UFOs, and what they are, have been a subject of debate throughout the world for decades now.
For those who are apart of the UFO community, UFOs are usually considered to be extra-terrestrial spacecraft. For skeptics however most UFOs can be easily explained as either being some type of natural weather or astronomical phenomenon, a mis-identification of a man made object, or a hoax.
Beside the most obvious explanations for what UFOs are, there are a few not so obvious (or in some cases, accepted) explanations for what UFOs really are:
8. Extra-dimensional
Probably one of the far most common alternative UFO explanations is that UFOs (and the alleged beings operating them) are actually from other universes, rather than other planets.
This explanation has become so common among UFO believers that many believers actually try to determine if a UFO in a photo or video is of either extra-terrestrial or extra-dimensional origin (rather than of natural or man made origin).
7. Time travelers
Another explanation for the origin of UFOs is that they are from Earth, just far, far into the future. Just how far exactly is often debated amongst the UFO believers who believe this theory.
Some people believe that they're from a few hundred years into the future. Some people believe that they're from several millions of years into the future. Some people even believe that they're just from a few decades into the future.
6. Angels and Demons
Probably one of the more popular explanations amongst devout and fundamentalist Christians (especially those who don't believe in even the possibility of extra-terrestrial life existing elsewhere in the universe) is that UFOs are either angels sent by God, or (more commonly) demons sent by Satan.
While this explanation is far more accepted with devout and fundamentalist Christians (at least those who actually believe in UFOs to begin with) most UFO believers (and skeptics for that matter) do not.
5. Secret and experimental military aircraft
One of the more common explanations for UFOs amongst both skeptics and UFO believers is that many UFOs are actually secret and experimental military aircraft.
The reason why this is accepted among skeptics as well as UFO believers is because several different kinds military aircraft, back when they were still secret and/or experimental, were thought to be UFOs (i.e. F-117, B-2) and that sometimes the government even used the UFO phenomenon as a cover to help keep certain aircraft secret for years (like with the SR-71).
While skeptics and UFO believers do accept that some UFOs are most likely secret and experimental aircraft, many UFO believers also believe that these aircraft are far more technologically advance than what anyone believes is currently possible, and that the technology being used in them is of extra-terrestrial origin.
4. Holograms
Some UFO believers believe that some UFOs aren't even physically real at all, and that they're actually holograms created by the military.
While the main reasons behind why the military would even do this in civilians areas (if they even are doing this at all) are unknown, speculations from UFO believers vary from either being tests for holographic projection weapons, to being part of a bizarre conspiracy theory called Project Blue Beam.
3. Inner-terrestrial
Particularly popular amongst supporters of the hollow Earth theory, some people believe that UFOs are actually created by beings that supposedly live inside the Earth.
This theory is of course impossible, being that modern science has completely dis-proven the hollow Earth theory, although some will say that there are large areas underground that are hollowed out, not the whole Earth, and that these alleged beings live in those areas (at least those that don't claim that there is a conspiracy to hide the "truth" about the Earth being hollow).
2. Spirits
Some people in the UFO community believe that UFOs are neither of alien, or even of technological origin (or natural either) and that they're actually supernatural in nature.
While the belief that UFOs are actually spirits is somewhat popular amongst those in the New Age Movement, the explanation that UFOs are spirits are usually dismissed by both skeptics and UFO believers alike.
1. Ancient human astronauts
Some people believe (especially those who believe in the myth about Atlantis) that humans were more technologically advanced in the past than we were actually known to be, and that some even managed to build spacecraft and left the Earth thousands of years ago, and that they sometimes come back to Earth from time to time.
While this theory may sound plausible, so far no evidence has ever been found that we are far more advanced technologically in the past then we are today.
Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts
Friday, June 21, 2013
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Conspiracy Theories & The Paranormal: Why the belief and promotion of both can be dangerous
Recently while I was on a skeptics message board I met a young man who was having trouble getting over the belief in the Illuminati and spirit communication via the Oujia board. While I believe his belief in the Illuminati has been has been destroyed, it appears he just can't get over his fear of the Oujia board due to all of the stories about dark spirit and demon communications via the Oujia board on the internet. These stories are at the very least nothing but then misinterpretations and mass hysteria, and at the very worst, outright lies, but this young man just can not seem to get over the fact that people do lie about this stuff, or that people don't understand that people do stuff subconsciously with the Oujia board, and because of this, these stories are terrifying him, even though he does know they aren't real, he just can not seem to get that concept completely into his mind.
