The great US UFO cover up

[Perspicuo]

The real Men in Black, Hollywood and the great UFO cover-up
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/14/men-in-black-ufo-sightings-mirage-makers-movie

In a new documentary, US government agents claim they spent decades giving fake evidence of extraterrestrials to gullible ufologists. But why? And how can we trust them now?

Hidden among the avalanche of documents leaked by Edward Snowden were images from a Powerpoint presentation by GCHQ, entitled The Art of Deception: Training for a New Generation of Online Covert Operations. Images include camouflaged moths, inflatable tanks, women in burqas, and complex diagrams plastered with jargon, buzzwords and slogans: "Disruption Operational Playbook", "Swap the real for the false and vice versa", "People make decisions as part of groups" and, beneath a shot of hands shuffling a deck of cards, "We want to build Cyber Magicians". Curiously, sandwiched in the middle of the document are three photographs of UFOs. Not real ones – classic fakes: one was a hub cap, another a bunch of balloons, and one that turned out to be a seagull.

Devout ufologists might seize upon this as further proof that our governments "know something" about aliens and their transportation methods, but really it suggests the opposite: the UFO community is a textbook case of a gullible group susceptible to manipulation. Having spent too long watching the skies and The X-Files, it's implied, they'll readily swallow whatever snippet of "evidence" suits their grand theory.

 

[Perspicuo]

This argument is like paranoia turned against itself. It goes to show conspiranoids don't really show critical thinking which necessarily includes a self-critical attitude.

 

[credoconsolans]

Having spent too long watching the skies and The X-Files, it's implied, they'll readily swallow whatever snippet of "evidence" suits their grand theory.

Not all info comes from agents though. Lot of normal people see UFOs.

 

[Peez]

Having spent too long watching the skies and The X-Files, it's implied, they'll readily swallow whatever snippet of "evidence" suits their grand theory.

Not all info comes from agents though. Lot of normal people see UFOs.

I have been accused of being "normal", and I have seen many UFO's. However, I doubt that any of them were spacecraft from another world.

Peez

 

[Elixir]

Not all info comes from agents though. Lot of normal people see UFOs.

I have been accused of being "normal", and I have seen many UFO's. However, I doubt that any of them were spacecraft from another world.

Peez

I saw something once.... in full daylight, laying on my back on a picnic table, staring at the sky. Almost directly overhead, there was a seemingly stationary spot of light. It persisted for about a minute, then moved quickly to the east and vanished. It was weird, but not as weird as the people who equate the "U" in UFO to "Aliens".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I have been accused of being "normal", and I have seen many UFO's. However, I doubt that any of them were spacecraft from another world.

Peez

I saw something once.... in full daylight, laying on my back on a picnic table, staring at the sky. Almost directly overhead, there was a seemingly stationary spot of light. It persisted for about a minute, then moved quickly to the east and vanished. It was weird, but not as weird as the people who equate the "U" in UFO to "Aliens".

Some years back: I woke up and noticed this dancing red light in otherwise pure blackness.


To compound the mystery I was in our bed, this was indoors.

I finally figured out that it was the status light on a smoke alarm, the dancing was purely an artifact of lacking a reference frame. Once I knew what it was it quit moving.

 

[Elixir]

I saw something once.... in full daylight, laying on my back on a picnic table, staring at the sky. Almost directly overhead, there was a seemingly stationary spot of light. It persisted for about a minute, then moved quickly to the east and vanished. It was weird, but not as weird as the people who equate the "U" in UFO to "Aliens".

Some years back: I woke up and noticed this dancing red light in otherwise pure blackness.


To compound the mystery I was in our bed, this was indoors.

Like THAT is an effective barrier against aliens?

I finally figured out that it was the status light on a smoke alarm, the dancing was purely an artifact of lacking a reference frame. Once I knew what it was it quit moving.

That's how they getcha!

 

[Malintent]

The government LOVES conspiracy theories... it is a free pass to continue whatever operations caused the excitemnt in the first place.

"How are we going to explain where the money came from to build that expiramental aircraft that deviated out of the restricted zone"?
"We don't have to.. they think it was aliens"
"Well fuck. That was easy"

 

[Perspicuo]

 

[DBT]

Secret societies or not, maybe there are just too many hands trying to stir the pot....each and every one with their own agenda.

 

[Underseer]

What? No mention of when the aliens are planning to return Elvis' brain?

How can we trust an information source that fails to include such vital information?

 

[skepticalbip]

Secret societies or not, maybe there are just too many hands trying to stir the pot....each and every one with their own agenda.

Not too many, too few. We need to have a secret society or special interest with agendae exactly opposed to every secret society or special interest that has any sway in our government else the ones that exist unopposed will send the government off on missions to impose their "ideal of perfection" on us. That's the beauty of representive government, reins on the control freaks because they have to constantly fight with their opposition for control.

