Can anyone explain the 'UFO=panic' thing to me?

[underpants]

Is it because we have all been told that it would?
Is it because of some religious thing-UFO prove that a GOD didn't create this world OR that GOD invented more than one (I thought they said he created the universe) and people can't handle that?
Is it that I haven't been properly programmed? (see above)


I seriously have never understood why the existence of UFO's would create panic or that anything akin to it.

Maybe it is just that I grew up when UFO's and such were starting to be talked about so it has been around my whole life. Maybe it is just a generational thing (I was never trained to think that my schooldesk would save me from a nuclear blast)

I seriously have no idea why this would be such a shattering event to people. A significant event in the world's history sure but does it really shake the foundations?


LBN thread here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2779253&mesg_id=2779253

[wuushew]

1. Watch the movie "Contact"

there are many thousands of Amerikans like that religious nut who destroys the first machine.

[MistressOverdone]

2. Well, could be that God is an alien

like Q on Star Trek? Omnipotent and all that. Or, maybe God is the God of aliens, too?

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Fear of the unkown

[skids]

20. Fear of the unknown inserted into bodily cavities.

:hide:

[GreenPartyVoter]

37. Well, that too.

[bagrman]

4. I would say it's the God thing, Religion is the opiate of the masses,

disprove it and the brass ring comes out of their noses.


Latr

[Bill McBlueState]

30. but would UFOs necessarily "disprove" religion?

I'm not religious, so maybe there's something I'm missing, but I'm not sure how UFOs would disprove religion.

[Solon]

34. Not UFOs themselves, but Alien intelligence...

Actually, personally, I think most religions would adapt, the Catholic Church already thought of this possibility and has officially proclaimed that any alien intelligences are "Children of God" and could be redeemed through Christ, though how they inherit "Original Sin" I have no idea.

Even more interesting, what about the religions of the Aliens themselves, who says the aliens would be atheistic at all, some might be, but some might not be either, I shudder to think that we could be on the wrong end of an alien "crusade".

[MayorCandidate08]

5. Because like everything else thy think we are children

They all think we can not handle it. Total lack of respect!!! if I win my election (and I have a good chance) if a UFO landed I would take pictures then invite them for some pizza and a press conference. Then move quickly and get the trademark :)
Peace my Brotha's and Sista's in the fight for freedom

[underpants]

7. Welcome to DU

:hi:

and good luck

[Sequoia]

22. Wecome Mr. Mayor!

Check out the Aurora, TX incident in 1897. Pretty cool story and those people totally believed the person who crashed and died was not from this world. Even said so in the newspaper of that time. Even the great inventor, Tesla believed in people from other worlds. Cool, so cool. Aliens probably think we earthlings are too nutty to bother with anyway except to scare us now and then with their pranks. I remember an old "B" movie (the best kind) from the early 1960s called "Teenagers From Outer Space" about some boys who go on a joy ride in one of their dad's ships and land on earth. A little dog barks at them and the mean one zaps him to a skeleton. The teenage earth girl finds her little dog and one of the other "nice boy" alien falls for her. I don't remember much more than that but ain't it just like a teenager to go joy riding in any culture.

[bigendian]

6. Silly human.

It isn't a question of where we come from but when we come from.

[meegbear]

8. It's like "Life, the Universe and Everything" ...

A planet in another galaxy believes they are the only planet with life in the universe. A spaceship crashes on the planet, proving that there is life elsewhere. So they decide to destroy all the other planets so they'll be the only life in the universe.

[eShirl]

9. because they might be Republican aliens.

[PVnRT]

10. UFO does not mean aliens

It means Unidentified Flying Object. Anything in the air that is unidentified is by definition a UFO when it is reported. Pilots see those kinds of things more than most people realize, and they always have some rational explanation.

[underpants]

11. Okay Jack

you know what I meant :grr:

I meant UFO with aliens in them. UFO's all by themselves, well we all know what THAT means lazy shiftless teenage aliens somewhere with X-Boxs and Wiis

[Amonester]

12. They've been "around" for thousands of years, maybe even millions...

and what have they ever done in the past that would cause anyone sane to panic?

Of course, there has been a few reports of abductions that not always were "funny" to go through (for the abductees), but that's rather "marginal" considering the sheer amount of data "collected" so far.

There really are no reasons to be "panicked" IMHO. I personally would love to "fly to the moon" (and beyond?) as long as they'd be really "friendly" and let me have a stunning peek at how this amazing universe "looks like" from their POV (and of course, if they'd let me post my observations live on DU!)! :loveya:

[WI_DEM]

13. No, the panic would be that they are superior to us and probably (if they wanted to) could destroy

us.

[soothsayer]

14. because we are prolly powerless against them, because it would

prolly create an earth consciousness instead of having dumb countries (not that i like a one world order---i hate the EU, and don't want the north american union either). because maybe they are technologically superior but look like african americans or something other than caucasian. lol, lots to fear! mostly because they are UNKNOWN

[tnlurker]

15. I think there is something about a Margeret Mead quote from

The fifties.