Another young man that I've been in communications with via Twitter also was having anxiety because Illuminati conspiracy theories, and FEMA camp conspiracy theories, and that he was having trouble getting over those beliefs as well, and that these conspiracy theories terrified him so badly that he had seriously considered committing suicide due to his fear that he and his family would be thrown into a FEMA camp or killed. His autism probably didn't help with his anxiety over these conspiracy theories either. So this young man, instead of drowning in his fears, decided to start his own debunking blog called Autistic Skeptic as a way to help him as a way to get over his anxiety, and fears, and beliefs in these conspiracy theories.
On another blog I sometimes visit there were posts in the comments section of one blog article that were made by a young man who claimed to have post traumatic stress disorder due to the "conspiracy" involving the 9/11 attacks. This person had more then just PTSD, and appeared to be very mentally disturbed, and was posting threatening pictures on his Facebook page that he saw as "art".
These three young men's stories are just a few examples of what may be thousands, if not millions of people who have believed in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or still do seriously believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or are having trouble getting over the fact that these conspiracy theories and stories about the paranormal just aren't real, and are entirely made up as a way to promote some sort of political or religious agenda, or that these people who post this stuff on the internet are just misinterpreting things that happen to them, or what they saw, or that they're making this stuff up to get attention. This has become even easier now because of the internet, because you don't have to look a person right in the face and lie.
Because some people have trouble determining what is real and what is not real over the internet, and that some people may have mental issues, or because of how they were raised and what beliefs they were taught, these conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal can terrify them to the point where it affects their lives. Even if they know it's not real, if they have any bits of belief in them of these fringe subjects, and they are very gullible and easily scared, it can very badly affect their out look on the world, and their health. It can even lead some people to commit suicide, or worse, murder.
For those who do seriously believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, not only can these affect both their physical and mental health, it can also affect how they interact with the people around them as well. Constantly talking about and insisting that such things are real can lead to some people who don't believe in such fringe things to end up cutting communications with that person because they can't deal with that person's paranoia. Beliefs in fringe things can also lead to believers cutting off communications with friends and family members because they can't deal with people trying to convince them that what they believe isn't real, or they might even begin to believe that those people are working for some forces that are trying to destroy them. To people that they don't know, sometimes they will act extremely nasty towards them, sometimes to the point where the other person feels threaten and they end up calling the police.
This is what makes conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal so harmful, and why I debunk this stuff. It's not because they're real, because most often times they are not, but because the shear thought of their existence can terrify some people to the point where it drives them crazy and they may end up harming themselves, or others.
To read more about the Autistic Skeptic's story please go to his page about his personal experiences with conspiracy theories, and read about his struggles over his beliefs in conspiracy theories, the anxiety brought on by those beliefs, and his struggle to rid himself of those beliefs and the fear that comes with them.
Another young man that I've been in communications with via Twitter also was having anxiety because Illuminati conspiracy theories, and FEMA camp conspiracy theories, and that he was having trouble getting over those beliefs as well, and that these conspiracy theories terrified him so badly that he had seriously considered committing suicide due to his fear that he and his family would be thrown into a FEMA camp or killed. His autism probably didn't help with his anxiety over these conspiracy theories either. So this young man, instead of drowning in his fears, decided to start his own debunking blog called Autistic Skeptic as a way to help him as a way to get over his anxiety, and fears, and beliefs in these conspiracy theories.
On another blog I sometimes visit there were posts in the comments section of one blog article that were made by a young man who claimed to have post traumatic stress disorder due to the "conspiracy" involving the 9/11 attacks. This person had more then just PTSD, and appeared to be very mentally disturbed, and was posting threatening pictures on his Facebook page that he saw as "art".
