New York Times : UFOs "Out of our Minds"

The New York Times website has an interesting article about the (supposedly) diminishing interest in real UFO reports.

www.nytimes.com...

"Out of This World, Out of Our Minds"

... we seem to have drifted apart: sightings rarely capture the popular imagination. Now that cellphone cameras are all but ubiquitous, there isn’t a moment that can’t be snapped — so if the truth really were out there, we’d see it. And we haven’t.

That isn’t to say that the number of sightings has dwindled. ...

“The community of sighters has really expanded through digital technology — on a global basis,” said Neil McGinness, the chief executive of Weekly World News. “It really speeds up now because the chatter on the Web — it just burns like crazy.” And The Weekly World News, the happy home of Bat Boy and other paranormal stories, is happily receptive. Alien stories draw readers and reader comments — “probably more so than any other phenomenon,” he said.

But these days, U.F.O. sightings rarely cause a stir outside of Mr. McGinness’s pages or Web sites for buffs, says John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. “The ‘Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky’ no longer resonates with the public the way it did when a tricorder or talking computers seemed miraculous,” he said.

Even when incidents break out of the buff ghetto nowadays, smarty-pants killjoys often come up with perfectly reasonable explanations. Take the recent spiraling light over Australia, which many took to be a U.F.O. It was quickly tied to the launch of Falcon 9, the spacecraft created by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX.

...
Of course, the odds are steeply against humans being the only life in the vastness of the universe. The blunt reality of distance measured in light-years, however, makes travel between the stars unlikely.

Still, we hold on to the mysteries left to us, savoring guilty pleasures like Larry King’s alien (check the picture — that could be a family resemblance) and not trying too hard to understand phenomena like the Marfa lights. On this planet, where a hole in the ground of our own making spews millions of gallons of toxic slush, surely it’s O.K. to hope that there’s intelligent life, well, somewhere.

Given the number of UFO/alien movies that are still being made (not to mention the number of documentaries and websites), I haven't noticed interest in UFOs disappearing.

Okay, the level of interest has probably dropped significantly since its recent high-point during the early years of the X-Files, but the level of interest in UFOs has always had its ups and downs.

All the best,

Isaac



[edit on 3-7-2010 by IsaacKoi]

If it's the NYT, then we can assume that there is an agenda at play since the NYT is just the media wing of the US government.

I'm not so sure that I believe in UFOs as in ET visiting our planet or in UFOs period, as I haven't seen one nor have I seen proof of one, however by the NYT trying to play down this phenomenon, it just makes me believe a little more that they might exist. I'll add this to the evidence that the government is trying to hide something.

--airspoon

[edit on 3-7-2010 by airspoon]

I am sure they probably have some pretty good information there. The advancements in home technology have done a great deal to diminish my interest in the topic. When I first found ATS, each UFO thread I saw was worth at least a glance if not more serious study.

Now?

Thanks to youtube and video-phones, there has not been one good UFO thread in a looooooooooong time. However, there have been about twice as many that pop up. They just die off faster because there is nothing to discuss after the first post pointing out it is nothing but lights in the sky.

Then there are all the advancements in photo editing software that make it so much easier to hoax old photos so we get all those jokers. I spent most of my life having a pretty strong interest in UFOs. What I have seen growing over the last few years has only made my interest shrink and relegate it to the field of old cases that are still interesting.

reply to post by IsaacKoi

... we seem to have drifted apart: sightings rarely capture the popular imagination. Now that cellphone cameras are all but ubiquitous, there isn’t a moment that can’t be snapped — so if the truth really were out there, we’d see it. And we haven’t.

???

They ae indeed out of their minds!

Most UFO footage of the past few years come from low-end camcorders or cell phone cams. On what drugs NYT journlists are!?

I think the people on the article are drawing the wrong conclusions, I dont think people lack interest necessarily. Its more complicated.

The truth is that the rise in 'sightings' isn't a rise in real useful evidence that would convince the man in the street. The signal to noise ratio is poor

Instead its a rise of poor CGI hoaxes and pointless footage of distant lights taken on cellphones. (You see it regularly on here).

People see unbelievable things on TV all day so they are conditioned to distrust video. We live in a world where even advertising has photorealistic fakes.

Pre-recorded video has become so debased by our ability to manipulate that I dont believe video footage will ever be convincing to the public. Only a mass sighting captured and broadcast live.

Its ironic that the same tech that made video evidence easier to collect also devalued it...

reply to post by K J Gunderson


just noticed my post pretty much says exactly the same thing as yours in different words... I wasn't copying honest. :-)

Originally posted by justwokeup
reply to post by K J Gunderson

 

just noticed my post pretty much says exactly the same thing as yours in different words... I wasn't copying honest. :-)

LOL! I would never think you were. I see that happen all the time around here and I am certainly guilty of it myself.

If anything, it helps to know I am not the only one who feels that way. I really have been bummed lately that of all the UFO threads I have clicked on, not one has been worth looking at in months and even then it was rare. It really bums me out but I am glad to know it is not just my crazy perception of things.