I'll try to google it.

[librechik]

16. the fundies would keel over if they found out Adam and Eve weren't God's only children

they are so narrow--and the earth being the center of the Universe? and flat? That would be gone. Creation in 7 days? Nope. Earth 6,000 years old? Forget it!

Pretty much the whole delusional structure of their lives woiuld come apart. Wouldn't it be a shame if they had to accept reality and come into the 21st century of science and reality?

Apparently it would. That's why they keep it secret.

Well, sometimes it slips out... (read my sig)

[mondo obscurius]

17. The UFO panic would be real but

The UFO panic would be real, but it's the political, religious and corporate owners who pull the strings that would be in a panic if word ever did get out. Imagine losing all that control at once when the curtain gets pulled back on the world criminals and power brokers that run things. None of them want the consumer population of the world to start thinking about what's actually possible, and what humanity's unlimited potential could really bring about for the future of our planet. Hell no! We just couldn't have that, now could we?
:beer:
m

[bananas]

18. That's what people do

You've never seen anyone panic?
Emotions are contagious, panic and hysteria spread like diseases.
edit: that's why you're not supposed to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater,
people will panic and get hurt.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=opera&rls=en&hs=E9r&q=%22line+of+sight%22+hysteria&btnG=Search

Mass Hysteria Among Learners at Mangaung hools in Bloemfontein ...It appears that what is common in all reported cases of mass anxiety hysteria is the transmission of the outbreak along "line of sight". ...
www.psychosocial.com/current_2002/MASS_HYSTERIA.HTML - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

Pokemon ContagionSymptoms are often spread through line of sight. Mass motor hysteria incubates more slowly than anxiety hysteria, and it develops in an atmosphere of ...
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/410728_4 - Similar pages

eMJA: “Mystery illness” at Melbourne Airport: toxic poisoning or ...Symptoms spread via line-of-sight, sound, or oral communication ... Bartholomew R, Wessely S. Epidemic hysteria in Virginia: the case of the phantom gasser ...
www.mja.com.au/public/issues/ 183_11_051205/bar10320_fm.html - 30k - Cached - Similar pages

<snip>

[tnlurker]

19. Okay I can't find it

But is was something about how society would break down if people knew about aliens here on earth. Religion would change radically and people would start worshiping them like the pacific islanders worshiped the WWII airmen during and after WWII.

[mondo obscurius]

23. Who says we aren't doing that now?

"...people would start worshiping them like the pacific islanders worshiped the WWII airmen during and after WWII."

Angels, demons, immortal beings, sky gods, fiery chariots, clouds of glory... Looks like we've got one hell of a cargo cult going here already.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
~Arthur C. Clark

mo

[Phoonzang]

26. It was the Brookings Report. nt

[tnlurker]

43. Thanks

I think that is what I was referring to. But I thought Mead had something to do with it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. I could never figure out why they'd bother coming here.

If your were a species advanced enough to travel between galaxies, why would you pick this one? And, why would you concern yourself with another species that haven't even reached the point of intelligence to look after themselves?

But, of course, we're very important...in our own eyes.

[Amonester]

25. What if (at least for some of them, or a majority of them) would not...

"have to travel between galaxies" but just "around the Sun," like they would have to if they were "based" on a planet that orbits on the same path as this one here, except that "we" never could see it (because it's always "eclipsed by the BIG star between us and them")?

I think there should be some "new" project aimed at "investigating" that very "simple" possibility by the NASA community...

Of course, it may be only "moi" but I doubt I am the only one thinking this could be IT.

[underpants]

27. Maybe that *IS* it

they send a scout team by every once in a while to see how we are doing but the reports are all the same

*bzzz* klp1 to rebulla

rebulla here go ahead

*bzzz*Yeah no change here they are are still in their Oil Age

okay thanks. rebulla out

(silence)

*bzzzz* can I say it?

klp1 you know we aren't supposed to play around on this..oh okay say it klp1 you are such a smartass

*bzzz* Seacrest OUT!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. You may be right. I forgot the amusement factor.

"Wow, look at those idiots. They actually think that they're important enough for us to worry about."

[Amonester]

39. Maybe it's "the other way around" and looking at the repukes MOB

these days... I wouldn't blame them to panic as they witness the bu$che doctrine of war criminality everywhere there's a trillion buck$ to be robbed...

Let's hope they don't start thinking of adopting the same $ick doctrine to us ants...
:scared:

[Solon]

33. Actually, this brings up an interesting possibility...

Alright, the Galaxy is about 100,000 light years wide, give or take a few, that means that the first civilization that is able to travel from star to star will colonize the ENTIRE galaxy in a few million years. The Galaxy is old, so this is a believable scenario. The problem is that we see little to no evidence of this. Theoretically, we should be picking up radio "chatter" from possibly dozens of intelligent species from various different points throughout the galaxy. But we don't, we also have an additional problem in that life, or at least the building blocks for life, seem to be prolific throughout the galaxy, so the question is why haven't we picked up this "chatter". Well, we could simply be scanning the wrong frequencies, or we simply don't have the technology to pick up this chatter. Who says it is radio at all, it could be tachyon communication, which would make sense to try to keep contact with various different sections of a galaxy.

