Aliens the Latest Pop Culture Trend in Television and Movies?
by Mads Lennon March 17, 2019 (1428elm.com)
• Today, there is a general acceptance of sentient life beyond our planet. There is no denial of that unless you’re naive about the sheer size and space of our never-ending universe. But instead of fearing an invasion of alien species as in the past, now we are actively seeking them out. Thus our media and storytelling has transformed as well when it comes to aliens.
• In the distant past, primitive humans recorded UFO and extraterrestrials sightings with petroglyphs and cave art. The Puritans were among the first Europeans in America to see them. During the 1900’s, aliens were scarier to us because they represented a vastly evolved technological civilization.
• By the 1950’s, post-war hysteria, fear of Russian weaponry and rocket experimentation manifested in a wave of “flying saucer” sightings. People were afraid that their bodies would be used for experiments. People were afraid of modernization and the growing eye of big brother.
• But today, aliens represent our ascent and ownership of advanced technology and cyberspace. Our world has transformed and therefore so has our lore and our urban legends. As our own technology has evolved, it appears that the number of reported sightings and abductions, and the fear of them, have diminished.
• [Editor’s Note] This is the simplistic view of the modern mainstream philosopher. We feared the unknown in the past, and that manifested our collective fear of UFOs and extraterrestrials. But today we are used to advanced ‘space age’ technology and we no longer fear extraterrestrial technology, and therefore the UFO/ET threat is gone. Problem solved. This goes out of its way not to address the very existence of UFOs and our continuing interaction with extraterrestrials, and alludes that UFOs and ET are somehow not real. This discussion is meant to side-step the issue and keep a mind-controlled public in a state of blissful ignorance. It is time that our society woke up and addressed the ET issue head-on, and not through editorials suggesting that our perception of the VERY existence of UFOs and extraterrestrials is merely a societal reaction depending upon our species’ level of technological development.
When was the first time you learned about aliens? I remember being fascinated by the idea of their existence when I was younger.
First I was exposed to E.T. and then I would spend hours googling different stories of UFO sightings and encounters. I would pretend blips in the night sky were alien spacecrafts instead of boring airplanes. They permeated our culture, we have always had a fear and fascination of what lies beyond our small (in the grand scheme of things) place in the universe.
History of Extraterrestrial Sightings
Of course, UFO sightings have been part of our history for thousands of years. The Puritans were some of the first known Americans to see them. But there were signs of primitive humankind having their own theories about extraterrestrials too, with petroglyphs and cave art being found as evidential relics of prior beliefs.
1940 UFO sightings were far different than the UFO sightings and stories we hear about today; they evolve along with humankind. Aliens were scarier to us in the 1900s because they represented a vastly evolved technological civilization. As our technology has evolved, alien sightings have become more scarce.
The Smithsonian featured a fascinating article by writer Greg Eghigian about how UFO reports have evolved with the technology of the times.
“Flying saucers” weren’t actually common until the post-war hysteria, fear of Russian entanglement in American space and rocket experimentation manifested these visuals and terrors of foreign weaponry. Prior to the 1940s, alien sightings were more celestial in nature and less about the technological component.
I believe, today, aliens represent our ownership of technology. It explains why people used to fear abductions and invasions. Many sightings (research specific cases) were people afraid their bodies would be used to conduct experiments. People were afraid of modernization and the growing eye of big brother.
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