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Does the US Government Want You to Believe in UFOs? (msn.com) 293

Posted by EditorDavid from the cowboys-vs-aliens dept.
A New York Times columnist considers alternate reasons for the upcoming House hearings with a whistleblower former intelligence official, David Grusch, who claims the US government possesses "intact and partially intact" alien vehicles: This whistle-blower's mere existence is evidence of a fascinating shift in public U.F.O. discourse. There may not be alien spacecraft, but there is clearly now a faction within the national security complex that wants Americans to think there might be alien spacecraft, to give these stories credence rather than dismissal.

The evidence for this shift includes the military's newfound willingness to disclose weird atmospheric encounters. It includes the establishment of the task force that Grusch was assigned to... It also includes other examples of credentialed figures, like the Stanford pathology professor Garry Nolan, who claim they're being handed evidence of extraterrestrial contact. And it includes the range of strange stories being fed to writers willing to operate in the weird-science zone...

I have no definite theory of why this push is happening. Maybe it's because there really is something Out There and we're being prepared for the big reveal... [M]aybe it's a cynical effort to use unexplained phenomena as an excuse to goose military funding. Or maybe it's a psy-op to discredit critics of the national security state...
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Does the US Government Want You to Believe in UFOs? More

Does the US Government Want You to Believe in UFOs?

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  • Occams razor (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sg_oneill ( 159032 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @09:42PM (#63594134)

    Maybe its just the press just gets good mileage that octaganerian politicians dont understand physics.

    • Re:Occams razor (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @10:55PM (#63594286)

      For aliens to be able to visit us would mean there is an entirely new physics model we have yet to discover.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bob_Who ( 926234 )

        For aliens to be able to visit us would mean there is an entirely new physics model we have yet to discover.

        ...so they brought their alien physics ? Dammit, Spock!

      • It really depends on what constitutes an "alien" or how we define "visit". A one-way trip by a machine probe with an AI complex enough that one might consider it sentient? Quite imaginable just extrapolating from stuff we already have or are planning. The difficult parts are making a machine durable enough, and having a civilization patient enough to wait for the results of such a program. The probe might be small - the less mass the faster it'll get places - but have the ability to build additional hardwar

    • Re:Occams razor (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Excelcia ( 906188 ) <slashdot@excelcia.ca> on Sunday June 11, 2023 @11:05PM (#63594304) Homepage Journal

      All the way from the 50s up until about ten or fifteen years ago, there was a self-sustaining belief in, oh, I would say most of the general public that there was something to the UFO phenomena. Sure the most adamant of believers have always invited official scorn, but I think most people thought that there was something not entirely explainable going on.

      Over the last decade and a bit, I think the general public's belief has waned. As drones come out in more and more interesting shapes, compositions, and utilizing multiple lift and propulsion mechanisms, it has really dampened the idea that much or even any of what we see in UFO videos and photos is really all that unusual.

      The interesting part, though, is what has happened next. What I find truly interesting is that official encouragement of belief that there is an actual phenomena has risen in direct proportion to how public sentiment has waned. The more that public belief has tapered off, the more the government has, at first "reluctantly", and then more and more openly tried to encourage dialog about it. Releasing videos. Conducting official discussion groups.

      I think that belief that there was something truly unusual going on in the past had been a useful vehicle for revenue appropriation, and the generation of mystique. And now that as that belief wanes, certain parts of government are afraid their gravy trains are going to dry up.

      That's what we're seeing lately. The government will officially deny it when public belief is high, and will officially encourage it when belief is low. All in the effort to maintain it at a good middle ground, where it will generate a certain amount of interest, and justify appropriations, but not so high as to invite too much scrutiny or achieve real credibility.

      It's an amusing irony that citizens' UFO conferences and focus groups were derided by the government, and now government UAP conferences and focus groups are derided by the public.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LKM ( 227954 )
      Yeah, this is so much dumber than people give it credit for. This isn't some grand conspiracy where the government wants you to ignore the actual scandals by pointing at aliens, this is just some morons in the government inadvertently collaborating with a bunch of money-hungrey asshats in the media to dupe a lot of idiots at home into watching stupid, easy-to-produce, cheap TV programming.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        I doubt it, more likely it is reporters scooping up anything sounding vaguely alien and using to write articles. And the "gov." isn't a single entity where all parts are consistently speaking with one voice. One parts gets a directive to investigate why something is happening, another parts gets similar directive. The parts are composed of people who write reports on their findings, but they needn't get vetted before the press gets wind and blows it out on the intertubes.

  • There is a ton of classified information that is protected at the highest level of national security. If you spill a drop of that information, you are going to jail. Do you really think the government is going to be publicly releasing this sort of info publicly? Give me a break.

