The "Freak Out" factor

It has been said many times by many different people that the US Government knows about E.T and all its various forms and technologies. It has also been said that the main reason The US Government will not admit to the existance of E.T. for the simple fact that we cant handle it. Otherwise known as the Freak Out Factor. For some reason I dont understand, the government has come to the conclusion that if these E.T. do exist, and all of the sheeple were to find out, mass panic would ensue and society as we have come to know would crumble with this knowledge.

Now I am of the opinion that there might be some panic, but not on the scale the government believes. I think there would be people who would react negativly to this, but these people IMO probably already have some kind of parinoia or psycosis to begine with. I am talking maybe 5000 "Freak Outs" out of the whole country. I think thats something like one person in every 10 cities would have a problem dealing with this.

My question to you is could you handle it? What would your own reactions be? Would you be part of the 'Freak Out" factor or is the US Government blowing smoke up its own A*S.

[edit on 24-8-2004 by John bull 1]

I'd probably freak out in excitement. i'd imagine I'd want to hurry to the Alien embassy (heheh) and as kthem about the universe

I would not freak out even if it came to light that an alien species was attempting to take over the planet.

However I think you under estimate the freak out factor.

The heavens gate crew all killed themselves based on aliens.

The War of the Worlds radio broadcast resulted in several deaths.

I think the general public could handle the existance of life off-world but not intelligent life flying in our skies. Fear makes people do very stupid things. Fear of authority currently has people hold up in the mountains of the US hoarding guns. Imagine now you add something like aliens. Even other people who have been conditioned to and become acostomed to things like government authority would probably freak out.

I think most sociologist would agree that if intelligent alien life was announced there would be general social breakdown, at least in the short term. Heck, even a Radio transmition saying "we come in peace" would have some people heading for the hills thinking it was a lie in preperation for an invasion.

People have a loooong history of fearing the unknown and reacting poorly to it.

I would'nt freak out, but I know some people who would.

What is there to be scared of? Overall you should be excieted about Aliens and your first time seeing one would be great. If they have some technology we don't know about, and they could be harmful. Then I would panic a bit.

I don't think I would be one of the people who freak out. Excited yes. But then I'm one of those people who believe that there is more than what we just see here around us. And I also like to think of myself as being highly adaptable to new information and change.
I would probably be very curious and would want to know more about the aliens. I would want all the information the government has. In other words, I would want to know the truth so that I could react properly.
Of course this would entirely change the way I think about the universe and our role here on this planet.
It would definitely affect religious beliefs.
I can see how some would "freak out". It would cause great insecurity in some people.
It would be like when people discovered that the earth was round and not flat. Everyone's perspective would have to change.

I feel that I have been prepared for the coming of an alien species to our world most of my life. I wouldn't freak out- unless they're INVADING of course. But lets speak of the peaceful scenario. I think that the govt's position on this is crap. We are all adults, we can handle whatever is thrown at us. 9/11 proved that. It's the gov't that freaked out and now warns us about inconsequencial stuff every time a mouse in a third world county farts. Yes, an alien species on our doorsteps would be a revalation of epic proportions. I think it may even wake us up some, maybe we would do better as a people (all people) if we saw that we are truley not alone in the universe. The govt again and again does us a great dis-service, we are not cowering little children needing our hands held at every turn. As a parent, I will do my job to explain the world to my kids as I deem appropriate. The govt. needs to fess up. I'll take of business all the same.

Originally posted by Quest
However I think you under estimate the freak out factor.

The heavens gate crew all killed themselves based on aliens.

The War of the Worlds radio broadcast resulted in several deaths.

I think the general public could handle the existance of life off-world but not intelligent life flying in our skies. Fear makes people do very stupid things. Fear of authority currently has people hold up in the mountains of the US hoarding guns. Imagine now you add something like aliens. Even other people who have been conditioned to and become acostomed to things like government authority would probably freak out.

I think that the media is so saturated with aliens and flying saucers, that everyone has heard of them and knows what they are. My conclusions of such small numbers of people freaking out was reached on the basis of media saturation. When Orson Wells did War of the Worlds, the public didnt have much exposure to the UFO phenom. Today, I think its something like 65% to 70% of people believe in the possibility that they exist. Thats a long way from the 5% to 10% in Orsons days.

By the way, I saw my percentage values from above on a T.V. show on the History channel a few weeks ago. (Propaganda?)

