Tag: Gallup poll

Why Would Our Government Lie About Aliens?

 

Article by Sarah Scoles                            February 29, 2020                                   (slate.com)

• A 2019 Gallup poll revealed that 68 percent of Americans believe that the government is hiding information about aliens and UFOs from the public. Thirty-three percent of respondents said that they believe UFOs are alien spacecraft from other worlds. So why then would the government lie about aliens? Sarah Scoles, the author of the book: They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers,offers perspective and possible answers.

• The government alone has the means, motive and opportunity to maintain a cover-up of aliens and UFOs. Even US presidents’ security clearances are need-to-know. On Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2014, Bill Clinton revealed that during his time in office, he’d asked his people to look into both Area 51 and the Roswell files. He was denied access to those secrets. When Kimmel asked whether Clinton would tell the public if he discovered that extraterrestrials, or ‘ET’, were here, Clinton replied, “yeah.” Is this simply part of the cover-up?

• The government’s primary means of cover-up is its authority to classify information, making it a crime to disclose to the public. Such secrets can be sequestered to massive military bases. The notoriously secretive Area 51 Air Force installation in Nevada spans 2.9 million acres – twice the size of Delaware. Military guards at Area 51 are authorized to use “deadly force” against civilians who try to storm the base. This is a lot of security for a base whose existence the Air Force denied until 2013. There must be something truly incredible going on inside there.

• The government has proven that it is adept at cover-ups. When the public rumor-mill heard about a “UFO” crash near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, the Air Force used this as a cover-up for what the crash “debris” really was – a spy balloon under the ‘top secret’ Project Mogul. The point is that the US government is not above resorting to decades-long cover-ups.

• Is the government’s motive to cover-up the ET presence due to a fear of hostile ETs, or the fear of benevolent ETs ushering in an era of peace? The existence of any sort of extraterrestrials would unite us Earthlings. It would transcend national borders as we contemplated our place in a galaxy possibly teeming with life. What if benevolent ETs brought us technologies like free energy devices, warp drive propulsion, self-contained life support systems and the blueprints for spaceships? Such a technological renaissance would be a high-tech respite from international conflict.

• But under such a benevolent scenario, those currently benefiting and making a fortune off of the fossil fuel energy status quo would oppose it. A truly global society could topple national-level leadership. While ET technology would be good for the little guy, it would negatively affect the ‘powers that be’. Or perhaps the ‘powers that be’ already have such alien technology and want to keep these only to themselves. Perhaps the government wants to hide free “zero-point energy” from the public to keep big companies in business, and therefore keep the people poor and dependent on them. Or maybe the US military wants to keep this advanced technology hidden from foreign nations, giving the US an unbeatable advantage.

• No one really knows how the public would actually react to the sudden existence of extraterrestrials. In 1953, the CIA sponsored a small group of scientists and military personnel to evaluate the national security risks UFOs. Known as the Robertson Panel report, these experts warned that the public’s revelation of the existence of extraterrestrials among us would give the Soviets an opening to sow mass hysteria and panic in the United States. This sort of reasoning concludes that such hysteria could result in ‘more spying, more assassinations, the dissolution of religion’ and an increase in radicalism. This gave the government a legitimate national interest to protect.

• Alternatively, these extraterrestrials could represent an apocalyptic threat as in the movies War of the Worlds, Independence Day, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Or maybe these aliens are benign or anti-social, and the government has determined that we are simply better off without them without making a big deal about it. The possible answers to why the government would choose to cover up the extraterrestrial presence spans a whole spectrum: They’d cause too much peace, make too much chaos, give too many people too much technology, or they’d just be a real disappointment. Believers can choose the one that makes most sense to them or tick off “all of the above.” But all of this has one certain result – there is enough of a narrative here to give ET/UFO conspiracists solid ground to support their conspiracy theories.

 

If you think the government has more information about UFOs than it’s letting on, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in the majority. A 2019 Gallup poll revealed 68 percent of people feel that way. Thirty-three percent of all respondents said that they believe UFOs were built by aliens from outer space.

The Venn diagram center of those two groups clings to one of the most enduring conspiracy theories: The Government (it’s always with a capital G for believers) is squirreling away information about alien spacecraft. This idea appears, and has for years, on internet forums, social media, TV shows, memes, movies, and, of course, fiction, like Max Barry’s “It Came From Cruden Farm.”

