no wonder that some of my friends think ufology is a waste of time...

All the best,

Isaac

reply to post by IsaacKoi


Specifically to your last post, I totally agree about the discredit done - not just to UFOlogy, but conspiricism and fringe subjects in general, subjects that most people don't pay much heed to and even less so when there's so much hoaxing and junk that comes along with it.

My best case scenario for those zombie/ghost originators is that they're just lonely people, making up stories online due to some deficit in their life. I don't think that's always true though - and they're the first to scream disinformation agent when they're challenged.

Originally posted by jokei

My best case scenario for those zombie/ghost originators is that they're just lonely people, making up stories online due to some deficit in their life.

Indeed! I think a good portion of them have socialisation issues spanning their developmental years also. You remember the kids that never really fitted into any group at school? The ones that were more or less invisible. I think their hoaxing antics give them a stage they would have otherwise never experienced... and fooling people somehow vindicates them.

I don't think that's always true though - and they're the first to scream disinformation agent when they're challenged.

The second they scream 'dis-info agent', they play their hand. It's really just a deflection tactic and shorthand for not being able to defend the evidence.

IRM

reply to post by IsaacKoi

Here's the crux of the matter. I have thousands of photos of unidentified "stuff" (self censored ) in the sky, the clouds and above the mountains that are fuzzy, blurry, out of focus or too far away. BUT the one thing I saw close enough to almost touch I have no photo of. It was in the early 90s and I didn't have a camera then. Now I have many!! but no sighting.

reply to post by InfaRedMan

I have to agree with InfaRedMan. A website containing all the known hoaxes would be a place I would hang out. I wouldn't want the site to claim to debunk all UFO sitings, just keep people up to date on the known hoaxes.

and a star for Chadwickus

Originally posted by ChicUFO
A website containing all the known hoaxes would be a place I would hang out.

But would such a website need, say, the endorsement of some leading UFO researchers/groups to be meaningful?

Or would it be enough that, like the UFO Watchdog website, it would simply gain respect with the passage of time?

All the best,

Isaac

reply to post by InfaRedMan

The only thing I can think of is to start a web site dedicated to registering hoaxes. Perhaps a comprehensive keyword search facility that can allow us to track down photos based on a certain appearance criteria.

You could also use descriptions of the surrounding landscape in the keyword searches. Basically anything on the image you can attribute a description to.

I would also watermark all the images on the site so they cannot be re-used without being easily unmasked.

Cool idea. It could be like UFO Watchdog's Hall of Shame for images.

The UK's Daily Telegraph ran an article called 140 years of UFO sightings. It has a few dozen images of UFOs going back to 1870. Skipping through, it's clear that a good few are known hoaxes or have been identified.

The downside of running such a site would be capital and revenue. It's hard to imagine where either would be generated on a site guaranteed to disappoint so many. What little money there is is focused on the unquestioning believers.