Originally posted by elaine
I don't think I would be one of the people who freak out. Excited yes. But then I'm one of those people who believe that there is more than what we just see here around us. And I also like to think of myself as being highly adaptable to new information and change.
I would probably be very curious and would want to know more about the aliens. I would want all the information the government has. In other words, I would want to know the truth so that I could react properly.
Of course this would entirely change the way I think about the universe and our role here on this planet.
It would definitely affect religious beliefs.
I can see how some would "freak out". It would cause great insecurity in some people.
It would be like when people discovered that the earth was round and not flat. Everyone's perspective would have to change.

Great minds think alike

The out come to alians has already been seen once in the 1920es a raido station played a story call war of the worlds and dident think of putting in comurcials the result was people who tuned in after the brodcast started thought it was real .needless to say there was PANICE in the streets .
So I think the gov has a purtty good reasion to keep us in the dark if they are.
PS here you are driving down a DARK country road at 2 am and you say hay look a UFO and SEE little green guys walking around .
Ok I can see you all hitting the Braks and running to them saying welcome to earth.
YEA RIGHT sure you will theres not a person here unless they realy off balance that would do that .Wed all be very nervice at the least and most of use would be scared out of our minds .
Illl tell you right now Id be very very nervice and wile I would stop the car and look I wouldNOt be running out there.
Even with the best possible contact .The lawn of the pentgon it would still be touch and go. Even assuming they are friendly we are NOT.
and even assuming we made contact ok we mite still louse our world to them through no falt of there own.
Think of man kind face to face with the FACT his best acomplashments are like a cave man with a rock compared to them.
That by its self could very well kill our ambishion to advance .After all whats the point in searching for answers they already have?

You'd be amazed at how many people would freak out. just stop to think a second, about all the old or naive people having heart attacks after hearing a message from the government that aliens do exist.
I wouldnt freak out but i think it would dissapoint me, it's so much more fun when its a secret or mystery

Although the freak out factor doesnt last forever, there might be some controversy after the inital shock to the public and then it will die down and be common knowledge.

When "War Of The Worlds" aired, it wasn't just panic in the streets....there were actually people killing their family rather than be taken by aliens I know people this day that would just totally freak and act like fool idiots!


EDIT: I think, "this generation shall have to pass" before the government would/will come out and admit this.....unless something happens that forces them to do so.

[edit on 8/24/2004 by LadyV]

The out come to alians has already been seen once in the 1920es a raido station played a story call war of the worlds and dident think of putting in comurcials the result was people who tuned in after the brodcast started thought it was real .needless to say there was PANICE in the streets .

There's a big difference in the gov't announcing that contact has been made with an alien species and the gov't. announcing that aliens are coming to attack and dominate the world. Under that circumstance, who wouldn't freak out? If they were coming to attack, it'd be over by now. The biggest reprocussion is that if the gov't admits to knowledge of an alien species, then they have to justify 60 years of lies and threats. That's the real problem for the gov't, not necessarily the freak out factor.

For a great example of people's freak out factor look at the US pre and post 9/11.

The actual threat of terrorism has not changed, and according to Bush (sometimes) the threat is even less today. Yet people walk around even more afraid of terror.

Why? Because now it isn't a thought, an accepted idea, but rather something real that has happened.

The same thing could be true of aliens. Even if 70% of the population accepts the possibility of aliens thats a LOT different than saucer landing all over the world.

Even more so, imagine the way people would deal with botched contact. What if, unknowingly, aliens exhale toxic gas? They could be walking over to say hello and people will start dropping dead. Rational thought wouldn't matter at that point, our instinct would kick in.

People are only accepting the concept of intelligent alien life, not them being here. Two very different things.

Originally posted by Der Kapitan
...The biggest reprocussion is that if the gov't admits to knowledge of an alien species, then they have to justify 60 years of lies and threats. That's the real problem for the gov't, not necessarily the freak out factor.

And There you have it, it's a double edge sword.

Damned if you do ("Ahem, yeah there's something we were gonna tell you..") and damned if you don't ("What us, knew about them, nooo")

Can you imagine all the lawsuits stemming from all the abductees-radiation-defamation victims ??

And imagine NASA, they'd be excieted with glee.

Originally posted by Quest
For a great example of people's freak out factor look at the US pre and post 9/11.

The actual threat of terrorism has not changed, and according to Bush (sometimes) the threat is even less today. Yet people walk around even more afraid of terror.