 

[steve_bnk]

The idea that the govt used UFOs as disinformation to divert attention away from real projects is not so unbelievable.. I'd say it is rather clever and useful.

Most of the technology is out in the open these days, there is not much to hide unless there has been some secret fundamental breakthrough in basic science.

Back I the 90s periodically seismic sensors were picking up a disturbance localized out in the desert. Analysis eventually showed it had to be something above ground, like an unknown low and fast aircraft.

It made the national news and prompted a PR response from Area 51.

Secrecy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk#Background_and_Have_Blue

'...The Air Force denied the existence of the aircraft until 10 November 1988, when Assistant Secretary of Defense J. Daniel Howard displayed a grainy photograph at a Pentagon press conference, disproving the many inaccurate rumors about the shape of the secret "F-19". After the announcement pilots could fly the F-117 during daytime and no longer needed to be associated with the A-7, flying the T-38 for travel and training instead'...'

 

[Trodon]

I am confident that intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the Universe. I am surprised that Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence has not found evidence of several yet.

Nevertheless, the enormous distances and the probability that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light make space travel difficult.

If intelligent life forms reach the earth they have gone through enormous efforts to get here. They will not do a reconnaissance of us, and travel back home. They will go to a large city, identify themselves, and try to communicate with us.

 

[Trodon]

When I first learned about Roswell it seemed somewhat plausible to me that a space vehicle from another planet had landed there.

Over time I rejected the story. American scientists would not have been able to reproduce the vehicle. They would have learned stuff from it that would have given American military jets an enormous advantage over the Soviet Migs. The U.S. never developed such an advantage.

I find it difficult to give conspiracy theories much credence when they claim the existence of conspiracies that involve large numbers of people and last for a long time. Someone will leak information to the press, get drunk and brag to his girl friend or wife, or have a death bed confession.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Over time I rejected the story. American scientists would not have been able to reproduce the vehicle. They would have learned stuff from it that would have given American military jets an enormous advantage over the Soviet Migs.

Why would you assume this?
Technology from today's most advanced weapons would be largely useless to American scientists. I read an article assuming some time travel anomally moved an unmanned jet drone to the Manhattan project.
The tools of the time would not allow them to gain much from the discovery. They could track control wires to microcomputers, but not understand them. The silicon chips would just appear to be really expensive resistors.
The alloys used in the construction would be beyond their ability to reproduce, so a lot of the benefits those alloys provide could not be replicated in planes produced for WWII.
The principles of the engine would be largely opaque to their analysis.
And this is human technology being evaluated by humans across a gulf of only 70 years. If someone's cross the gulf, we probably wouldn't even understand which parts of the ship are propulsion.

 

[Peez]

Over time I rejected the story. American scientists would not have been able to reproduce the vehicle. They would have learned stuff from it that would have given American military jets an enormous advantage over the Soviet Migs.

Why would you assume this?
Technology from today's most advanced weapons would be largely useless to American scientists. I read an article assuming some time travel anomally moved an unmanned jet drone to the Manhattan project.
The tools of the time would not allow them to gain much from the discovery. They could track control wires to microcomputers, but not understand them. The silicon chips would just appear to be really expensive resistors.
The alloys used in the construction would be beyond their ability to reproduce, so a lot of the benefits those alloys provide could not be replicated in planes produced for WWII.
The principles of the engine would be largely opaque to their analysis.
And this is human technology being evaluated by humans across a gulf of only 70 years. If someone's cross the gulf, we probably wouldn't even understand which parts of the ship are propulsion.

Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

That being said, even if we could not understand all of the technology, or reproduce it, it might still provide clues that might prompt innovation. As Dyson in the Terminator 2 puts it "It was broken, didn't work, but it got us thinking in new directions..." (This is from memory, I do not recall the exact quote).

Peez

 

[Draconis]

When I first learned about Roswell it seemed somewhat plausible to me that a space vehicle from another planet had landed there.

One of the things I find odd is how often those Aliens crash their spaceships. Are they all learner drivers?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

When I first learned about Roswell it seemed somewhat plausible to me that a space vehicle from another planet had landed there.

One of the things I find odd is how often those Aliens crash their spaceships. Are they all learner drivers?

They hire from NASA!

 

[Draconis]

In todays thoughts about this subject, I did wonder if perhaps the government's confirmation of aliens would actually cause mass hysteria. It certainly seems highly possible: Look at what happens when certain celebrities post up some picture on the internet.

And then there's the inevitable questions this would raise. Not least, "why didn't you say so before?" and "what do they want?" and worse still "are they hostile?"

Perhaps silence is a blessing.