    • There is a ton of classified information that is protected at the highest level of national security. If you spill a drop of that information, you are going to jail.

      "I declassified them last year, honest I did!"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      If you spill a drop of that information, you are going to jail.

      Only sometimes.

    • You don't go to jail for spilling secrets about aliens. Prosecution would be the strongest evidence we've ever had for aliens.

  • Maybe, UFOs make a great cover story (Score:3)

    by bkmoore ( 1910118 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @10:00PM (#63594174)
    The military has many special access programs, and UFOs or UAPs as they're now called would make a good cover story. I'll believe it when there's actual physical evidence.

  • It's sad (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @10:04PM (#63594184)

    Obviously there are no alien visitors given how much energy and time it would take to cross the void between habitable worlds. The only time it would make sense would be when your home system was no longer viable and you were looking for a new planet - and you'd be sending a lot more than a tiny thing to zip around in the atmosphere for humans to record in fuzzy 1960s-level video.

    It's sad to see a government treating this seriously - there's enough anti-intellectualism in the US already, they shouldn't be feeding the tinfoil hatters.

    • The aliens also would have to have some sort of prime directive or be in on the conspiracy with the governments of the world. Otherwise, by now you'd certainly have had them landing in the middle of Magic Kingdom to check out the attractions and take selfies with the indigenous life forms. Who are we to assume that interstellar visitors wouldn't just behave like a typical tourist?

    • If your premise on "energy and time" are incorrect, then the rest of your agreement falls as well. If an advanced race is able to transverse the distance and time, then they have significant energy sources beyond our comprehension. Perhaps even point to point interdimensional travel requiring almost no time to cross virtually unlimited distances. Sure, that's just a wild-ass guess with zero evidence, but if there are aliens who have traveled here, then all bets are off on what technology they have. We a

    • It doesn't seem a stretch that an alien civilization would have both the capacity and desire to send unmanned (unalien'd) probes to explore, for purely intellectual reasons. I mean, we've already done it, in our own primitive way. Voyager 1 has already exited the solar system. We shot that one off back in the 1970s, as soon as we possibly could, technologically speaking. Given our eternal fixation on trying to find life on other planets: Should we ever have reason to believe we've located such a planet, we

    • Unless we're in a simulation, in which case an admin can just turn on noclip and throw a few zeros on the velocity modifier.

  • ... UFO's are just propagandistic distractions for the public. They are there to draw attention away from other things, there whole purpose is just to redirect public attention away from more important matters. It's basically infotainment 'psy ops', I'm sure they are just doing research into how gullible people are and how bad we are at reasoning.

    • I'm sure they are just doing research into how gullible people are and how bad we are at reasoning.

      Sure, but I’d believe there really is a team sent to collect “UFOs” and it’s purpose is to take back errant spy and battlefield tech that is secret before someone from the public finds it. Knowing how many nuclear bombs were accidentally dropped I’d guess there have been at least a few major fk ups to quickly sweep under the rug and aliens would be a good cover given the above.

      • Now this is the most plausible theory I've heard in these comments. Besides, "UFO" encompasses a whole lot of American-built stealth aircraft, you know?

        • It shouldn't be lost on anyone that in the 70s and 80s there where a spate of "Black Boomerang" UFO reports around Nevada , and it just so happens that at the time that was where Stealth bombers/fighters where being tested and developed at Homey Airport (aka "Area 51"). And those things do kind of look like a giant black boomerang.

          Who knows, maybe the Airforce really is, or was, testing disc shaped oddball flying machine concepts. Seems more plausible than suspiciously humanoid bug eyed space leprechauns.

          • I know an amateur ufologist who, with his family, saw a UFO fly over their station wagon in the Mojave desert in the '70s. He made a sketch at the time. When he showed it to me many years later, I immediately identified it as a stealth fighter (although not quite, I imagine that it was a very early version).

            Note: Looking it up, I think he sketched the "Have Blue" prototype.

    • What should we be paying attention to instead?

    • Perhaps... I've seen almost no press - and none in "mainstream media" that Russia is moving tactical battlefield nukes to Belarus. They are already on the way, and the move will be completed once the facilities for them are completed. The timeframe is July. Belarus is the Russian staging location for Ukraine deployment.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bob_Who ( 926234 )
      I get it. They become just F.O.s. . ..and now we've got Mo' FO's!
  • The government has always let UFO conspiracies run wild.