Americans have held strong through our conflict on terror. I see no one on my block running around with drool running out of thier mouth saying "THE TERRORIST ARE HERE!!"

Even more so, imagine the way people would deal with botched contact. What if, unknowingly, aliens exhale toxic gas? They could be walking over to say hello and people will start dropping dead. Rational thought wouldn't matter at that point, our instinct would kick in.

People are only accepting the concept of intelligent alien life, not them being here. Two very different things.

Good point.

I think purely from an economic standpoint if it were revealed intelligent aliens were visiting earth or going to live here among us it may be devastating to the world economy.

The world's financial markets are based more or less on demand and supply and economic models that attempt to forecast future growth and consumption. I think if it were revealed another intelligent race were here to interract with us it would cause chaos to these models and there would be a major shock to demand and supply of certain commodities. I have no clue as to what resources an alien race would likely consume or like to supply but it would no doubt radically change the existing market for that resource as we know it today. I think it would cause havoc to the current financial system as we know it.

Suppose these aliens had a near infinite supply of oil to sell to us or another source of energy altogether? Suppose they were willing to offer credit at extremely low rates? What if they were keen buyers of a commodity like copper or zinc? Imagine if the price of copper in a few days skyrocketed past gold? What if they offered a search engine far superior to that of Google and shareholders lost billions of dollars in a single day?

So I think the world govt's must have a plan in place before introducing an alien race including trade agreements and ethics. I think a medium of exchange and its value relative to the US dollar must be agreed upon to trade with an alien race. Also govt's would have to set in place policies to protect domestic industries and jobs from potential huge shocks in demand and supply. A good guide as to a timeframe and certain policies may be the process of establishing the EU multiplied a few times. In the end such interaction with another race will be such a boone for the human race the benefits and advances in living standards for both races will be unimaginable.

BTW I think the theories regarding an impending alien invasion are rubbish. War is an extremely primitive and inefficient policy and any race capable of traversing the universe to planet earth would have learned that a long long time ago. Maybe when this primitive behaviour is no longer present on our planet then plenty of intelligent alien races would love the opportunity to explore and prosper from our unique and diverse planet. Sadly I don't really expect this to happen within my lifetime. Who knows maybe Bush's crackpot schemes to rid the world of terror are an effort to achieve global peace within a given timeframe. Maybe that is why his administartion is so comfortable investing such large sums of money in this effort becasue they know the potential payoff will be so huge for this planet?

Originally posted by mrdependable
The world's financial markets are based more or less on demand and supply and economic models that attempt to forecast future growth and consumption. I think if it were revealed another intelligent race were here to interract with us it would cause chaos to these models and there would be a major shock to demand and supply of certain commodities. I have no clue as to what resources an alien race would likely consume or like to supply but it would no doubt radically change the existing market for that resource as we know it today. I think it would cause havoc to the current financial system as we know it.

Suppose these aliens had a near infinite supply of oil to sell to us or another source of energy altogether?

Replace Oil?? Are you mad? Bush/Cheney would go broke!

Originally posted by mrdependableSuppose they were willing to offer credit at extremely low rates? What if they were keen buyers of a commodity like copper or zinc? Imagine if the price of copper in a few days skyrocketed past gold? What if they offered a search engine far superior to that of Google and shareholders lost billions of dollars in a single day?

That's business, it how markets work, superior products (almost)always win.

Originally posted by mrdependableSo I think the world govt's must have a plan in place before introducing an alien race including trade agreements and ethics. I think a medium of exchange and its value relative to the US dollar must be agreed upon to trade with an alien race. Also govt's would have to set in place policies to protect domestic industries and jobs from potential huge shocks in demand and supply. A good guide as to a timeframe and certain policies may be the process of establishing the EU multiplied a few times. In the end such interaction with another race will be such a boone for the human race the benefits and advances in living standards for both races will be unimaginable.

But what if the Aliens society is not based upon money?

Oh yes i forgot to say how this knowledge would begin the collapse of religeon around the world.

Oh yes i forgot to say how this knowledge would begin the collapse of religeon around the world.

Would it? It may threaten the white-centric fundementalist christians, but a global collapse in religion-I don't think so. Sure it'll force a new perspective into view, but I'm sure there are religions that don't limit all of creation to our world alone.



[edit on 24-8-2004 by Der Kapitan]