These three young men's stories are just a few examples of what may be thousands, if not millions of people who have believed in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or still do seriously believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or are having trouble getting over the fact that these conspiracy theories and stories about the paranormal just aren't real, and are entirely made up as a way to promote some sort of political or religious agenda, or that these people who post this stuff on the internet are just misinterpreting things that happen to them, or what they saw, or that they're making this stuff up to get attention. This has become even easier now because of the internet, because you don't have to look a person right in the face and lie.
Because some people have trouble determining what is real and what is not real over the internet, and that some people may have mental issues, or because of how they were raised and what beliefs they were taught, these conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal can terrify them to the point where it affects their lives. Even if they know it's not real, if they have any bits of belief in them of these fringe subjects, and they are very gullible and easily scared, it can very badly affect their out look on the world, and their health. It can even lead some people to commit suicide, or worse, murder.
For those who do seriously believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, not only can these affect both their physical and mental health, it can also affect how they interact with the people around them as well. Constantly talking about and insisting that such things are real can lead to some people who don't believe in such fringe things to end up cutting communications with that person because they can't deal with that person's paranoia. Beliefs in fringe things can also lead to believers cutting off communications with friends and family members because they can't deal with people trying to convince them that what they believe isn't real, or they might even begin to believe that those people are working for some forces that are trying to destroy them. To people that they don't know, sometimes they will act extremely nasty towards them, sometimes to the point where the other person feels threaten and they end up calling the police.
This is what makes conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal so harmful, and why I debunk this stuff. It's not because they're real, because most often times they are not, but because the shear thought of their existence can terrify some people to the point where it drives them crazy and they may end up harming themselves, or others.
To read more about the Autistic Skeptic's story please go to his page about his personal experiences with conspiracy theories, and read about his struggles over his beliefs in conspiracy theories, the anxiety brought on by those beliefs, and his struggle to rid himself of those beliefs and the fear that comes with them.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Pseudo... Television
Ten years ago if you watched The Learning Channel, you could actually learn something from that television channel. Ten years ago if you watched the History Channel, you would actual see some real history lessons on that channel. Now if you get something useful and thought expanding from either channel, you've caught them on a special day.
It seems like so many channels that once presented actual stuff that's worth learning about, is now presenting mostly pseudo-science and conspiracy theories.
Where once crap like this mostly only showed on SyFy, is now quickly taking over networks who's original purpose was to show real science, and real history.
Now it seems that all these channels show either "reality" shows, or shows containing fringe science that a legit scientist would not touch with a ten foot poll.
Every one of these science networks is guilty of this, from shows about psychics, ghost hunting, UFOs, conspiracy theories, cryptozoology, the Apocalypse, pseudo-history, ancient aliens, and the list just goes on and on and on...
And The History Channel is the worst offender of them all, because just about everything I listed above, is on it's main line-up, or shown in re-runs.
In fact, finding a show on that channel with real history on it is about as rare as finding music on MTV (or what's called music, since many people don't consider it to be music).
I blame us, the people for this, since these networks give us what we want instead of what we need, and what we need is to expand our minds in the right direction.
Yes, I know that history and science are boring to some people, but I've always felt that real history and real science, once you've started to really learn the stuff, is allot more interesting then the fake stuff that's pedaled as being real.
It seems like so many channels that once presented actual stuff that's worth learning about, is now presenting mostly pseudo-science and conspiracy theories.
Where once crap like this mostly only showed on SyFy, is now quickly taking over networks who's original purpose was to show real science, and real history.
Now it seems that all these channels show either "reality" shows, or shows containing fringe science that a legit scientist would not touch with a ten foot poll.
Every one of these science networks is guilty of this, from shows about psychics, ghost hunting, UFOs, conspiracy theories, cryptozoology, the Apocalypse, pseudo-history, ancient aliens, and the list just goes on and on and on...
And The History Channel is the worst offender of them all, because just about everything I listed above, is on it's main line-up, or shown in re-runs.
In fact, finding a show on that channel with real history on it is about as rare as finding music on MTV (or what's called music, since many people don't consider it to be music).
I blame us, the people for this, since these networks give us what we want instead of what we need, and what we need is to expand our minds in the right direction.
Yes, I know that history and science are boring to some people, but I've always felt that real history and real science, once you've started to really learn the stuff, is allot more interesting then the fake stuff that's pedaled as being real.
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