Honestly, I am surprised this thread is not filled with people all pointing out the same thing.

I would like to add, that even hoaxes have completely become too mundane to bother with. Billy Meier was a fascinating story to follow for me. I enjoyed every video, website, article, speech, etc. about the topic. I never bought it, but I enjoyed it.

Even that was at least more interesting than "Bug on the windscreen, next." and "streetlight behind trees, next."

Nice to know I have company in some of my thoughts about this. I think you added some interesting aspects though. The sound to noise ratio analogy had not occurred to me. I saw it more as a lack of genuinely interesting cases but I think you are more correct in that they are still there, we just don't see them buried under the 20 different short films of an airplane at night.

[edit on 3-7-2010 by K J Gunderson]

reply to post by IsaacKoi
Looking at the article through a critical eye reveals one or two errors of logic. The suggested lack of public interest in the anniversary of Roswell or the Arnold sighting doesn't necessarily lead to the conclusion that public interest has waned. Evidence to the contrary is here in this particular forum. For example, nobody has written an anniversary thread or even referred to the dates mentioned. To an extent, they are focused on incidents and evidence that haven't been explored ad infinitum.

Citing Phil Plait, the Norway Spiral and Weekly World News in favour of the argument is inviting incredulity. Bad Astronomy is a great website and one I refer to often. At the same time, Phil Plait doesn't consider himself as a commentator on UFOs or UFO history. The Norway Spiral and WWN are just red herrings and filler to the article.

The simple point the article makes is that Roswell's 63rd anniversary has passed unnoticed. The author has chosen to make this seem somehow significant. Perhaps a slow news day and idle thought led to the article?

Wow, NYT is stooping low here...

Now that cellphone cameras are all but ubiquitous, there isn’t a moment that can’t be snapped — so if the truth really were out there, we’d see it. And we haven’t.

C'mon guys, I thought you were smart over there in NY!

Appeal to probability: assumes that because something could happen, it is inevitable that it will happen. This is the premise on which Murphy's Law is based.

Negative proof fallacy: that, because a premise cannot be proven false, the premise must be true; or that, because a premise cannot be proven true, the premise must be false.

Source

I'd type more, but I think that is enough.

Of course its their agenda, the experiences are beyond sitings for many now, and there are countless citizens, not their cia plants, who are experiencing contact/abduction or who have memories buried, and stirrings of awareness. The entire "ownership" of what they consider, truth and technology is being played out, but they will lose.

It's true - we are still waiting for the "Holy Grail" UFO video.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the UFOs have the ability to interfere with or block our ability to video record them clearly. If they can travel interstellar surely they can protect themselves against discovery.

I do not care one bit for ufo photos and films, as anyone alive today knows, most will be cons.

The interest in the subject definitely has gone down, as there is no real new info.

The subject is boring these days, and i do not care for one, of any threads normally in last few years in this forum.

reply to post by IsaacKoi

“Could it be an alien visitor from another world? No, I don’t think so. In fact, I think it is another world. Venus, to be specific.”

you know i am getting tried of the same lame old saying
Its either venus or mercuy thats getting pretty old.

The last lie you debunkers used was jupiter but then you realzed you cant use jupiter sicne its far away so you now are using either moon, veuns or mercuy for every footage

Phil Plait, the creator of the debunk-eriffic Bad Astronomy blog at Discovermagazine.com, says that on the one hand, digital media “may be hurting the cause of reality: such nonsense gets spread much faster than it used to.”

such nonsense gets spread much faster than it used to.”

I find these websites untrusty worthy, i also think the entire media has an
agenda by saying its all nonsense really come on? so even the stories from the military are also nonsense then?


www.youtube.com...
www.youtube.com...

So all those stories and eyewittens accounts are nonsense right?

When will the media ever grow the hell up?
hack Ny times ratings are going down



whos still reading this junk?

[edit on 3-7-2010 by Agent_USA_Supporter]

In my opinion, it's because of a greater polarity between believers and non-believers. The hardcore believers have given up on convincing the non-believers that what they believe is the truth, while the non-believers are so smugly self-assured that they don't try as hard to debunk as they used to. For example, I am not a "Believe anything" sort of believer, but those videos that may not come with overwhelming evidence I file away as pending, rather than going the extra step and just dismissing them because the evidence is not immediately infallible. I live my life as if it's common knowledge that the US and other governments are working with aliens in their network of underground bases and I really don't care if anyone else likes that or not.

Originally posted by justwokeup
video has become so debased by our ability to manipulate that I dont believe video footage will ever be convincing to the public. Only a mass sighting captured and broadcast live.

Yet I frequently see posters on ATS (and other UFO forums) asking for photos/videos of a sighting, often accompanied by statements such as "no pics = it didn't happen".

I've never understood that viewpoint.

At best, pictures add support to witness testimony - the witness remains an essential element, all too often ignored if there are some pictures to look at.