UFOs Have Reached the Tipping Point
As public awareness surges, we can celebrate the attention without ceding control of the narrative to government and corporate media interests.
Malcolm Gladwell popularized the notion of the tipping point, which he defines as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” Once that point is reached, something that most people never noticed or thought about suddenly starts showing up everywhere, be it a catchphrase, trendy gadget, or an idea. For UFOs, it seems we are at that point. The idea has taken hold, the stigma is being shed, and the scales have tipped.
It doesn’t really matter if the tipping point resulted from the recent segment on 60 Minutes, documentaries like James Fox’s The Phenomenon, in-depth articles like the recent one by The New Yorker, increased sightings due to less light pollution and more time outdoors, or government actions to bring more transparency. All of these factors, among others, are converging to bring UFOs out of the shadows and into the mainstream. People who had never given it any thought suddenly are paying attention and being rather thoughtful about it. Sure, there are still some jokes, but people seem to be listening in a way they hadn’t before.
This is a wonderful thing. It is also why it matters more than ever how we talk about the phenomenon. As the audience grows, so does the responsibility to treat this topic with integrity, objectivity, and a touch of humility. The truth is that no one can speak with absolute authority on this subject. Not the government, the sciences, academia, or even UFO researchers and experiencers. We are all piecing together the grander puzzle, doing the best we can with the bits of evidence, indications, and observations available to us as humans. Instead of trying to mold this emerging public awareness into a single picture, be it toward fear, hope, or something else, we should invite the newly curious into the mystery to do their own exploration and form their own opinions. We should not steal from anyone the magic of these fascinating moments.
Media Influence
Unquestionably, the mainstream news media, including corporations behind CNN, Fox News, and The New York Times, have played a significant role in raising awareness of the UFO topic, largely because the government is giving them news to cover. For those of us interested in disclosure, this seems like a positive thing. Some believe that the possibility of UFOs and extraterrestrial life will never be taken seriously until the government and mass media confirm what so many of us already know. There is certainly some truth to that. But to rely on them to own the UFO story risks letting them botch it or co-opt it for their own ends.
On the one hand, polls show that a growing segment of the American population does not trust traditional media, with one survey finding 58% of respondents agree with the statement: “Most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public.” This is on full display everyday, particularly on cable news, where bias and bad info are commonplace. In an accidental admission, the technical director at CNN, Charlie Chester, told an undercover journalist about how the network actively stokes fear for ratings, like playing up COVID death rates. As Chester said, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
On the other hand, lots of people still turn on the nightly news and take it at face value, particularly older generations. Other people who are inclined to distrust the news media in one area, like politics, may trust it for others, like health or world events. For a topic like UFOs, where uncertainty is high and the unknowns are many, people may be increasingly susceptible to believing whatever government spokespeople and media moguls want them to believe. We saw this with the pandemic in an unprecedented way, with the added step of censoring and pillorying alternative views.
Knowing that news outlets rely on our attention for their profits, we can see why they would prefer a dramatic UFO narrative that scares people over one that doesn’t, provided it doesn’t terrify us so much that we turn off the TV and run for the hills. This preference for scary stories is naturally served when the dominant voice is the military, which is trained to view everything as a potential threat so as to try to protect us from it. I’ve written before that there are legitimate reasons to be cautious, but letting the government and mainstream media (yes, even The New York Times) frame the narrative around threat, incursion, and military response would be akin to the blind men touching the elephant. We might only be led to the tusk and told to fear its sharpness. That would serve to shrink our consciousness not expand it.
Power to the People
There are many ways to guard against this topic being co-opted and manipulated for political and corporate ends. For example, we can stay vigilant to potential agendas and biases at play by closely examining government and media reports. When a story hits, we can ask ourselves: Who is the source? Who benefits from the public believing this to be true? Have they included alternative views? How might this connect to existing policy pushes? What else is happening while we are focused on this?
We can also reclaim the narrative by talking to the people in our lives about our perspectives and experiences. We can put the phenomenon in its larger context, which goes far beyond government disclosure and leaked navy videos. By being balanced in our communications and avoiding dualistic, salvation or annihilation thinking, we create space for people to ponder and stretch their thinking. From that inquisitive space, we allow people to reach their own conclusions on what this mystery means for them. Those people can then engage others based on their own thoughts as opposed to prescribed media messages, which creates a virtuous cycle of discourse.
The government is an important partner and it is great that it is finally starting to talk about UFOs more transparently. But let us not forget that they are the ones who have been hiding information and lying to us and who are trying to carefully control what the public sees and hears. Let us not ignore that those with intelligence operations backgrounds are trained in the art of deception and part of an overall apparatus of power and control that includes mainstream media. This doesn’t mean everyone from the government is out to dupe us or part of a grand conspiracy, but it should give us reason to be discerning.
We can celebrate the government’s willingness to engage and contribute to our understanding without trusting everything they say as factual or complete and putting them at the center of this conversation. If we really want the truth, we will stay open-minded, question what we are being told to believe, and keep seeking our own experiences.
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