Introduction
since the end of WW2, the public’s attention in Western countries has been increasingly focused on the phenomenon of UFOs, which in its turn, had caused more and more people to think about this phenomenon as something absolutely real. Nevertheless, it was named during the recent decade that how Media tell us about UFO sightings had undergone a dramatic transformation – whereas; even as recent as 15 years ago, informing people about UFO sightings has been assumed an exclusive prerogative of tabloid press and TV, today this is no longer the case. Nowadays, it is not only the mainstream media, such as CNN, which find it appropriate to report on UFO stories but many formerly high-ranking government officials as well.
In 2005, Canada’s former Minister of Defense Paul Hellyer had held a meeting with journalists in Toronto, during which he declared that the Canadian government is having information about UFO’s true nature, which it continues to keep disclosed from the general public. In 2008, the formerly secret recordings of UFOs have been made available for public access on several British and French governmental websites. In the same year, a few of Russia’s governmental officials had come up with the statements that the Russian government has been keeping in touch with representatives of extraterrestrial civilization ever since the fifties. Given the sheer number of UFO reports and also the fact that Western countries’ governments are now slowly making it possible for ordinary citizens to assess formerly secret information, in regards to UFOs, it is no longer possible to disregard this information as being solely the reflection of people’s mental inadequacy.
Thus, as of today, there are many objective reasons to believe that the governments of Western countries are now being left with no choice but to prepare ordinary citizens for the realization of ultimate truth – we are not alone in the universe. In this paper, we will aim at substantiating the validity of our suggestion.
The lack of governmental “UFO transparency”
The government’s unwillingness to release information about its contacts with UFOs has been discussed from a variety of different perspectives, with many researchers have concluded that there can be no logical explanation as to this fact. Yet, one does not have to be overly smart to realize that, had information about such contacts been officially confirmed, it would automatically undermine the very foundations of Western civilization. Who would be needing oil, if there were other sources of energy? Who would be needing cars and planes, if they’re more efficient ways of transportation? What would happen to the world’s religions, if these religions were revealed as being false? Therefore, by trying to keep the information about extraterrestrial life well hidden from the general public, the government simply strives to remain in control of the political situation in this country.
It is important to understand that the government’s denial of having any hidden knowledge, in regards to UFO, does not deprive UFO conspiracy theories of their validity, simply because there is plenty of indirect proof as to the lack of governmental “UFO transparency”. Similarly, astronomers do not doubt the existence of black holes, even though they had never seen them – the sheer power of these space objects’ gravitational force is being implicitly manifested throughout the universe. Given the fact that the quarter of America’s population believes to have had personal encounters with UFOs, it would be wrong, on our part, to think of the UFO phenomenon in terms of being a part of popular culture alone. As popular saying asserts – if an animal goes about meowing, purring, and catching mice, the chances are it is a cat. If governmental officials get emotional (which happens fairly often), while trying to deny the very possibility for UFOs existence, the chances are – the chances are, these officials are not being entirely honest with ordinary citizens.
Ever since the Roswell incident in 1947, U.S. Air Force officials never ceased denying allegations as to this incident’s paranormal essence in a particularly emotional manner. The very fact that the U.S. Air Force would invest a great amount of effort into discrediting reports about its top-ranking officials knowing so much more about UFOs then they would be willing to admit created objective preconditions for more and more citizens to grow increasingly suspicious towards this organization’s assurances as to UFOs’ non-existence.
Ray Paul’s article “Theorizing Conspiracy”, points out at people’s tendency to suspect the government of indulging in conspiring activities as being essentially rationalistic: “To think conspiratorially, to posit links between actions and events, to imagine that there is another working behind the scenes, may well be reasonable, inseparable from reason, and part of the very operation of reason” (2003, 257). The very principles of logical thinking suggest the government’s awareness of UFO, simply because the governmental practice of withholding UFO-related information from the general public would make a perfectly good sense – the possession of information is power and those who share information with others are being deprived of such a power. One does not have to hold a Ph.D. in philosophy to understand this simple fact.
Therefore, we cannot agree with suggestions that ordinary citizens’ taste for conspiracy theories should be thought of as simply a reflection of their intellectual marginalization. Neither can we agree with theories that people’s growing awareness of UFO phenomena should be thought of as a sign of their willingness to affiliate themselves with a new religion, as has been implied by Kathleen Stewart and Susan Harding’s article “Bad Endings: American Apocalypsis”: “The sudden mainstreaming and commoditization of UFOlogies and alien knowledge in the 1990s also indexed the extent to which a politics of suspicion and apocalyptic discourses has displaced and de-centered science, the state, and rationality as sources of American common sense and national consensus regarding the Truth, what it is, and who knows it” (1999, 296). There is nothing irrational in people’s tendency to doubt the government’s sincerity, simply because the history of the 20th century containing numerous examples of the American government’s dishonesty towards its citizens. The most recent one is a lie about Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction”, which served as an official justification for George Bush’s s decision to invade this country in 2003, to protect the geopolitical interests of America’s best “buddy” Israel. Therefore, for as long as the issue of UFO cover-up is being concerned, doubting the government’s sincerity makes legitimate sense.
Ancient Romans used to say that, for people to realize the true nature of just about any event, they would have to ask themselves a question pro bono? (who benefits?) from this event. If we apply the same approach to explain why there is an acute shortage of officially certified information in regards to UFO sightings and contacts with extraterrestrials, it will appear that this is due to the government being directly interested in maintaining a monopoly on the possession of such information. As we have pointed out earlier – information is power. Nevertheless, the government is being well aware of the fact that it will not be able to keep the secrets of UFOs from the rest of the citizens forever, which is why it now allows informational leaks about UFOs to take place within NASA and other governmental institutions; thus, preparing people to think of UFO as a part of objective reality.
In 2007, former NASA’s employee Richard Hoagland had presented journalists with previously unknown photographs of clearly artificial structures on the surface of the Moon, taken by American astronauts, during Apollo missions. And, unlike what was the case with Air Force spokesmen denying Roswell accident as such that had anything to do with UFOs, the denial of Hoagland’s suggestions, on the part of today’s NASA, can be referred to as anything but emotional. In its turn, this allows us to conclude that American high-ranking officials had finally realized that they would have to eventually share their information about UFOs with the country’s ordinary citizens. However, given this information’s shocking subtleties, it can only be provided to the public in very small quantities. It appears that the preparations for the ultimate truth to be eventually revealed are now well underway, which explains why even the heads of the world’s most influential religions, such as Pope, now proclaim themselves being “progressive” enough to accept the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ever since the time of the Roswell incident in 1947, U.S. Government has been well aware of extraterrestrials’ existence. Moreover, it actively pursued the policy of incorporating alien technology in its military installations. The same can be said about the governments of Britain, France, and probably Russia. However, given the fact that, if being released, the information about the government’s relations with aliens could have brought about the end of the world as we know it, America’s governmental officials had rightly chosen in favor of keeping such information secret, until the time when American society would be ready to handle the truth. And, there are good reasons for us to believe that this time is now being just around the corner.
Gradually, government officials are beginning to realize that there can be only one effective way to addresses the public’s anxieties in regards to extraterrestrial life – making information about the governmental contacts with UFOs accessible to the general public. It is only after this information ceases to remain secret, that UFO-related issues can be effectively solved.
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