    People like that retard UnknownSoldier don't seem to put it together that if the government had anything, they would have clamped down on UFO shit a long time ago. Retards like UnknownSoldier can keep believing that they are in possession of earth-shattering information, shouted from the rooftops of UFO conventions, and not have anyone from the government go after them, and at the same time believe that the government has kept everything under wraps

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      "The government has always let UFO conspiracies run wild. "

      The government: UFOs are explained by natural phenomenon.

      The Public: Liars! That's what you want us to believe. Give us the real facts.

      The government: We did. UFOs are explained by natural phenomenon.

      The Public: We don't believe you. Those things are doing unspeakable things in the air.

      (ad infinitum)

      The government: Oy! Okay, here's a commission to study the matter.

      (the Commission issues an interim report)

      The Commission: Most phenomena have physical

  • taught us that UFO nonsense is a scheme to get R&D cash to build many military technologies. They lie to corporates saying they possess alien technology capable of certain advanced tasks. That kind of tech is so tempting for prospective contractors they just can't pass up access to it. In reality anything leaked to these corporations is purely theoretical. According to Corso a couple examples of this turning into real products are night vision and self guided cruise missiles.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Ya, cause companies hoping to sell technologies to the government would NEVER think up those things by themselves. Stop being so daft.

  • It's Soviet-style psychological sabotage. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Eunomion ( 8640039 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @10:21PM (#63594216)
    The more authoritarian a state becomes, the more invested it is in promoting Unreason in the public. They start to promote Unreason in all its forms: Religion, anti-intellectualism, science denial, conspiracy theories, history revisionism, racism, xenophobia, etc.

  • Yeah (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
    They want you looking at the skies so that you'll report things to them the turnout to be various forms of spy drones.

    • They want you looking at the skies so that you'll report things to them the turnout to be various forms of spy drones.

      Just not to the press or social media, they have been a bit touchy ever since they lost that nuclear testing spy balloon back in 47’ and it made the papers.

  • https://uploads.disquscdn.com/... [disquscdn.com]

    Next year will probably be the bird flu.

  • I'm sure there are UFOs ... (Score:3)

    by whoever57 ( 658626 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @11:23PM (#63594326) Journal

    ... I just don't believe there are things of alien origin flying around.

    Aliens travel interstellar distances only to crash on arrival? I don't think it's very likely.

    • I don't really believe in UFO stories, but abandoned equipment is a staple in our space exploration programs. Everything we ever landed on Mars is still there. The Moon missions brought back as little mass as they could get away with. The reason is a simple matter of energy expenditure: you can bring more hardware to your destination if you don't have to worry about bringing it all back after you're done. There's no reason to think this principle wouldn't also apply to hypothetical space aliens. The lack of

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by PJ6 ( 1151747 )

      Aliens travel interstellar distances only to crash on arrival? I don't think it's very likely.

      You joke but that's exactly what we'd do.

  • A dog chasing its tail (Score:3)

    by locater16 ( 2326718 ) on Sunday June 11, 2023 @11:24PM (#63594330)
    It was once asked, "Why does a dog wag it's tail? Because the dog is smarter than the tail."
    But what if a dog wasn't smarter than it's tail? What if was just as stupid and endlessly went around in a circle convinced the tail would stop before it did? Well then you'd have conspiracy theorists, so convinced other conspiracy theorists are conspiring against them that they look suspicious to conspiracy theorists. Around and around the dog goes.

  • Arrives when there is war a crisis in the world. They will bring new tech and peace.

    Or they will attack us so all humankind will be forced to become friends and fight together.

    That are the 2 main reasons they are re-invented in time of crisis. Like Ukraine war.

    And of course trump wants it to say only he can release the evidence. At least until he gets elected.

  • If UFO's are real, that means the government, your government, has been lying to me, and you for over half a century. On the other hand, if they don't exist and the Government wants you to believe, they really want your approval for a bigger budget.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      "If UFO's are real, that means the government, your government, has been lying to me, and you for over half a century. On the other hand, if they don't exist and the Government wants you to believe, they really want your approval for a bigger budget."

      Oh come now. It is entirely possible that the government has been lying to us for over half a century AND wants a bigger budget. In fact, I'd be willing to bet my life savings that the government has been lying to us for half a century about more than one thing

  • Its called management "paradigm shift". (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slashdot_commentator ( 444053 ) on Monday June 12, 2023 @12:22AM (#63594404) Journal

    > Does the US Government Want You to Believe in UFOs?

    Answer: they don't give a shit whether you do or don't. They just want off the conspiracy hamster wheel.

    What you have to realize is this "policy" of possibly concealing the existence of aliens and tangible proof of their technology was created during The Cold War. Much like Chinese leadership today, the US gov't leadership back then, had a mindset of "controlling" every gov't decreed perception of the US population. All of this "investigation" on aliens were in the context of national security, and thus if there was any tangible result from the investigation, it had to be kept "top secret".