Almost as interesting as any government secret is why it’s kept secret. And for alien UFOs, the conspiratorial answers span a whole spectrum: They’d cause too much peace, make too much chaos, give too many people too much technology, or, maybe—as is the case in Barry’s story—just be a real disappointment. Because the why here has so many potential answers, believers can choose the one that makes most sense to them or tick off “all of the above.”

Even powerful politicians, it turns out, think there may be more to the saucer story than meets the public eye. That’s why, when presidents become presidents, sometimes they, too, take an interest in the extraterrestrial. On Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2014, for instance, Bill Clinton revealed that during his time in office, he’d asked his people to look into both the Area 51 and Roswell files. “If you saw that there were aliens there, would you tell us?” Kimmel asked.

“Yeah,” said Clinton. (But if you’re inclined to believe in a cover-up, isn’t this affirmative just further evidence of disinformation?)

The president in Max Barry’s story similarly uses his power to seek out ufological secrets—immediately after his inauguration. The Air Force chief of staff, to the president’s surprise but perhaps not the reader’s, confesses that, yes, there is a specimen from space. It is, just as last year’s would-be raiders suspected, tucked away inside Area 51, a notoriously secretive Air Force installation in Nevada, whose existence wasn’t officially acknowledged till 2013 (although, you know, we knew).

It makes a certain sense that in this story, and in popular consciousness, the government holds these celestial secrets. After all, it alone meets the classic criteria of guilt: Means. Motive. Opportunity. Those elements make the conspiratorial conviction feel juuuust plausible enough. And if a hypothetical narrative is juuuust plausible enough, adherents have juuuust enough ground to remain standing on it—which is part of why this conspiracy theory has long, sturdy legs.

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One Third of Americans Think Alien UFOs Have Visited Earth

Listen to “E100 9-18-19 One Third of Americans Think Alien UFOs Have Visited Earth” on Spreaker.

Article by Andrew Whalen                     September 6, 2019                       (newsweek.com)

• A new Gallup poll of 1,522 adults in the United States found that one-third of respondents believe that “some UFOs have been alien spacecraft visiting Earth from other planets or galaxies”.

• Carving out a demographic of young people, non-college graduates, and non-religious people, 40% believe that UFOs are from alien worlds. But no category fell below 27% in believing in extraterrestrial visitors. People in Western USA were more likely to believe in alien UFOs, while Mid-Westerners were the least likely to believe. But the belief in an alien presence was generally consistent across gender identity and income groups.

• Although the majority of Americans don’t believe aliens are visiting our planet, 3/4 do believe that extraterrestrial life exists on other planets. Half of Americans believe that “people somewhat like ourselves exist elsewhere in the universe.”

• While the extraterrestrial explanation for the UFO phenomena represents only a substantial minority of the United States, a large majority agree that the government of the United States knows “more about UFOs than it is telling us.” The percentage of those suspicious of the US government today is 68%, while a 1996 poll showed it was 71%. Gallup says that this belief is “similar among all main demographic groups,” including political party identification. It is surprising that this percentage has dipped slightly with the recent revelations from mainstream outlets such as the New York Times and Politico of the US Navy encountering UFOs.

• Meanwhile, actual UFO sightings have increased from a low of 9% in 1978 and 1987, to 16% of US adults saying they’ve seen a UFO in 2019.

 

A new Gallup poll of 1,522 adults in the United States found that one-third of respondents believe extraterrestrial spacecraft are visiting Earth.

When asked to choose between “some UFOs have been alien spacecraft visiting Earth from other planets or galaxies” and “all UFO sightings can be explained by human activity on Earth or natural phenomenon,” 33 percent of all adults polled selected the first option.

Demographic groups more likely to believe in visiting alien spaceships include the young (18-29), non-college graduates and the irreligious, with respondents in those categories trending toward 40 percent. But even with variation across demographic groups, no category fell below 27 percent of respondents describing some UFOs as alien spacecraft.

The poll even found an interesting regional bump, with people from the West far more likely to prefer the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Midwesterners, on the other hand, were most skeptical of aliens coming to this planet. Belief in extraterrestrial vessels entering Earth’s atmosphere was consistent across gender identity and within the margin of sampling error across income groups.

While the majority of Americans don’t believe aliens are visiting our planet, three-quarters believe that extraterrestrial life exists on other planets, with half of Americans going further and agreeing that “people somewhat like ourselves exist elsewhere in the universe.”