But, in a scenario like that, where does it leave Earth, Earth should have been colonized years ago, or at least the solar system utilized for collecting or producing energy, or used for solar system engineering. Yet we see no evidence of that. Its possible, though improbable, that we are literally surrounded by either a single or many different civilizations, utilizing technologies that we can't even dream of yet, and could have a prohibition in place preventing the development of "emerging" solar systems with life sustainable planets already present in them. In a case like that, its certainly possible that survey missions and the like have taken place in the past, and that humans witnessed some of these missions. I don't think we would be no more than a curiosity though, considering how primitive we would be to a Galaxy spanning civilization.

Then again, I'm just speculating. :)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. I think they'd (if there is a "they") would look on us the way we look at ants.

And, I'm being generous. Perhaps a fungus or bacterium.

We are so convinced that we are the epitome of evolution that we place "aliens" in the same status that we place "god(s)". A bigger, brighter, version of ourselves, anthropomorphized to resemble us in the way we think, feel, and see the universe. The "good" aliens are like our nice side. The "evil" aliens like our bad.

I find the concept of beings from other star systems whizzing around Shitkicker, Arkansas or Dogpiss, Texas, while simultaneously hiding from us, absurd.

[Solon]

38. It could have been tourists on a safari, though I don't see how entertaining that...

would be. Kinda like how humans go out in the African savanna to look at the Lions and shit. If my speculations are the truth, then they actually aren't that far away from us, as far as we know the triple star system closest to us(Alpha Centauri A&B plus Proxima Centauri) could be inhabited and they are only about 4 light years away.

[Richard D]

41. You're assuming . . .

. . that they'd use radio.

[Richard D]

40. The explanation is simple

>If your were a species advanced enough to travel between galaxies, why would you pick this one?

Pizza and take-out Chinese. Pad Thai too.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

44. Throw in some Tums and skip the Kimchee.

[Catherine Vincent]

24. Are you saying if some alien comes walking through your front door,

you wouldn't panic? I sure as heck would. :)

[underpants]

31. What? like if they didn't knock?

:bounce:

Yeah that would scare me a bit I am sure but I am talking about you know REAL LIFE ....seeing it on the TV

[lectrobyte]

28. Panic? I'd hope for something more like CE3K than Independence Day,

but that's just me. But seriously, I suppose there'd have to be a huge panic. After all, we (humanity) might be seen as termites or fungus messing up an otherwise perfectly delightful planet. Or maybe North America:Settlers:Indians::Earth:Aliens:Humans

[bananas]

29. Can anyone explain the obsession with religion on DU?

Can anyone explain the 'tsunami=panic' thing to me?
Remember how they didn't give out the tsunami warnings because they thought people would panic?
Remember how a lot of atheists paniced when they saw a tidal wave heading towards them?
Why did atheists panic when they saw a tidal wave coming towards them?

[Justice Is Comin]

35. If an intelligence that superior to

our military and technical wizardry existed that our government would have to acknowledge, it would cause mass panic. We think we are invulnerable and superior to anything on the earth and our defense systems could protect against anything.

If UFO's were acknowledged, it would be the admission that we could be vaporized at their will. And I believe we could.

In my opinion they don't "travel" in the cosmos. There would be some evidence trackable by radar or independent sky scanners looking for other intelligent life.

They are able to do it with something similar to a time machine. They instantly appear and disappear in different dimensions at will. Our government knows it and that's what is scaring the shit out of them right now. They are trying to reverse engineer to this threat before an event happens that will unequivocally prove they have been hiding it.

If I ever saw one, I would be knocking on the door of the ship to let me in.

[bonito]

42. It's because we might become hamburger

Like we do cows :shrug:

[Richard Steele]

45. Every "significant event in the world's history" has shaken SOMEONE's foundations.

The real risk is -NOT- that the general public would
suddenly burn it's cities to the ground, it's that
the people in power might not hold so much power anymore.

They can't predict why or how such a shakeup might play out,
therefore the possibility must not be allowed to exist.

How much DIFFERENCE would it make to the average person? Not
so much, aside from more TV watching for a few weeks.

But to the elite 1/2 percent who CONTROL society, the FICTION
that our society is the best it can be is a major foundation
block of that control. The fiction that we NEED them to maintain
society is built into society itself.

The sudden appearance of a more advanced, completely external
society threatens that, and threatening that just might ultimately
threaten the stability of the narrow social pyramid they have
built to perch atop. They don't know, so they can't afford to
run the risk.

[Odin2005]

46. This crap nothing but the modern equivalent of people saying they saw demons or angels.

That fact that people who are supposedly "abducted by aliens" always describe them as the anthropomorphic creatures of popular imagination tells me all I need to know. The chance that another sentient being would look similar to us is pretty much zero.