Me, Myself and UFOs

I was surprised by the mention of UFOs in the readings this week, and I was especially surprised by the prevalence of how these things affected the religious landscape of America during the late 1940s and 50s.

Checkmate UFO deniers... From ufoevidence.org

When I was younger, I had a small fascination with UFOs that manifested itself in watching many terrible documentaries and hunting for really spotty/grainy videos at the video rental store (this was before the Internet). Do you remember that "Alien Autopsy" they showed on Fox back in the 90s?

Yeah, I was all over that as a kid.

I even went to Roswell, New Mexico on a trip with my Dad. To the UFO museum, specifically. I even got a blow-up green Alien toy. It was a pretty fun vacation.

Found it. Thanks Amazon!

Okay, maybe a "small" fascination doesn't really accurately cover what I was doing.

Anyway, I never really believed any of it, I was just a nerd who thought this was a fun time and a funny way to spend the night joking around with "documentaries," but now with a little bit more background knowledge on the context of the UFO movement, so much of what I thought was strange as a child makes much more sense.

A lot of the UFO community seems to have an underlying influence of New Age philosophy that tends to blend in well with those who frequent related conventions or message boards. I always thought there was something quasi-religious about the whole thing, even as a kid, what with people talking about how UFOs tend to show up on powerful ley lines, or that they (the aliens) were coming to help the world solve its problems. I also wondered why these books were lodged in the metaphysical section of the bookstore, next to books on crystal healing or Tarot cards. As a kid, not really being familiar with the "New Age" movement, it led me to believe that this knowledge was somehow "hidden" or "forbidden," and that there must be some connection between all of these things. There also seemed to be a correlation between non-traditional lifestyles and a belief in aliens, a type of idea that I now know is heavily inspired by various New Age and Neopaganism philosophies.

Nowhere is this more prevalent now than with the Ancient Aliens Theory. I'm sure you're familiar with the theory: Aliens visited the planet early in mankind's life and helped genetically create modern humans while building various large structures across the Earth. This theory seems to take what was hinted at or semi-talked about in previous UFO movements and expands it into an overtly religious and mythical context. In the past, I would hear things such as "Aliens are here and want to help;" today, the Ancient Alien Theory seems to say "Aliens were here, we worshiped them as gods, and we are created by them." Needless to say, this spoke to the young Eric in me, and I'd be interested to see if there are any anthropological studies or religious studies done about the connection between this particular subject and our current society.

The History Channel constantly plays these shows. From an academic standpoint, it's an infuriating and fascinating choice. What is it about this show and this theory that speaks to people? I know this is not a novel concept: H.P. Lovecraft talks about aliens creating mankind all the time, and that was back in the early 20th century. UFO cults are not new... What is going on today that makes people tune in to the History Channel and watch this show over and over?

I just checked... This has been on for NINE SEASONS. THERE'S BEEN NINE SEASONS WORTH OF MATERIAL FOR THIS... From Whatculture.com

Perhaps it is the growing number of people willing to "try on" different religions and different traditions. As we discussed in class, perhaps the loosening of the societal norms kicked off by feminism movement in the 60s is still being done today with people wanting to find something that personally speaks to them and their desires for religious experiences.

Or maybe people really just like aliens.

Why not? Aliens are cool.