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US Millennials Believe NASA Faked the Moon Landing and UFOs Visit Earth

Listen to “E42 7-26-19 US Millennials Believe NASA Faked the Moon Landing and UFOs Visit Earth” on Spreaker.

Article by Sebastian Kettley                   July 17, 2019                  (express.co.uk)

• Half-a-century after the Apollo 11 astronauts were televised landing on the Moon, one-in-10 Americans believe that NASA faked the whole thing, according to a new poll by SatelliteInternet.com. The number of people who doubt the Moon landing has risen over the last 20 years. A 1999 Gallup poll found that only six percent of Americans doubted the official NASA story.

• Young people, known as ‘Millennials’, make up 18% of these “truthers” who doubt the official NASA version of the mission. Rebecca Lee Armstrong, of SatelliteInternet.com, said, “[M]ore Moon landing conspiracists pop up with every new generation.” She added, “Millennials and Gen Z’ers between the ages of 18 and 34 are six times more likely to believe that NASA pulled the biggest con of the twentieth century than people who were actually around for the first Moon landing are.” 35 to 54 year old’s account for 8%, and Americans over 54 account for 3% who doubt the government. Those who witnessed the Moon landing live on television in 1969 were least likely to question the event.

• About 75% of Moon landing conspiracists also believe that aliens have visited our planet.

• Of those denying that the Moon landing ever happened, 41% think the US flag “waving” on the Moon was a dead giveaway. 53% of Moon landing deniers believe that the actual Moon landing occurred later than 1969. And 98% fear the government spies on its citizens through technology. 51% are also convinced NASA never landed a robotic rover on Mars.

• In response to these naysayers, NASA’s reply was, “Yes, we did.”

• [Editor’s Note]   Since NASA is famous for ‘Never A Straight Answer’, it is no wonder that so many Americans harbor doubts about the 1969 Moon landing, especially the younger ones who have not spent a lifetime being indoctrinated by Deep State disinformation. NASA and the Deep State have always denied the truth of the mission.  The truth is that several large and menacing alien spacecraft directly oversaw the entire event, in plain view, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Lunar Module on the Moon and took a “giant leap for mankind”. On a secure NASA medical radio frequency, Armstrong relayed to mission control the presence of ‘Santa Clause’, code for alien craft. Anticipating this, NASA had “B” roll film footage of fake Moon scenes created by Stanley Kubrick using the sets from his movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, although they never resorted to using this film footage during the televised event. They were able to edit the footage to hide the alien presence. The aliens did not want them to return. This is the reason why NASA never embarked on any new missions to the Moon after the Apollo missions were completed. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were sworn to secrecy under the threat of harm to the men and their families. Armstrong lived a reclusive life, rarely giving interviews and only confirming the presence of alien craft to close family and friends. Aldrin has been more outspoken, although cryptic in his public statements, especially in recent years.

 

NASA landed the first man on the Moon 50 years ago this month on July 20, 1969. The Apollo 11 mission saw astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins fly to the Moon and back. But half-a-century later, conspiracists still doubt NASA with one-in-10 Americans accusing the space agency of faking the Moon landing. A new poll conducted ahead of the 50th Apollo 11 anniversary has found the highest number of these so-called truthers fall within the millennial age bracket.

According to the survey by SatelliteInternet.com, the number of people who doubt the Moon landing has risen in the last 20 years.

In 1999, a Gallup poll found only six percent of Americans doubted the official NASA story.

The most recent survey, however, has found 10 percent of Americans do not believe the Moon landing was real.

Of those who doubt the 1969 Moon landing, 18 percent are millennials and “Gen Zers” aged 18 to 34.

Rebecca Lee Armstrong, of SatelliteInternet.com, said in a report: “Survey results showed that more Moon landing conspiracists pop up with every new generation.

“Millennials and Gen Zers between the ages of 18 and 34 are six times more likely to believe that NASA pulled the biggest con of the twentieth century than people who were actually around for the first Moon landing are.

“Younger participants were also more likely to identify as flat-Earthers, but that’s more of a global problem.”
Those aged 35 to 54 only account for about eight percent of Moon landing deniers.

Another three percent of those who deny the Moon landing are aged 54 or older.

According to the survey, those who witnessed the Moon landing unfold live on television were least likely to question the event.

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