Hacker News Reader

Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Genuine question, because I just realized I don't know.

Is the obsession with aliens/UFO's a human thing, or just an American thing?

Like is the average person from France, Nigeria, or China just as excited about "ooh what if they're aliens?" Are human beings in general so captivated by extraterrestrial contact that shooting down balloons immediately tantalizes them? Or does the rest of the world go, "oh those loony Americans who've been watching too many movies."

If you said "Area 51" to people outside of North America, does it mean anything at all? And if so, is it just a joke?

View on HN

Not sure about north America but south America, specifically Brazil, has had its own "development" of sightings:

- Official UFO night: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34672842;

- Varginha UFO incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varginha_UFO_incident;

- List of UFO sightings in Brazil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_sightings_in_Brazil.

Many/most people here (Germany) know Area 51, because it appears in so much media. My impression: Except a small minority, most people here consider this a big joke (same for UFOs in general) and for us, the current UFO craze in the US it chuckleworthy at best. However, I guess the minority that actually believes this stuff has the same deep distrust of the government and "mainstream media" as people in the US that are actively believing it. Luckily, here it's just a small percentage for now.

https://twitter.com/Esri/status/1192533459555753990

Mainly a US/UK thing apparently.

In France, we obviously joke about aliens when we see a flying object we can't identify, and a few loonies believe it, but it's not the same level as in the US.

I remember randomly watching TV some day and they interviewed a French guy saying he saw lights slowly floating horizontally in the sky at a certain date, and he was convinced it was a fleet of UFO. It caught my attention because at this specific date I attended a wedding in a village near where this guy saw the "fleet", and in the night we launched paper sky lanterns. This dude saw our sky lanterns, thought it was UFOs and went on TV because of it.

I wager its a western thing as western civilizations were full of explorers who made big names for themselves by "contacting" alien civilizations and bringing back artifacts and stories. Then technology began shrinking the world, first eliminating the unknown here on the surface then further shrank in the emerging field of astronomy. With nothing left to explore and the realization that we're a small spec in a vast, cold universe, what's left? Alien invasion stories are just the other side of the great tales of discovery and conquest by the Magellan's and Columbus's of the universe.

And aliens are no different than other superstitions and monsters such the chupacabra or yeti. It's all cultural influence.

America is the one superpower that both has the security apparatus that playsibly could hide major things, as well as a cultural environment to feed grand narratives as plausible alternatives, whether it would be religious or more secular in nature.

Do they?

If they were hiding the existence of aliens that would be pretty extraordinary.

Secrets sure but a secret of that magnitude for how long? I’m skeptical.

It defies belief. Secrets can be kept for a long time, but how long is inversely proportional to how many people know the secret and how earthshaking the secret is. Look at it this way -- the US couldn't even keep the development of the atomic bomb a secret.

The Earth might be getting visited by aliens -- I mean, it's technically possible -- but it's even less likely that it could be kept a secret by the government if the government were aware.

Has it been kept a secret? I think its more of a question of whether you believe whats out there or think there isn't sufficient explanation for what 'definitive' evidence there is (tic tac video for example).

People tend to see what they expect to see, and when people see things they can't identify, they tend to identify them in terms of their cultural background.

"Flying saucers" are mostly a US/UK thing (in no small part because the US military encouraged "flying saucer" speculation to cover for when people saw secret aircraft testing).

In the past, and in other cultures, such things were perceived differently. "Angels", monsters, faeries, etc. It all depends on the cultural background of the viewer.

Zimbabwe has a famous siting back in the 90s where a bunch of school children saw some aliens. Were they were taken a piss or influenced by American UFO culture? Who knows

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-57749238

As someone who's not American, I'm always confused by the Americans' obsession with aliens. A single data point, but I don't think I've seen it in such a way in any other culture.

Probably because the idea of intelligent life forms outside our planet is fascinating? And the stories and culture through the radio and movies brought it to life.

But anyway, the Sasquatch and Yeti is pervasive across numerous countries and cultures. That's a similar path to becoming part of the culture (some random reportings, some weak evidence, then movies and tv shows and now it's part of the culture regardless of whether it exists or not and interesting to most people whether they believe in it or not). Like mermaids.

Aliens are not only an American thing. And American's are not obsessed. It just might seem that way with the media.

Of all countries, India believes the most that aliens will visit Earth in 2023. 43%. The US is 17% which is actually under the global average of 18%.

https://www.statista.com/chart/29296/public-opinion-on-alien...

I think to start imagining what the rest of the universe might contain one has to have moved past the god delusion, which rules out a lot of people in developing countries.

And rules out most people in the developed countries.

It originated from the Cold War, and is a consequence of American Propaganda that both covers up intelligence and military action inside our own borders (the original area 51 conspiracy was started and propagated by the US military) as well as our inate belief that we are the worlds biggest and most powerful superpower, therefore the only things that could invade our airpsace must be extra-terrestrial.

Edit: They didn't conspire to invent the conspiracy, but didn't outright deny it either, since it provided them with a convenient distraction

> the original area 51 conspiracy was started and propagated by the US military

Do you have a source for that? From a quick Google search it seems the US wasn't necessarily opposed to the rumors, but I can't find anything that shows it was started by the military, or actively propagated.

yeah I think I overstated it, they leaned into the conspiracy by hinting at it's possibility and did nothing to stop it

Yeah why would they? They had classified technology.

to be clear, I dont think they did the wrong thing. I just think it's silly to believe the crazy rumor

I am French and used to believe anything could be aliens... up until I turned 13 y.o. more or less

> Is the obsession with aliens/UFO's a human thing, or just an American thing?

Mostly an American thing, pushed on by continued interest -- eyeballs drive all.

At this point I'm convinced it's a US Gov ploy to distract crazy right-wingers and domestic saboteurs, since UFO crazes in the press tend to follow right-wing agitation. Runs all the way back to the 90s and Oklahoma City. Keep the conspiracy nuts busy for a few weeks until things calm down, etc. etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com