    Decades later, US gov't cultivated UFO conspiracy thinking was useful for concealing US weapons tech programs. Why the fuck would UAPs be triangular??? Because coincidentally, the airfoils of "futuristic stealth weapons" were triangular, from all the failed precursor triangular shaped experimental military craft I can't be bothered to remember, to the successful ones, such as the F-117 and B-2.

    Throughout this entire period, what made UFO disinformation campaigns "problematic" was that it did foster a level of distrust among the American people, including American politicians that funded and "protected" military development programs. Ironically, the US military cannot "abandon" military programs that try to investigate UAPs, because we still need to determine if foreign nations are developing weapons technology and testing it where people can observe it. But once a budget crunch comes, how hard is it for some politician to declare the UAP agency a waste of money, and it should disband? What do you think happened to "Project Blue Book"?

    Why did Elon Musk early in his SpaceX ventures visually publicize every Falcon rocket launch failure? Because every successful engineering graduate should understand that failure can still be useful to eventually advancing a program to a successful product! Rocket blowups attract public attention, and that can attract intelligent investor attention, while Musk felt comfortable with his entrepreneurial investment stake to ride out all the test failures. If he didn't get a working launch by the 6th time, it didn't matter whether the previous 5 launches were known failures; SpaceX was dead, financially. That's the reason why SpaceX crushed Blue Origin. Blue Origin cared more about avoiding test failures, because each failure cost money, and Bezos couldn't bear the thought of losing money on "mistakes". Management went on the careful, cautious timetable, and that's why they're roadkill in the industry.

    Lets speculate that the US military has in its possession an actual, physical UFO (or 18 of them). How does that change US military or national policy? It doesn't do jack. For all we know, the reason why we got transistors to integrated circuits to F-117s to F-35's was because of acquired UFO craft. But it doesn't change or threaten national order, security, or policy. In most cases, the military could hire the brightest minds and they still wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of it.

    The reality is that some UAP investigations are going to result in phenomenon they cannot explain. So now US military policy is just going to admit they have an agency investigating UAPs, and will admit when they find something inexplicable that gets revealed. So what? Now they don't have to go surveilling and threatening retired US military personnel when they reveal that the military has incidents they cannot explain. If there are actual alien UFOs, nothing has changed.

    Frankly, they could have done it after Starcraft SG-1 shutdown the franchise, and not have dragged it out for another 10(?) years.

    • Re:Its called management "paradigm shift". (Score:4, Informative)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Monday June 12, 2023 @12:43AM (#63594428)

      For all we know, the reason why we got transistors to integrated circuits

      You do realize there is ample documented history of why, how and by whom these things were discovered and refined over many decades, correct?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shaitan ( 22585 )

        And you do realize most of the theoretical research was and still is funded by DARPA? I'm not saying he is right, there is certainly no evidence of it, but it is worth remembering that outside of anything to do with aliens we have multiple government agencies with billions in funding whose entire purpose of engaging in conspiracy and deception.

        It's literally their entire purpose and yet everyone just assumes when proposing something they could be up to that they'd be incompetent when going about it. When e

  • Had an Awsome bike ride today

  • Alien life may exist. I hope so. Although, not as what we did with life on our planet.
    But them visiting us ? From the energy point of view : no way. The distances from supposedly inhabitable planets, the limit of light speed, our inability to travel to speeds remotely close to this speed, and the colossal amount of energy that would require such travels (consider planets or suns amount of energy), all that make those aliens artifacts et al extremely unlikely to be true.
    OK, imagine some people accept to tr

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Also sad is the fact that we have one planet, and no plan B. Or should I say already, we had one planet ?

      Well, the planet is not going away, but our ability to live on it is. And it looks like matters are accelerating despite it being abysmally clear where that leads.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • The US Gov loves to keep everyone distracted and divided and fighting among themselves so we don't notice the crimes and dirty shenanigans they continue to commit

  • Fill in the gaps (Score:3)

    by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Monday June 12, 2023 @04:16AM (#63594674) Homepage

    It's safer to have a bunch of E.T. fantasists than it is to have millions of people believing in pizza parlor sex dungeons. Something needs to replace Q that isn't as toxic to democracy.

  • ...or it might be to convince other nations that we could have terrifying alien superweapons.

  • One wonders what yet not widely known scandal they are trying to misdirect away from.

  • I think this effort is just the preparations for massive political disinformation campaigns. The metrics companies want to see where the easily manipulated loonies live. The data will be worth a lot of money in the coming year and a half as there are parties badly wanting to target these 'willing believers'.

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